ODay 23 mast raising

kdnichols · Apr 21, 2009

I just raised my Oday 23 mast last weekend. Took two people.

1.) make sure your side stays are attached.
2.) make sure your backstay is attached.
3.) slide the mast all the way back and insert the back pin in the mast base....this takes some muscle power to lift the mast about 15-20 degrees.
4.) heave it up. The two people (myself and a 250 lb. 6'4" guy) carefully lifted it up.

As you get closer to the mast being in final position, the sidestays and backstay will help it stay in position.

5.) once the mast is up, have one person hold the mast in the up position and the other quickly move around and attach the forestay.

6.) put the front pin in the mast base, tighten up the stays and away you go.

Words of warning: Make sure you halyards are secured on the mast and out of the way. too many lines will confuse things.

Make sure all your stays are not tangled. Double and triple check this. This is where most of the problems happen....getting the mast half way up and finding a sidestay is tangled!

Kevin

Joe11688 · Apr 22, 2009

Guest said:
Are yours all the way loose at the turnbuckles, or can you have them tightened up a bit more as they would be with the mast upright? Curious if the length changes as the mast moves in an arc upward: that is, are the stays tight as the mast is in the horizontal, but get way loose as it is raised (provided the turnbuckles are turned loose).

Thanks alot, this helps put me at ease....

Kevin's mast raising info is excellent, and right on. I'm guessing that your boat doesn't have a furler. If it does, you should have one person holding and guiding it nice and straight with the mast as it goes up or down. Your stay tension should be OK for now. Hopefully, no one touched the turnbuckles since the mast was taken down. As far as whether the stays can be tight when you raise your mast, you'll have to find that out at the end of the season when you take the mast down. Try taking the mast down at the end of the year without loosening your side stays. I know from experience, that my stays never need to be loosened on my OD 222 to lower my mast. Only my back stay needs to be loosened, but we have two different boats so it's hard to say. The only thing that hasn't been mentioned is: The mast needs to have some kind of temporary support near the stern rail while you pin the tabernacle, unless you want to stand there and hold it, and that can get tiresome. So I recommend that you tie something like a small step ladder to your stern rail so that your mast can rest on the top and still provide clearance with your sliding hatch, which should be closed while you are doing the mast raising. Another idea for holding the mast is to take two 2X4's and bolt them together so that they resemble a giant pair of scissors, and tie it to the stern rail. The apex of which can be used to support the mast. Some people have built their own mast holder out of wood. This pic shows my friend Wayne's mast holder that he built for his Seaward 22. He even has a roller built into it so that he can slide the mast forward or aft. In closing I'd like to offer one more tidbit of info that will be of some help in raising your mast. A 3/8" line of about 60 or 70' can be attached to your Jib halyard and a single sheave can be attached to your bow plate. Just tie the line to your halyard shackle and raise the halyard all the way to the top and cleat it off at the bottom of the mast. The line will run through the sheave at the bow and back to you. As soon as the mast has attained the proper angle, you can pull on this line which will bring the mast up the rest of the way and hold it for you. I used to bring the line around the mast, over the goose neck,( you don't want the rope to slide down)-- and forward, to tie it off to a bow cleat. After you've done this a few times, it will become "Ole' hat."
Joe

Joe11688 · Apr 22, 2009

Dwight Thomas said:
I have raised my mast manually for many years on my Oday 25, the only thing I would Add to the below comment is:
Make very certain your sidestay Chainplates don't get turned cock-eyed. If this happens while you are raising the mast you will bent them and / or the attachent plates that come through the deck. Remember when you are raising the mast you are creating a lot of leverage and you can bend those without even feeling it as you lift the mast, but they will bend and possibly break, then you will have your mast "momemtarily" in an upright position (until it falls) with only two anchoring connections. This is a very big problem, because you won't be able to "muscle" it back upright once it starts leaning (the physics are just not in your favor) without 3 connection points. To insure that this does not happen, take two bungie cords, loop each around your life line above the chain plates and hook the bungies into one of the unused chainplate holes, this will keep the chainplates in a vertical position while you and your buddy are raising the mast, after the mast is up, and forestay is connected you can easily remove the bungie cords.

Dwight,
That's a good point well taken. I have T-Ball fittings and slot plates on my mast and that can happen very easy even with the Gibb rubber plugs in the slots over the T fittings. The bungee cords is a good idea too. I always use just one for my back stay because I have a Johnson Handy-Lock on it and an open turnbuckle above that and that can get twisted if it's not pulled up straight. Since I've switch over to a Gin Pole for mast raising, I take plenty of time in raising my mast and it can be stopped in any position to check or correct any problems that may arise.

peterbud · Apr 22, 2009

Mast rasing

Trinkka said:
Dwight,
That's a good point well taken. I have T-Ball fittings and slot plates on my mast and that can happen very easy even with the Gibb rubber plugs in the slots over the T fittings. The bungee cords is a good idea too. I always use just one for my back stay because I have a Johnson Handy-Lock on it and an open turnbuckle above that and that can get twisted if it's not pulled up straight. Since I've switch over to a Gin Pole for mast raising, I take plenty of time in raising my mast and it can be stopped in any position to check or correct any problems that may arise.

