My first attempt to step the mast ended rather quickly when I realised I had no way of stopping it from swaying from side to side. It was a bare inch out of the bracket when it became obvious that disaster was beckoning.
For all the remaining lifts, I moved car more than 20' away from the boat !!!
I used a 4 part block and tackle and a 5' gin pole to give me leverage.
Round 2 involved putting 2 dead eyes into the deck. (Since the mast base is over a beam, the dead eyes are screwed into oak, with 1 1/2" screws (ie they ain't coming out any time soon). A pair of tangs about 6' up and some 8mm double braid sorted out the whole side to side thing.
For any such braces, they must be attached in line with the point where the mast pivots.
My second attempt left me realising that a certain amount of give in the two mini side stays would help a lot.
Eventually after a lot of raising and lowering I had the mast approximately vertical, and in it's step.
The step suffers quite badly from the whole operation, I see the need for some form of pivot.
I used some light rope as temporary stays until I get the wire ones sized. But I am now a little concerned about how I would adjust the side stays with a 20' mast hanging out of them.
I am leaning away from peg and pin adjusters to just using good old fashion lashings which can be infinitely adjusted, and can be loosened or tightened without disconnecting them.
Photos will follow, hopefully of a vertical mast, rather than a scene of devastation.
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2 comments:
Hi Dave,
Sounds like you had a lively afternoon trying to balance the mast without taking out half the cars on the street!
Why not use rigging screws for the shrouds / stays, or would that be overkill?
Cheers, Dec.
I have a rigging screw for the forestay, but the shrouds are pin and hole adjusters in the design.
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