Hi David, Yes, there is a scramble area getting up over the cabin while supporting the mast. I copied someone else's idea about a gin pole and side guy wires to use the trailer winch to raise and lower the mast. MUCH easier and you can always lock the trailer winch in mid hoist to adjust the mast and rigging. I used to do what you are doing and never had a problem as long as I kept some forward pressure against the mast. The dicey part was when the mast was up, having to hold the forestay with a bare hand while I also had to snap in the shackle or fit a clevis pin. I would think that taking a moment to attach the jib halyard to another line led through a block on the stemhead and then back to the cockpit would enable you to hoist the mast from the cockpit and then cleat off your hoist line so you can go forward to attach the forestay. Just be sure to attach the hoist line above the forestay turnbuckle so even under tension you can pivot the turnbuckle to where you can connect it to the stem head fitting. Driveway is a good place to iron out the kinks in your system. Just be careful of overhead wires. I had my boat rigged and the mast stepped in my driveway a few months back. I thought five feet away from a powerline was enough for the mast head. Fortunately my neighbor who is an ex-lineman told me that he had seen lightning leap from a powerline eight feet to another object. FYI. I think there should be a law making it illegal to electrocute yourself while you are just having fun. I think sailing my boat on my driveway is fun tool. Tom B <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=oa-2115-v2-b> Virus-free. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=oa-2115-v2-b> <#DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> On Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 10:29 AM, David Rifkind <drifkind@acm.org> wrote:
On Mar 29, 2016, at 7:53 AM, Thomas Buzzi <thomaspbuzzi@gmail.com> wrote:
You don't have to take off that much. I ended up cutting back up the mast about a half inch on the sailtrack side and just tapered it to the max width of the mast. Then I eased the sharp aft end of the mast foot to avoid getting bitten by that sharp corner.
The mast is not square as it is. The sail track end (I’d call it the heel) is already tapered, but not all the way to the center of the base. I should do some geometry and try to figure out how little I can cut off.
My worry today is does this make raising the mast harder? The flat base and the “snap” from the pull of the shrouds really helps stabilize it at that critical point when I’m scrambling from the cockpit to the cabin top. I imagine losing control of the mast at that point would be, let’s say, bad.