You are right electric wench. Thankfully there’s the computer to blame or maybe I should proof read before hitting send but who has time for that. Charlie Sent from my iPad
On Jul 15, 2022, at 9:54 AM, Gail Russell <gail@zeliga.com> wrote: D There seems to be an autocorrect typo here. I think you meant an "electric wench?"
On Fri, Jul 15, 2022, 4:43 AM Charles Adams via montgomery_boats < montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:
I’ve been reading this with interest. I raise and lower the mast on my M17 this way. I attached a 2x4x8 to front of my trailer with a pulley at top and a cheap trailer wrench. I attach a line at the spreaders. I have a mast support on stern of trailer. My wife cranks the wrench and I just keep mast steady. By lifting from spreaders eliminates most of the swaying if lifting from mast head. I’m going to add two lines to steady mast even more to eliminate my wife. You say how do I get line to spreader if mast standing. Simple. Weight one end of lite line and toss from both sides. I use a clip at end of pull line to feed it through to pull cable.
I assume you are raising and lowering mast on a trailer. If not the basic raise and lower could be done. I would also suggest a trip to YouTube which has many methods for raising and lowering a mast. Any time I want to do anything I first go to YouTube and thought everyone did that.
I got my idea on YouTube from a guy who designed an elaborate lift with a remote electric wrench. I eliminated all the cost and replaced it with wife. Still the remote electric wrench is a good idea and I can do it at less than half the cost he paid. Plus my idea would let me use electric wrench to load boat.
When I read these comments I think back when my wife and I raised constantly the mast on a Tanzer 22 manually. But then maybe and by what I read on the owners group Montgomery owners are a different age group. I certainly am.
Of course feed back is appreciated and any suggestions since I believe it is all a learning process. Frankly I enjoy the learning process.
Charlie
Sent from my iPhone
On Jul 14, 2022, at 11:43 PM, John Schinnerer via montgomery_boats < montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> wrote: I'll jump in to say that you sound like you're in plenty good shape to just raise the mast on an M15 by hand, start to finish, IF it were not for the darn cockpit floor being so low.
Same problem I have in my M17. I can lift the mast weight, but I am too low to raise it far enough to take enough weight off to finish the raise. Unless I try and step up on the cockpit seats while lifting, but on an M17 the mast is heavy enough that that is a risky proposition.
In the smaller cockpit of an M15 - have you tried standing on the cockpit seats to lift the mast? Or putting a nice sturdy piece of plywood on top of them so you can step wherever you need to at seat height? That would be the next thing I would try, for the smaller mast of the M15.
An entirely different thought to consider - before I got my jib furler, I raised my M17 mast from the front, not the rear. This might be something to try also on an M15. Raising from the front, you are standing nice and high on the foredeck. If you have enough strength to start the lift of the mast off the forward crutch or pulpit, you are plenty high up to just keep lifting and it quickly gets easier as the mast goes up. With your height (similar to mine) you would have the mast most of the way up and very light before you even had to step back from the bow towards the cabin top to finish the lift. Plus the forestay never has to be disconnected, you just have to keep it (and the shrouds, as always) from snagging on anything as you raise. Also when you are sliding the mast to get the base to the mast step, it goes forward over your tow vehicle instead of rearward out into whatever is behind the boat (like sometimes a busy launch ramp parking lot where someone might run into it...). If your tow vehicle roof is higher than bow pulpit then you'd need to set something up so the mast could slide onto the roof without damage or snags. And of course this means the mast is transported with top forward rather than aft. Also, on an M15 with shrouds aft of mast step you would need to loosen them a bit to raise, and then put back to sailing trim.
What I do now since I have to raise from rear due to furler is basically what someone posted already - I use my mainsheet tackle and an extender line, rig it to the jib halyard, clip the tackle to the pulpit. Remaining problem is same as before - first part of lift, to get enough angle on the raising line that it becomes effective. Solvable by having an extendable and/or detachable front crutch or even just raising pole on the trailer, that is higher than the pulpit, and attach the tackle there. Then the raising line angle is effective right from the start. Once the raising line is effective it tends to keep the mast centered, so the side to side scariness goes away.
cheers, John
On 7/14/22 20:09, Willy Gorrissen wrote:
Dave, I’ll be interested in your suggestions after giving you this information; Height: 6’4” Balance: Reasonable for a 75 year old Strength: Okay but not good for pull-ups Back/knees: No problems Willy Gorrissen Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows From: Dave Scobie<mailto:scoobscobie@gmail.com> Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2022 6:03 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats<mailto: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Subject: M_Boats: Re: Mast Raising and Lowering Willy. Couple of physical and physique questions - How tall are you? How is your balance? How is you upper body strength? Back and/or knee issues? :: Dave Scobie :: M6'8" #650 :: Baba 30 #233 DEJA VU :: SV SWALLOW - sv-swallow.com <<-- FOR SALE! :: former owner M17 #375 SWEET PEA - m17-375.com :: former owner M15 #288 SCRED - m15namedscred.wordpress.com On Wed, Jul 13, 2022, 5:11 PM Willy Gorrissen <gorrissen@hotmail.com> wrote:
I need guidance in raising and lowering the mast on my M-15. Every time I put my mast up or down it becomes a horror show. I only do it twice a year but still it should be easier than I am making it. I do raise the transom crutch to its up position and have the shrouds connected for raising and lowering. Also my wife helps by pulling or easing off the main halyard as the mast is raised or lowered. My process is to raise the crutch, connect the shrouds, put the mast step in the deck house bracket. I then put myself half in the cockpit and half down below and lift as my wife pulls. Yet until the shrouds are tight there’s little control over where the mast might go. Lowering is sort of the opposite but the mast foot gets stuck in the bracket, the mast swings right and left and once it’s down it’s difficult to find a safe place to stand in cockpit and wrestle the mast forward. I feels as if I am going to fall out of the boat. My wife is close to saying she’s not helping any more as she only sees disaster in our future. So any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks for any advice, Willy Gorrissen Payette Lake McCall, ID M-15, 606 Sent from Mail< https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgo.microsoft.com%2Ffwlink%2F%3FLinkId%3D550986&data=05%7C01%7C%7C92dd86c4f8374768aa8c08da65f574f4%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637934402152925222%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=DggM8YjKBF%2FwpZGjomSyS0iMRgEDeZaSOOebHAkpPjk%3D&reserved=0> for Windows
-- 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