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Raising the MastMatt's MethodHow do I raise the mast? Frankly brute strength.My wife and I have worked out a great little system
that currently works for us.
She stays on the ground (she get's really nervous) and
holds the forestay and forestay turnbuckle. I attach the
jib halyard to the bow plate in the aft-most hole as the middle
I use for the forestay and forward most hole I use for the
cruising chute's tack line. With this attached and the
mast sitting in the bow stand on the transom I give the jib
halyard a single wrap on the mast winch, then standing in-front
of the mast facing aft, I get a good grip with both hands and
lift 'er up. Once she's vertical, I move around behind it
holding up with my chest and shoulder and take up the slack on
the halyard (temp-forestay). My wife pops up on the tongue
of the trailer and sets the clevis pin on the forestay
turnbuckle in the second hole. I usually have to really
lean into the mast to make it work. This means less tuning
of the rigging later, so I like that.
I find the faster I get it vertical the better,
momentum and the shrouds become my friends keeping it straight
and plumb. Although from time to time a shroud with get hung on
the roller furling cleat on the starboard side... what a pain!
I know eventually, as I get older I'll probably have
to come up with something better and less physical, but right
now I don't find the mast that heavy. I'm 42 and weigh
220lbs. so maybe I have a couple of things on my side, I can
still do it and outweigh the mast by a few pounds.
My Method
I can lift the mast from on top of the cabin, but if anything
goes awry (like a shroud hung on the roller furler cleat, or the
backstay being under the tie down strap across the stern that I
forgot to remove - crap!) then I could not gracefully let the
mast back down onto the prop. So having someone snubbing the
fore halyard is my backup. And since it's there, it's a
lot easier to start the lift from the cockpit and then move to
the cabin top while the helper holds the mast. |