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Step 8Raising!
A committee of captains devised an ingenious system of running stays using the three new halyards. Pete pulled the trucker's hitch on the forestay and stood on the base to keep it from popping out of the step. Kenny and Victor manned the running side stays, and the rest of us labored and scampered and did what was necessary.
The mast rose up, nothing bad happened, and Solara has a new mast, standing tall!
The halyard "stays" hold it up so we can keep the steel stays slack and work on attaching them to the hull. As you can see in the 2nd photo, there are six lines holding up the mast. The outer lines are the three halyards which actually hold the mast up. The three inner ones are the stainless steel cable stays that are slack so we can work on them. There are also two diamond stays, one on each side of the mast. They rotate with the mast and need no further work or adjustment.
The new mast rotates very freely on the step. That pivoting step is a very good design.
The mast looks and feels so excellent we feel like we should upgrade everything else. We spontaneously start cleaning up the rest of the boat. Maybe time to get a haircut and maybe some white pants...
The mast rose up, nothing bad happened, and Solara has a new mast, standing tall!
The halyard "stays" hold it up so we can keep the steel stays slack and work on attaching them to the hull. As you can see in the 2nd photo, there are six lines holding up the mast. The outer lines are the three halyards which actually hold the mast up. The three inner ones are the stainless steel cable stays that are slack so we can work on them. There are also two diamond stays, one on each side of the mast. They rotate with the mast and need no further work or adjustment.
The new mast rotates very freely on the step. That pivoting step is a very good design.
The mast looks and feels so excellent we feel like we should upgrade everything else. We spontaneously start cleaning up the rest of the boat. Maybe time to get a haircut and maybe some white pants...
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I have been meaning to get my last build up on here for ages, a folding plywood boat with hinges made of cable ties and sealed with duct tape and rubble sacks.......
Boats make us do daft things, look forward to the next installment!
1) how much is the mast's weight : it seems very light as compared to the boat's size. Is it a little bit too fragile … or undersized ?
2) What material did you use to treat the new mast step to be efficient in less tan a day (as I understand) ? Fast curing epoxy ?… I suppose of course that the wood was in good condition…
3) Why did you have the crew support the mast at the risk of a slippery handling causing bad injuries to the people below ?… Instead why didn't you use the principle of the tabernacle which works quite effectively with the English. The foot of the mast is set between two flanges that support a pivot that slide into the mast ; a boom or any other spar is set vertically at 2 to 3 foot over the pivot therefore at right angle with the (still) lying mast. The boom keeps the relative position to the mast by two halyards tied to the side of the boat at the same level and on the same plane as the tabernacle so that when moving the whole triangle will remain the same. The main's halyard goes from the top of the mast to the top of the boom then though a (strong !) block at the fore end of the boat which leads it to a winch. With precaution and a safe hand on the winch you can slowly raise the mast to its vertical position with crew handling tight (or giving some slack, depending on the situation) long halyards by the side of the boat or even from the shore (or pontoon / catway) or even from other boats, thus lessening the risk of injury if anything wrong happens. When it happens, it happens fast !… I saw one mast being raised wrongly collapse on 2 other boats with the end result of 3 masts to be repaired 2 weeks before the season started !!!… Owners of the two other boats were not so happy, so were the insurers !!!…
Try to find back issues from Practical Boat Owner : 10 years or so ago they were excellent in giving these tips !…
Your method worked ok, so who am I to put the blame on an obvious success ?But I'm afraid it could be more secured for the next time…
Bon voyage for your next plans : please tell us ! …
Petty soon I'll try fix my boat (and my bad heart condition !…) to make at least a small trip along the Normandy coast this summer. This limitation makes me think more of you !…
Be safe, be happy.
PS. Sorry for my broken english … its pretty bad when I try to explain something practical as I feel I lack the proper and specific technical vocabulary (it someone has any idea posting an instructable on this matter will be more than welcomed !! … LOL)
I've owned two motorless sail boats and have had to remast both of them.
the first I took the mast down to trailer it, put it in the water, punted out, anchored went to sleep (it had been a long day). in the morning it was 25 knots. I had no way to move the boat, and couldn't row to shore in my tiny inflatable.
this was with a 20 foot mast. it was too heavy to raise without a mechanical advantage. I made a stub-mast crane with the boom. using spare rope and trucker's-hitches for guy-wires. Then, tied the foot of the mast to the mast-step and put the jib halyard over the crane. using two ratchet-strap tie downs to guide the mast i winched the jib halyard until the mast was back up.
the other time, I brought a boat that had dis-masted at it's mooring in a storm. this time I rowed some bamboo over to make a tripod and just winch the mast up.
the kite sailboat looked good. why did you choose to go back to the masted sailing?
We went back to using a big stick to hold the kite I mean sail up because in light/nonexistent winds it's easier. Also variety is the spice of life.
Think about adding a length of mast underneath the deck down to a "plate on the floor".
Sail Load on the mast will put a BIG download on the mast step.
When we drilled the hole we got to see what a thick area of deck it is and that the wood underneath isn't rotted.
This is to avoid spoiling your whole day by the mast plunging thru the deck.
Re the rest of it---
Please PLEAASE Mr. Skipper--- NEVER put the mainsheet down on a multihull.
Keep hold of the mainsheet even when (ESPECIALLY WHEN) cleated
Head off in really big puffs, not up.
Signed A-class cat multihull racer (I've sailed em all).