Electric winch for MastenderPlus mast raisingo

[Floridagent]

I'm 62 and own a Sunday Cat I keep on my covered lift on Lake Eustis Florida.  Friday 1/9 I had a heart attack and just came back from the hospital after a stent, 3 bypasses and the correction of an artrial hole.  Everybody says I should be better than before but now that is hard to fathom.  While recuperating, I began to wonder if anyone has installed an electric winch to raise the MastendedPlus mast? That would save me from that sometimes difficult chore.  A winch to haul the boat on to the trailer seems like a no brainer.  Any observations would help.  Thank you.

[Tom L.]

I am not 100% sure of the terminology but is the mast tender you are talking about have the small gin pole that uses a block and tackle to raise and lower the mast?

I think you could use an electric winch that you used to load the boat but like I said I am not sure of your arrangement.

What I can tell you is that I have an older Sun Cat 2001 that added a gin pole and I use the standard manual trailer winch to raise and lower the mast. I am 67 and although I am strong enough to raise the mast manually I sometimes lose my balance so I It is very easy to do using  the trailer winch which is much more powerful than needed. My gin pole is held in place by the long pin. It is home made but I think it is the same as the factory gin pole in that it uses the long pin holes as a mount/pivot point. After the mast is up I install the safety pin remove the gin pole and set the forestay. Easy peasy.

If you do use an electric trailer winch to raise the mast you would have to be very very carefull to stop it before the side stays were tight.  An electric trailer winch would have much more power than what would be needed and if it wasn't shut off in time I think it would ripe the shrouds out of the boat or break them. Like I said we use the manual winch and it goes up or down very easy. Another warning, when the mast is being lowered the ratchet must be disengaged  which means the operator positively can not let go of the handle of the winch or it will free spool and the mast will come down...crunch. A solution would be a self locking manual winch like the type used on heavy swing keel boats. When the operator stops turning the winch handle the winch breaks and will not free spool.

BTW I keep my Sun Cat at Lake Eustis sailing club. If you would like to see the gin pole I made and how I use it let me know and I can meet you there some afternoon.

Tom L.