I go through this twice a year with the crane operator. Each time he hauls my
Freedom 25, it’s
like he’s never seen an unstayed mast before and he’s completely stymied about
how to put
the sling around it. And each time I tell him: 1. The mast looks heavy. But it
only weighs 135
pounds. 2. Throw the bottom of the sling under the mast tiller, and the top part
about 1/3 of
the way from the base. And each time, lo and behold, the mast gets pulled, or
stepped
without attendant drama. Out of curiosity, does anyone else go through this when
pulling or
stepping their unstayed masts? Or are the rigges where I’m located simply yokels
without
sufficient experience?
Posted by Herman and Gail Schiller (hschiller2@…>)
I suggest that while the mast is down, dead-lift the thing to find
its balance point. Once found, mark this spot (I used a small piece
of self-adhesive vinyl from a sheet of numbers). From then on, you
have something to show the crane operator where the upper loop to
hoist the mast must lie. This gimmick will work for other
free-standing mast that don’t have spreaders. Another suggestion is
to move to North Carolina and leave the mast in, and go sailing, all
year long Herm
At 08:49 AM 10/25/2007, you wrote:
I go through this twice a year with the crane operator. Each time he
hauls my Freedom 25, it’s
like he’s never seen an unstayed mast before and he’s completely
stymied about how to put
the sling around it. And each time I tell him: 1. The mast looks
heavy. But it only weighs 135
pounds. 2. Throw the bottom of the sling under the mast tiller, and
the top part about 1/3 of
the way from the base. And each time, lo and behold, the mast gets
pulled, or stepped
without attendant drama. Out of curiosity, does anyone else go
through this when pulling or
stepping their unstayed masts? Or are the rigges where I’m located
simply yokels without
sufficient experience?
I suggest that while the mast is down, dead-lift
the thing to find
its balance point. Once found, mark this spot (I used a small piece
of self-adhesive vinyl from a sheet of numbers). From then on, you
have something to show the crane operator where the upper loop to
hoist the mast must lie. This gimmick will work for other
free-standing mast that don’t have spreaders. Another suggestion is
to move to North Carolina and leave the mast in, and go sailing, all
year long Herm
At 08:49 AM 10/25/2007, you wrote:
I go through this twice a year with the crane operator. Each time he
hauls my Freedom 25, it’s
like he’s never seen an unstayed mast before and he’s completely
stymied about how to put
the sling around it. And each time I tell him: 1. The mast looks
heavy. But it only weighs 135
pounds. 2. Throw the bottom of the sling under the mast tiller, and
the top part about 1/3 of
the way from the base. And each time, lo and behold, the mast gets
pulled, or stepped
without attendant drama. Out of curiosity, does anyone else go
through this when pulling or
stepping their unstayed masts? Or are the rigges where I’m located
simply yokels without
sufficient experience?
I suggest that while the mast is down, dead-lift the thing to find
its balance point. Once found, mark this spot (I used a small piece
of self-adhesive vinyl from a sheet of numbers). From then on, you
have something to show the crane operator where the upper loop to
hoist the mast must lie. This gimmick will work for other
free-standing mast that don’t have spreaders. Another suggestion is
to move to North Carolina and leave the mast in, and go sailing, all
year long Herm
Good idea, Herm. I think what I’ll do is print a label on my computer, so it
looks official.
That way the crane operator will think it’s an ‘authorized’ balance point rather
than just
my opinion. Also, Al, I would leave the mast in but I put the boat on a trailer
and move it
to a different location for storage. On previous boats, which were stored at the
boat yard
where they were hauled, on jack stands, I always left the mast in.