Mast Removal

[admin]

Hi All

I want to take my mast out this winter to do some maintenance on both it and the step.

Has anyone done this themselves?

It has the (standard, I think) mast step that looks a bit like the harbour bridge from the road up! I presume it wont go forward/aft with this step .... Does it have to be lifted straight up or can it be lowered to the side?

I'd prefer to do it myself with some mates rather than get it lifted but dont want to be stupid!

thanks
John N



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Recommend (1 recommendation so far) Message 2 of 10 in Discussion

From: John Sent: 17/06/2003 1:22 PM

Hi All

I want to take my mast out this winter to do some maintenance on both it and the step.

Has anyone done this themselves?

It has the (standard, I think) mast step that looks a bit like the harbour bridge from the road up! I presume it wont go forward/aft with this step .... Does it have to be lifted straight up or can it be lowered to the side?

I'd prefer to do it myself with some mates rather than get it lifted but dont want to be stupid!

thanks
John N


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Recommend Message 3 of 10 in Discussion

From: geoff Sent: 17/06/2003 11:12 PM
JOHN
you can remove your mast with man power easily enough, we
took one out of a friends 28 footer, this way it just takes alot more time!
We had three sheets tied above the spreaders leading down to three guys on
the ground, one standing on the port side, one starboard and one forward.
two guys lift to clear mast step and carefully manuaver the masts across to
one side then let it down to two guys on the ground. guys holding sheets are
steadying it the whole time.
I did my mast with a small hyab on the back of a truck that
delivers septic tanks . The beauty of this way was I only needed to organise
one mate and it took 20 minutes from when the truck rolled up to having the
mast on the ground. I had all wiring disconnected, stays slackened right off
with all halyards, forward and aft lowers etc taped{duct tape} to the mast
and a loop to atttach the cranes hook,set up tightly against the mast about
two thirds of the way up the mast. When he arrived it was just a matter of
hooking up releasing clevis pins and out she came. Hope this helps




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Recommend Message 4 of 10 in Discussion

From: John Sent: 19/06/2003 10:24 AM
Thanks Geoff

I'm going to try with a number of mates and the boat tied to a wharf for starters and if that looks/feels like it will be too hairy, I'll wait till I pull it out late winter or early spring.

regards
John
"Top Knot"


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Recommend Message 5 of 10 in Discussion

From: whitsundaysun Sent: 20/06/2003 6:31 PM
Just to let you know I will be removing the mast off my Top Hat for transporting next week, will post the results and any tips I can give afterwards, also the re-rigging, does anyone have any tips, specs etc on that.

Whitsundaysun (Mike)


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Recommend Message 6 of 10 in Discussion

From: Paul Sent: 1/07/2003 10:03 PM
Hi Mike,

What sort of specs do you require for the mast and rigging?

Regards

Paul


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Recommend Message 7 of 10 in Discussion

From: whitsundaysun Sent: 1/07/2003 10:49 PM
Paul

Everything you have would be great, got mast up and need measurements of stays etc etc, so whatever you have would be fantastic, thankyou

mike


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Recommend Message 8 of 10 in Discussion

From: Paul Sent: 3/07/2003 1:26 AM
Hi Mike,

<o:p></o:p>

Have included measurements of standing rigging etc as supplied by Sheerline Spars when they provided the spar and rigging to the builders. This may vary slightly dependant upon whose mast section you have and who built the rig, but it will give you a guide. All wire for the standing rigging is 3/16 inch dia Stainless steel 1x19 and measurements are for the cut wire length. If you are going to re rig and do some serious sailing I would suggest going to ¼ inch dia.

<o:p></o:p>

Forestay = 32ft 10 and 7/8 inches

Backstay 31 ft

Cap Shrouds = 32ft 2 and 5/8 inches

Fwd Lowers = 16 ft 10 and ¾ inches

Aft Lowers = 17 ft and ½ inch

<o:p></o:p>

The backstay bridle is made from 3/16 dia 7x19 wire and is 6ft long. It goes through a RM9B pulley which is attached to the backstay and has a swaged thimble on each end. The backstay tackle used was a RF1273 on deck with a cam and a RF186 block up top attached with a RF807 shackle. It used 23 ft of 8mm double braid rope.

