Whats the largest boat you can lower a mast on?

[Golf Charley]

Ianat182

Yes, Broads boats use a counterweight, so that the mast is hinged about 2ft above the deck/cabin

 

[prv]

Pete. Yes I understand that,my intention was more to make the balancing of the mast weight to assist the lowering process.

I know, that's what I was referring to.

One of us is confused

Don't the Broads boats use a counterweight in a tabernacle arrangment,without removing sails etc?

They do. The tabernacle is quite tall, and I believe the boom gooseneck is mounted on it rather than the mast, so no need to remove the boom. You do need to remove the gaff though. On the Broads boats the foot of the mast doesn't end at deck level like with most tabernacles, but carries on down through the cabin to more or less the keel. There's a slot / hatch in the foredeck that this lower part of the mast swings up through, so you have several feet below the tabernacle pivot which is enough of a lever for a counterweight to be worthwhile. On my boat, the length of mast below the pivot is about a foot, and no reasonable amount of weight is going to balance with that little leverage.

Pete

 

[CreakyDecks]

Carl, the mast on my Jaguar 21 is indeed much longer and thinner than that on the Vivacity 20 that is parked next to her. I think that goes with having a fractional rig doesn't it?
Most Jaguar 21's I've seen, including mine, have plates attached to the sides of the cabin roof for attaching extra gear (either an A frame or guylines and gin pole) to aid raising and lowering of the mast. The plates allow the extra gear to pivot on the same axis as the mast.

 

[ianat182]

Pete. Thanks for the info re the Broads method, I didn't realise the mast was virtually on the keelson though! I feel better now!

Ian

 

[carannah]

I used to have to lower the mast every time I went out on my Westerly Centaur. I had a tabernacle made up and used a single 3m pole atached to the front of the mast with steady lines to brackets attached to the shrouds, I also fitted an adjustable back stay, a quick release to the baby stay and a drop nose pin to the forestay.
worked very well but could be hard work getting the drop nose pin back into the forestay with the genoa on. To be honest it would put me off going out for a couple of hours sail.
I have now moved to another mooring below the two bridges that I initially had to go under

 

[E39mad]

Have seen tarbernacle with A frame systems on boats as large as 36" with a 42" deck stepped mast which work successfully.

 

[carl170]

Carannah - what size mast is on the Westerly Centaur?

Also, are there any boats about 21-25 ft that can be easily adapted eg: Invader, Anderson, Jaguar etc?

Does the mast overhang on a boat cause any balance problems from it being Stern heavy?

Regards

Carl