First, we put the mast crutch in the highest position. Then we slide the mast
aft from the trailering position and install the bolt loosely in the
mastfoot/tabernacle. We have an adjustable backstay, so we have to remember
to loosen it before we start to raise the mast. Then we check to be sure none
of the stays are caught anywhere.
We have a block attached to the bow pulpit with a SS bracket. We run the
mainsheet halyard forward from the top of the mast to the bow pulpit block.
>From the bow pulpit block, the main halyard leads aft thru the mini-stay
padeye to a winch on the cabin top to give a fair lead (i.e., to line it up)
to the winch.
Using the winch handle, it goes up like it doesn't weigh anything. At a
little over 100 pounds and 5'5" tall, I think I could do it by myself,
although my hubby David and I have always done it together so far. He lifts
the mast a little as I crank on the winch, but I don't think it's necessary.
As it goes up, I use one hand on the winch handle, and one hand to "tail" the
halyard every three turns of the winch. When we're lowering the mast, David
guides it onto the crutch, but if I had to, I could do it myself with one hand
on the mast and one hand on the tail of the halyard from the winch.
At anytime, say if a stay gets caught on something, we can stop in mid-step by
cleating the halyard off on one of the cabin top cleats. Heck, we could even
lower the mast part way to go under a bridge if we used the spinnaker halyard
instead of the mainsail halyard.
I don't know for sure, but I'd bet that you could lead the halyard back to a
genoa winch on the cockpit coaming if you used a fairlead. Or you could use
the trailer winch, with the strap running over the bow pulpit, like Jerry
Barrilleau does.
We have a quick pin for the forestay at the bow chainplate. The quick pin is
tied to the bow pulpit with 12" of thin line so it can't go swimming. Make
sure you use a solid quickpin with the little ball bearings, not the hollow
tube kind with the thumb-push release. Our rigger told us that the hollow-
tube ones can bend when the forestay is loaded and then you have to cut it
with a hacksaw to get it out. He said the hollow ones won't fail, but they
can get stuck if they bend.
Once the mast is up and the quickpin at the forestay inserted, we tighten the
bolt at the mastfoot/tabernacle. We only have one bolt that holds the mast.
I plan on looking into the feasibility of using a quickpin type bolt there at
some time.
Fair winds, and Seasons Greetings to all,
Judith Blumhorst, DC
WWP-19 #266 "Red Wing"
SF Bay, CA