<o:p></o:p>

As I said, yours could differ slightly so treat these figures with a degree of suspicion. Who knows what previous owners have done. Also while the rig is out pull out one of the chainplates (U-bolts) and inspect for crevice corrosion of the stainless steel in the part which is hidden in the deck. If in doubt about the chainplate strength replace! I am replacing all of mine to be on the safeside. Inspect the underdeck where the chainplates come through and ensure that there is sufficient backing blocks to spread the loads imposed by the rig. I have seen some Top Hats with no reinforcement under the decks where the loads have started to lift the deck because there was no adequate structure to spread the load. The cap shrouds usually came down and straddled the main bulkhead which took some of the load (better idea is to tie the threaded portions directly to the bulkhead with some sort of right angle brackets attached to the bulkhead).



You can email me directly at reppaul@flexinet.com.au

<o:p></o:p>

Regards

<o:p></o:p>

Paul



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Recommend Message 9 of 10 in Discussion

From: shaun_--_ Sent: 3/07/2003 8:59 PM
hi paul,

on the underside of the Chainplate U brackets, should there be a glassed in reinforced board or plate such as marine ply(how big?), or is just a backing board thats not glassed in sufficient?
i recently looked at this area in a TH, there was no reinforcment to spread the load just the small "washer, backing plate"(around 60mm X 12mm)for the U bracket, i suspect this needs attention.

cheers
shaun


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Recommend Message 10 of 10 in Discussion

From: Paul Sent: 5/07/2003 9:26 PM

HI Shaun

MOst of the Top Hats produced came with inadequate chainplate reinforcement.
In some cases there was just washers under the deck and in others they
just put a piece of plywood under the deck a bit bigger than the width of
the U bolts. In each of these scenarios it is an accident waiting to
happen. The cap shrouds usually arn't too bad as they straddle the main
bulkhead, so the loads are distributed through the bulkhead to the hull
(make sure that your bulkheads are glassed in all around and on both sides.)
Though even these can do with some beefing up if you are planning to go
offshore. The main problem appeared to be with the fore and aft lowers,
especially the aft lowers, where I have seen them lifting the deck because
there was no underdeck reinforcement!!! The other area to have a look at in
the sheeting track - this also was just screwed down with washers underneath
- inadequate. This also needs reinforcing as the upward pull on the sheeting
track in heavy weather is considerable.

The reinforcement under the deck needs to be glassed in - at the barest
minimum a piece of plywood about 12mm thick with tapered edges to cause no
hardspots with about 15 ozs of glass over the top, followed by large 'penny
washers' or better still at piece of stainless steel around the same size as
the reinforcement, drilled for the u-bolts. As I am intending doing some
serious offshore work in mine I have opted to have the chainplate re
inforcement made out of 9mm stainless steel - it is if you can imagine it an
inverted L section with a T shape on the bottom. The L goes under the deck
and accepts the U bolts, the vertical part is bedded onto the hull with a
mixture of polyester bog to take up any descrepancies between the hull and
the stainless and the T section on the bottom rests against the hull. There
is a web section of stainless steel that goes from the top of the L to the
vertical to spread the load down the reinforcement. The whole thing is then
glassed to the hull with around 20 ozs of fibreglass mat rovings. There are
4 L brackets made out of stainless steel that spread the load from each U
bolt leg that straddles the bulkhead and this is also glassed in under the
deck and bolted to the bulkhead.

Regards

Paul

[steve]

Hi,

Anyone wanting to take down their mast without the expense of crane hire could consider doing it themselves using a temporary timber crane.

There is a good video of it being done in this link:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpFhnYQmRYs&NR=1

The second video on the following website shows it being done on a timber top hat, although it does look a little risky and not as well set up as in the other video:-
http://www.foreshoreboats.com

Incidentally, the above website is an interesting small site with history of the top hat.

I lowered and later raised my mast on my mooring using this method recently and it was fairly straightforward. Erecting the crane and lowering the mast was a single-handed job. I had help raising it again - I think raising it single-handed would have been possible but a real struggle.

If using this method, consider incorporating the following refinements of the method:-
1) Tie a weight onto the bottom of the mast to stop it upending as the lifting strop will otherwise be below the mast's centre of gravity (this applies equally if using a commercial crane).
2) The use of block and tackle (e.g. the mainsheet) makes lowering and raising the mast much easier.
3) The timber thickness recommended in the websites seems too small to me so you might want to consider doubling up the timbers.

Steve

[Troppo]

Wow, that looks awesome! I'm gunna try that sometime. I need to do some work on the mast so now I know how to drop it.

In the second video, the fella looks very fit so I can't replicate that but overall it does not seem too difficult to get the mast down. I had thought I would need to have the boat on a hardstand and hire a crane.