I use an A-frame made of 1" square aluminum tube to raise and lower my mast. The legs of the frame are the right length to reach the stemhead. The pivot point at the top of the "A" (aluminum channel) has a padeye on each side and the base has pins (bolts with two nuts and the bolt head sticking out about 1/4 inch with a plastic sleeve on it) that engage the aluminum toe rail holes. I also have the aft side of the mast radiused to avoid stressing the rigging. I attach the jib halyard to one padeye and the trailer winch cable to the other and engage the pins in the toe rail directly below the tabernacle pivot. The mast can then be winched up and stopped at any point to untangle the rigging. When fully raised, I attach the forestay with a lever tensioner. I have brackets on the trailer frame for the A-frame and a folding utility ladder for getting aboard in the parking lot. When the boat is in the water, I use a snatch block at the stemhead with a line running back to one of the sheet winches instead of the trailer winch. It is much easier on my poor old knees that trying to walk the mast up over the cabin top. This method has worked for me on 5 boats over the past 50 years. I will not claim that it is an origonal idea; the Dutch have used it for centuries to lower and raise the masts of sailing barges when going under bridges. Hopefully, this will be a help to some other "older" sailors to keep them sailing for a few years longer. It even worked for me when I still had brown hair. Whitebeard M17 #14, Griselda
From: seagray@embarqmail.com To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:12:26 -0400 Subject: Re: M_Boats: Bringing down the mast
My mast has the bevel already ground out. I further ground out the backside up about 2" so that the VHF and Masthead light wires can run down through the mast plate and directly down the compression post. Joe ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary M Hyde" <gmhyde1@mac.com> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 8:22 PM Subject: Re: M_Boats: Bringing down the mast
I beveled the back half of the bottom of the mast so that it didn't have to raise up during pivoting from vertical backward to lower it. Some folks just let that rise up happen and don't keep the shrouds so tight that it's a problem. --Gary ☺ ⎈
On Aug 17, 2009, at 9:47 AM, Tom Smith wrote:
Gary, what do you mean you trimmed the foot? Do you mean you beveled it fore and aft? Curious sailors want to know... t
On Sun, Aug 16, 2009 at 8:30 PM, Gary M Hyde<gmhyde1@mac.com> wrote:
Joe: I trimmed the foot of my mast so that the shrouds don't have to be loosened to drop the mast.
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