Ron, On my 17 I added a 2x6 to the leading face of my 2x4 mast crutch. That kicked it back 5 1/2 inches so the spreaders have ample clearnace in front of the crutch so never have to ride over the roller I added to the upper end of the crutch. Also addint 8 inches to the height of the crutch helped with raising and lowering it. Fair winds, Tom B send me you email and I can send you a pic of the crutch I ended up with. This email has been sent from a virus-free computer protected by Avast. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/sig-email> <#DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> On Mon, Feb 15, 2016 at 10:10 AM, Ron McNeil via montgomery_boats < montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
On my M17 I a added an extension to my crutch which I attach for stepping the mast and leave off when towing. My extension is almost 5 feet. I made it as high as I could while still being able to put the mast on and off. The height does two things. First it gives me the angle to raise it directly from the crutch without additional lifting. But what I feel is more important is that the height gives enough length so the spreaders do not have to cross over the roller. I would like to shorten my extension so it's more stable but I'm not sure exactly how high it needs to be to clear the spreaders.
Thanks Ron McNeil
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 14, 2016, at 5:41 PM, Thomas Buzzi <thomaspbuzzi@gmail.com> wrote:
I should have added that that problem I spoke of only happens when lowering the mast. oops.
On Sun, Feb 14, 2016 at 6:40 PM, Thomas Buzzi <thomaspbuzzi@gmail.com> wrote:
I found that by adding about 8 inches, in my case, to the height of the mast crutch, I avoided that "dead" zone when the line is essentially pulling straight back down the mast. That added height also prevented the mast from crunching my main hatch since by raising the mast from the top with its cables there is a LOT of downward pressure on the mast. That downward pressure prevents the mast with its thru bolt from sliding up the slot where the thru bolt attaches the mast to the tabernacle so all the weight of the mast levers down onto the main hatch and bends it downward. Not good. So with the added crutch height the weight of the mast never comes into contact with any part of the main hatch.
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On Sun, Feb 14, 2016 at 3:06 PM, John Schinnerer <john@eco-living.net> wrote:
Only raised and lowered once so far since I got Pajarita. It came with the mast oriented to raise from bow, not stern, so I went with that, and like it actually. I just need to get something on the bow pulpit to keep mast from slipping sideways when sliding it fore and aft.
I had a friend to help me both up and down, so basically we just put a line on the backstay, he was at the stern raising (or lowering) on that, I was at the bow lifting (or lowering) and steadying. Once up, he held snug while I secured backstay to ring connecting split backstay pieces.
Will be testing out solo options in a month or two. Plan A is similar but the line from backstay will run through a block at the stern and back up to me at the bow. There's just the small critical piece at the very start of raising or end of lowering where the angle of the line is too flat to be of much use and it needs to be manually lifted or lowered. I find the M17 mast light enough for me to handle that way.
That critical bit for solo raise/lower can be avoided with a gin pole or an A-frame, I've done that on other boats. All the setup and takedown of that, for both raising and lowering, ugh - if I can avoid all that hassle and extra gear and time I gladly will. And, it's gotta feel safe! I'll deal with the hassle of more rigging if it's a matter of safety. For the M17 mast I found it felt safe to lift & lower that first/last bit myself - YMMV!
cheers, John S.
On 02/14/2016 11:52 AM, Jazzy wrote:
Hello all,, It's been too quiet. So I thought I'd stir the pot. Let's hear how you raise your mast. Currently I have a single block I attach to the bow, I run a line from furler through the block then back to me via the winch. I heave ho, and take up the slack and cleat it off while I attach the furler. A bit precarious, but works ok. I'm considering a double block for some purchase.
Jazz -- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design
- Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com