Joe what do you do if you dont have a jib halyard. I have roller furling and no halyard on my 222

stevec22206 · Apr 22, 2009

I use my mainsheet system to help with raising the mast. Before the lift I secure one end of the block to the forestay and the other end to the stem plate. Have my partner stand on the fore deck with the mainsheet line in hand. Once the mast reaches a given point the guy up front can aid with leveraging the mast to it's final position. The guy up front can use the cam cleat on the mainsheet to lock it off while I reposition throughout the move. Works great!! Do it the same way going back down.

Steve

Joe11688 · Apr 23, 2009

stevec22206 said:
I use my main sheet system to help with raising the mast. Before the lift I secure one end of the block to the forestay and the other end to the stem plate. Have my partner stand on the fore deck with the mainsheet line in hand. Once the mast reaches a given point the guy up front can aid with leveraging the mast to it's final position. The guy up front can use the cam cleat on the mainsheet to lock it off while I reposition throughout the move. Works great!! Do it the same way going back down.

Steve

Steve,
Almost any method like you've just described will work. What the heck, you're only doing it about once a year. If you can get away with doing it that way, there's no sense in building a Gin Pole and having a fancy rig on board. In my case though; I'm an Ole guy and I sail alone. I have a roller furler, and there's an old draw bridge up the river that sometimes breaks down and doesn't get fixed that day. One year I had to take my mast down in order to get my boat back to the club because of this bridge. So it behooves me to have this mast raising/lowering system on my boat at all times. I really get a lot of enjoyment out of being self sufficient and doing these mods, anyway. I trailered my O'Day 222 every week in the summer months, for about 8 years. My wife sat in the car and read a magazine while I rigged her in the parking lot for launching. As I approach "Geezerdom", I no longer have the energy or strength that I once had, so I've learned to find easier ways to keep up my favorite pass time. I guess that it goes with the territory.

Joe

Capt Long Femur · Apr 28, 2009

As always, Joe's on the money with this issue. Based on his advice, I built a gin pole last year. Total cost was maybe $25 (a small winch, a couple of 2x4's and a u-bolt).
ABSOLUTE MAGIC!! Even though I'm 6' 5" (I got the family crane gene), this is way easier than having to muscle up a mast....especially if it's a windy day.

Good luck!

CLF

Joe11688 · Apr 28, 2009

Capt Long Femur said:
As always, Joe's on the money with this issue. Based on his advice, I built a gin pole last year. Total cost was maybe $25 (a small winch, a couple of 2x4's and a u-bolt).
ABSOLUTE MAGIC!! Even though I'm 6' 5" (I got the family crane gene), this is way easier than having to muscle up a mast....especially if it's a windy day.

Good luck!

CLF

Thank you Captain Long for those nice things that I asked you to say about me.

Right now, I'm trying to improve on my pivot bridles and temporary stay rig. If you have a roller furler, I think that it's an absolute must to use pivot bridles and "baby stays," especially if you're doing this by yourself. When I installed my pad eyes on my deck for the pivot bridles, I didn't put them out far enough so that my rope bridles would be even. So I relocated the pad eyes about a week ago. I am now experimenting with an idea that I saw in this month's Small Craft Advisor for anchoring the baby stays to the mast using the Main Halyard, and a split link. I'm going to try using a regular wire bale type sail slide instead of the split link. The jury is still out on this one. I'm going to try to take my mast down tomorrow and try it out. If I don't like it, I'm going to build a special detachable mast yoke very similar to what my friend Wayne uses on his Seaward 22. The McGregor boats used a bolt with two short tangs to anchor the baby stays to the mast but I'm not too keen on drilling holes into my mast. If I come up with something decent, I'll post it on this forum.
Joe

Barquito · Apr 29, 2009

Does anyone raise their mast from the bow? the instructions I have for my ODay 25 describe bringing the mast forward across the bow, insert the front tabernackle pin and raising it with the help of the boom and mainsheet system. I purchased this boat last fall and the PO helped me raise the mast the first time but he did it the other way, from the stern. When we dropped it we used this boom system and lowered it towards the bow. Are there any compelling reasons why this is a bad idea?

Theo

Ross in Tampa · Apr 29, 2009

I do. When my mast is down, the head of the mast is secured at the bow. I walk it back to the tabernacle and pin it. I have a block that I attach to the aftstay chainplate and connect the shackle to the aftstay. My wife will winch the block and I will muscle the mast up. It works, but it is a bit of a buster.

