Mast Raising System

[Greene]

I liked the gin pole system that was posted recently.  Anything that enables us to trailer sail these wonderful boats is OK in my book.  I also made up a system for our newly acquired 23 which is based on parts of several other similar systems.  I didn't create anything new, just made my own version.  I posted on our blog about the system and included a video if anyone would like to see it.

Mike

[NateD]

I like your use of the halyards and the rope bridals. The chains I used are heavy and cumbersome.

[Greene]

I like your use of the halyards and the rope bridals. The chains I used are heavy and cumbersome.

I thought about using light steel cable, but I like the advantage of a bit of give (stretch) that line gives me.  No matter how accurate we make a bridle it will never be sized to give a perfect swing arc.  I also worried about any kind of steel scratching the topsides during use.

I definitely need to make a padded bag to cover the roller furler drum as it moves moves along the topsides during both raising and lowering.

Mike

[Greene]

When the mast is resting on the stern rail it needs some kind of pad to protect both parts.  Both our 19 and 23 used a piece of carpet wrapped around the stern rail tube and then sewn together.  It seems to work OK, but it isn't very attractive.  The big advantage was it stayed in place so i didn't have to find it each time i dropped the mast.  Also it rolled easily around the stern rail tube to act as a "wheel" when we slid the mast back into place before raising.  Anybody come up with a better pad?

This is the carpet pad on the 19.


Mike

[Billy]

I just use an old throwable PFD. And when I step the mast I just throw them into the back of the truck.
I would be hesitant to have anything that rolls on the rail. The hand holds need to be solid if you ever need to grab hold of something in an emergency

[fawsr]

When I bought my boat, the PO was using a pool noodle to pad the rail. I questioned the practicee of resting the mast on the rail as my stern rail is bent downward very noticeably. Don't know if that is from trailering or if someone dropped it sometime in the past, but the pool noodle did a good job of cushionng the mast.

[Billy]

When I bought my boat, the PO was using a pool noodle to pad the rail. I questioned the practicee of resting the mast on the rail as my stern rail is bent downward very noticeably. Don't know if that is from trailering or if someone dropped it sometime in the past, but the pool noodle did a good job of cushionng the mast.

I like the idea of a noodle.
My mast had bent my old stern rail down. It happened after a hard rain, the tarp pooled inside of the cockpit and pulled the mast down and bent the rail. I have sense built a PVC mast crutch that is about 2 feet higher than the stern rail. This puts a steeper slope on the tarp so water does not pool, and keeps the mast off the rail.

[mandolinut]

This works very well and keeps all of the weight off of the bow/stern rail. The weight is on the mast support where it belongs and a simple stowable "T" support in the cockpit. The boom and mast are supported together between these supports. Here is a link for a picture of my c16. Would work fine for any Compac length but the height of the supports would have to be model specific.
http://s1167.photobucket.com/albums/q638/mandolinut/?action=view&current=100_2381.jpg

[Greene]

Here is the link to the mast raising video on YouTube.
http://youtu.be/CSnwOlAawww//

I wrote up a quick description of how to use it in our blog.
See the link below.

Mike

[Davo]

Anybody come up with a better pad?

Mike

I have a roof rack pad on the stern rail for when I have to lean over the stern for whatever reason (a stern rail in the ribs = not so comfortable).  It is probably enough padding for resting the mast while down.  I haven't trailered with the mast resting on the stern rail though so I can't provide any input as to that...