I love that you sail the heck out of ol’44!!!! :-)

On Oct 11, 2022, at 9:33 AM, Jon Barber <brbrbarber@gmail.com> wrote:

One person mast raising.

I ditched the mahogany rudder and separate mast carrier in favor of the ruddercraft version with the telescoping mast raising pole. It stays in place permanently, as does a 3 part dinghy mainsheet attached to the bow. First I unship the mast from the carrier and extend it to full length. Then I lift the mast onto the raised carrier(it has a roller). I push the mast aft and make up the pin pivot at the mast base. The 3 part tackle is made up to the jib sheet and tensioned. The jamb cleat on the tackle holds tension. Standing on the seats in the cockpit I push the mast up and haul the slack. I get another bite and haul again. By this time I'm past the center of effort and the mast raises easily. A couple of turns on the jib winch and cleat. I go forward and pin the forestay.

I frequently launch first and raise later at my convenience. I feel it is safer to rig on the water instead of 8 feet up on the hard.

Once when I arrived at a bridge too early for an opening. I lowered the mast and went under. After passing the bridge I raised the rig and had a great sail on San Pablo Bay.

All is done singlehanded. I was using the gin pole method, but after seeing a video of a guy raising a mast on his Catalina 22 using this method I figured it couldn't be too hard to do ona 17. Fewer parts, nothing to stow, launched and mast up in less than 30 min.

Jon Barber Monty 17 Ol'44

That sounds more or less like what I do. I use my mainsheet tackle instead of a separate tackle. The camcleat on the mainsheet block holds tension so if a shroud or backstay snags I can move to free it. I had been raising off the pulpit (traveler end of tackle attached there) but that requires a bit of a dodgy one-handed lift of mast at the start to get enough angle on the raising line. Last two times I've used a temporary pole with eye braced on trailer frame that is a couple feet higher than the pulpit - makes that initial lift much less dodgy, enough angle is achieved sooner. I am planning to add a trailer-mounted forward mast crutch that will carry the mast just above the pulpit. The crutch will be extendable up above pulpit for mast raising attachment point. Makes mast raising quicker easier safer and takes strain of carrying mast off pulpit when trailering. I've never used 'baby stays' or other such. Once the lift starts the mast goes up quickly with the tackle and the existing shrouds start to take effect soon enough. The trailer should be level side to side and avoid raising in strong gusty winds is all. I have the opposite experience though of raising/lowering on hard vs. water...mainly because on water the boat is not stable side to side and that's where with no baby stays or similar the mast is at greater risk of swinging sideways when partway up or down. Plus on water the pulpit is the highest raising line attachment point and see above re dodgy first part of lifting mast. I did lower and raise at the dock recently, to fix my wind vane which some bird must have decided was a perch - NOT! I had to do it off the pulpit since I had nowhere higher to attach. I got away with it, but would generally avoid if at all possible. When I had hank-on foresails (no furler, just wire forestay) I raised from the bow, which was much easier all around, except the initial lift was heavier due to shorter lever. But I was standing firmly on the foredeck, much higher up than cockpit seats, much better position and leverage to lift. One good heave-ho and the mast was 1/3 up and much lighter already. Another bonus was that the mast was sticking out over my tow vehicle in front, rather than back into the parking/driving area of a boat launch facility. cheers, John On 10/11/22 09:32, Jon Barber wrote:

One person mast raising.

I ditched the mahogany rudder and separate mast carrier in favor of the ruddercraft version with the telescoping mast raising pole. It stays in place permanently, as does a 3 part dinghy mainsheet attached to the bow. First I unship the mast from the carrier and extend it to full length. Then I lift the mast onto the raised carrier(it has a roller). I push the mast aft and make up the pin pivot at the mast base. The 3 part tackle is made up to the jib sheet and tensioned. The jamb cleat on the tackle holds tension. Standing on the seats in the cockpit I push the mast up and haul the slack. I get another bite and haul again. By this time I'm past the center of effort and the mast raises easily. A couple of turns on the jib winch and cleat. I go forward and pin the forestay.

I frequently launch first and raise later at my convenience. I feel it is safer to rig on the water instead of 8 feet up on the hard.

Once when I arrived at a bridge too early for an opening. I lowered the mast and went under. After passing the bridge I raised the rig and had a great sail on San Pablo Bay.

All is done singlehanded. I was using the gin pole method, but after seeing a video of a guy raising a mast on his Catalina 22 using this method I figured it couldn't be too hard to do ona 17. Fewer parts, nothing to stow, launched and mast up in less than 30 min.

Jon Barber Monty 17 Ol'44

-- 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