Rick: I devised a similar system. I put a large snatch block at the stem head fitting, running a 1/2" line from the end of the wire end of the jib halyard back to a cockpit winch. With a couple turns around the winch, I raise the mast as far as I can reach from the cockpit, hold it with one arm and take up the slack on the winch with the other. That holds most of the weight. With each "bump" with one hand I gain a bit more elevation. Eventually, when I can lift the mast no higher, I use the sheet winch to crank it up to the top, then secure the line to the jib sheet cleat. At that point, I can move forward to pin the forestay in place, then tension it up. To lower the mast, I reverse the process. Get the line with snatch block in place and connected to the jib halyard again. Then tension it up fully. Then go forward. Take the tension off the forestay, pull the pin and head back to the cockpit. With a couple turns around the winch, I start letting out some slack and the mast will start leaning back. Feather it down until you can catch it, then with both hands, lower it to the mast support already on the transom. A few minutes to raise or lower and I don't use any side supports. I leave the side stays attached the whole time. Key is to go slow and maintain control. On May 21, 2014, at 4:02 PM, Rick Davies wrote:
Hi all,
I'm trying to figure out a simple (meaning without a gin pole) way to lower the mast on my M17 single-handed without having to walk it down the hard way in the cockpit. I thought of attaching one end of the main sheet to the front mast support on the trailer and the other end to the jib halyard. I think someone on the forum described something like this quite a while ago, but I can't find it. I plan on using a line tied around the mast as high as I can reach and secured to the chainplates on each side for lateral support. I'd plan to lower the mast until I can reach it easily from the cockpit, then lower it the rest of the way by hand, so the tension in the support line doesn't get too big as the mast approaches horizontal. Has anyone tried anything like this? Hate it find out it doesn't work the hard way.
Thanks,
Rick M17 #633 Lynne L