Bottom pin on mast

[Scousesailor]

Just bought a Pinic cat , should i have the boom above the pin or leave the pin out when i am sailing ?
Very new to sailing please bear with me.

[bruce]

Many use the long pin in while sailing, as a personal choice, but it was intended to remind us that the spars and slugs need to be below the hinge before lowering the mast. Inserting the pin then keeps the gear below the hinge if when neatening up you inadvertently tightened the throat halyard and raise the gaff gooseneck above the hinge again, for example.

The boom height is determined by the luff tension, set by the throat halyard and the boom downhaul. On most boats, the boom gooseneck is right around the hinge, not far above or below. If your boom downhaul is slack enough, you'll be able to tension the luff and insert the long pin. If you do, you'll have to remember to remove the long pin before lowering the gear onto the mast stub.

Some like to have the boom gooseneck lower, on the mast stub. Their thinking there is the mast stub is stronger than the mast above the hinge. Hinge failures are rare, fortunately, and the PC is under canvassed at 109 sq. ft.

I don't use the long pin when underway, and on one occasion the pin & lanyard got caught in the gear when raising the sail. I made a new pin out of 1/4" SS, without the loop on the end, and installed a sleeve attached to the mast to stow the pin when removed. The pin is stowed in the sleeve just for the photo, normally the pin is in the hinge when the sail is down. First photo.

A friend uses the long pin when the sail is down but the mast is up, when the boat is beached for example. With the boom gooseneck below the pin, he can use the peak halyard to raise the sail and spar bundle to give more headroom in the boat for the bimini and crew. Second photo.

The curved short pin in front of the hinge is used to secure the mast temporarily when you've raised the mast and have yet to attach the forestay. Underway, leave it in place, but it isn't intended to hold the mast up under sail if the shrouds and forestay aren't in place.

[Scousesailor]

Thank you for the info
Graham