Mast Raising/Lowering

[JimInVA]

Howdy All,
I came across a mast handling solution (actually my wife found it  ) called "The Perfect Solo Mast-Raising System for Small Sailboats" on a site called tropicalboating.com. I have acquired the pole and winch and the blocks/lines, but cannot determine how to attach the bottom of the pole to my mast step. The site describes and has a photo of a hinged mast step from Dwyer Masts. I have looked at their site and can't figure out which of about fifteen options would fit on my P-23. I'm not crazy about drilling holes in my mast step to mount it, but other than that, it looks like a good and safe solution.
Have any of you folks tried this system? If so, do you have a part number?
Thanks,
Jim

[Riggerdood]

Interesting article Jim, I just wish the pics were a bit larger/clearer. But you get the idea. I've not seen that clever method of controlling the furler drum before.

To determine which hinge you need, just measure the outside width of your existing step, and get the one that has the corresponding inside width. It also helps to know the mast extrusion name/number, which I'm not sure what the P-23 has. Anyone?

[Brian S]

There are many, many ways to attach a gin pole to your setup.

The most important things to keep in mind with any gin pole is all of the geometries. The purpose of the gin pole is to convert a vector of force to lifting. If you just connect a halyard to a winch near the front of the boat, it will pull alongside and against the mast. But with the gin pole, it creates a vector of force that allows a winch to lift the mast. The other major geometry is to have any pivot points for temporary stabilizing "baby stays" be completely in-line with the pivot point of the mast (at the mast step.)

So the gin pole can be mounted to the mast near the bottom of the mast, but it doesn't have to be at the actual pivot point. I have seen gin poles using clamps around the mast just maybe 6" above the mast step. You probably don't want to go too high up the mast, as the weight of the mast compresses the gin pole against the mast, and if it's too high up the mast would lead to more of a bending force on the mast. I've seen commercially engineered gin pole systems which simply have a pin at the end of the gin pole that fits into a socket on the mast. The main point is just have a strong enough connection that the gin pole isn't going to move while under load.

If you want to have "baby stays" to prevent the mast pivoting side to side off the centerline of the boat (this is a good idea to limit stress on the mast step pivot) then you need to have them fixed in a line across the boat going through the pivot point of the mast. They must be the same height as the pivot of the mast. In that article you saw, they used chains down to stanchion bases. Could have been cables, could have been lines tied to a welded ring. The key think is that the pivot point of the baby stay must be in line with the mast pivot. If they are mounted aft of that pivot line, they will be loose until the mast is almost fully erect. If they are lower than the pivot, again, they can be loose until the mast is fully up.

The most secure and easy to use (but not necessarily easy to set up system) had a halyard from masthead fixed to the top of the gin pole. Then there was a multipart purchase (could be mainsheet, could be vang, doing double duty) between the top of the gin pole and the stemhead fitting. Then, there was a bridle from stanchion bases to a welded ring that, under load, was exactly side to side and height-wise in line with the mast pivot point. Then there were baby stays attached to these welded rings and attached to the mast, with a second set attached to the top of the gin pole. With a setup like this, there was no chance the mast could move side to side off the centerline of the boat, and also the gin pole could not rotate on the mast to one side or the other. The operator just used the 4:1 purchase to smoothly lift and lower the mast. It could sit there halfway up, cleated off, and the operator could, say, go aft to untangle a snagged backstay.

All that being said, I have also seen several Precision 23s with a factory "mast raising" option on their trailers. At the winch stand, there was a sliding member with a roller at the top. It could be lifted up about 4 or 5 feet, putting the roller well above the height of the mast step. Then, you could unwind the trailer winch strap, put it over the roller, and connect a halyard to it. Raise up the winch stand extension, and use the winch to crank on the halyard. Since the roller was well above the mast base pivot, there was a lifting force on the mast. I saw friends use this by themselves to step and unstep the mast. Keep in mind this system did not include any stabilizing "baby stays," but, if it wasn't too windy and everything stayed in line, there were no problems.

[Brian S]

Note I am lazy and I didn't re-read or edit that long post