I should learn to work smarter. There are no bad reasons why this is a bad idea. It is all preference.

Joe11688 · Apr 29, 2009

Barquito said:
Does anyone raise their mast from the bow? the instructions I have for my ODay 25 describe bringing the mast forward across the bow, insert the front tabernackle pin and raising it with the help of the boom and mainsheet system. I purchased this boat last fall and the PO helped me raise the mast the first time but he did it the other way, from the stern. When we dropped it we used this boom system and lowered it towards the bow. Are there any compelling reasons why this is a bad idea?

Theo

Theo,
A lot of the O'Day 25's and 26's came through triangular plates built into the stays for the bridles that connect to the end of the boom for raising/lowering from the bow. My friend Ray built a special bracket that has a roller in it that secures to his bow pulpit. It enables him to roll the mast ahead so that he can pin the tabernacle. He uses his main sheet to pull the mast up, but in order to have enough reach with the blocks, he takes the rope off one sheave in each block. I would prefer to use a separate block and tackle from a shackle near the back stay to pull the mast up. This way you get the benefit of all four sheaves on your blocks. Raising the mast from the bow is an acceptable way of doing it, but from a trailer sailor's point of view, it has too many disadvantages. Especially if your boat has a furler. If you raise your mast from the stern, your not going to have the clearances needed to pin the tabernacle unless you have a mast holding device. The advantages are; the mast track is always facing down and your furler is on top of the mast when the mast is in it's travel holder en route to the ramp. While your boat is sitting on the trailer, no dirt or debris ever gets into the track. You can keep all your stays connected except the fore stay of course, and have them bungeed. When you get to the ramp, all you need to do is raise the mast holder if you need to, and just roll the mast back and pin the tabernacle. Then connect the Gin Pole and pivot bridles. Some guys use a small boat winch on the Gin Pole like my friend Wayne. I use my Boom Vang which has four sheaves and and about 65' of line on it. If you raise your mast from the bow, I don't think that you'd want your mast track pointing up while the mast is in the holders. At any rate, the top of the mast is going to be facing toward the bow. So when you get to the ramp you're going to need to flip the mast over, which means that you can't leave the stays connected. After that is done you can roll the mast forward, but the furler is under the mast, and the stays are going to need to be connected. In the final analysis, mast raising/lowering from aft is a lot easier, faster, and less work. All the MacGregor sailboats are designed with aft mast raising/lowering, even under way with the outboard powering them. Check out the MacGregor web site and their Youtubes on mast raising. You'll be amazed. It's all a matter of preference, though. Mast raising from the bow is one way, and doing it from the stern is another way, but the MacGregor people really have it down to a science and it's also worth looking into.
Joe

Joe11688 · Apr 29, 2009

peterbud said:
Joe what do you do if you dont have a jib halyard. I have roller furling and no halyard on my 222

Peter,
That can be a problem. Do you have a CDI Roller Furler? Did the PO remove the Jib Halyard? If this is the case, I would install one back on the mast. I have internal halyards and I just replace a Jib sheave block on my mast and bought two new halyards off Rudy. Other than mast raising, I don't use my Jib Halyard. Most of the O'Day 222s came with a cheap Schaeffer roller furler that hooked on to the Jib halyard. Check out the McGregor site's Youtubes on mast raising the Mac 26. They are not using the Jib Halyard with the Gin Pole. You may be able to copy their set up.
Joe

Barquito · Apr 29, 2009

Thanks Joe

I figured there were some compelling reasons to raise from the stern. Though most of that doesn't apply to my situation. We don't trailer so we only raise and lower once a year. We just purchased it last August, it is our first so we are really looking forward to this summer. When we dropped it we did not have to release any of the stays except the back stay, I like the idea of having the track pointing down, especially as it layed across the top of the boat for the winter, it was covered with a tarp but I could imagine water accumulating in there. The boat will be in the water and in a slip when we raise it so we will be able to use the dock and seeing as all the boats in our small marina go in the water on the same day "Crane day" there will be lots of hands around to assist. Thanks for the info

Theo

Joe11688 · Apr 30, 2009

Theo,
Do whatever is easier for you. Raising from the bow is OK, and using the dock to your advantage is a great idea. It goes without saying, that if you have the extra bodies, the job will go easier. If you have a roller furler, have someone guide it in line with the mast as it goes up. The only other thing that I neglected to mention is the wind direction in relation to your boat. Make sure that the wind is coming directly toward your bow when you raise the mast from the bow, and visa versa if you're raising it from the stern. The wind can blow the mast right over if it's strong enough, coming from the side. The more you do this and become familiar with it, the easier it gets. Good luck!
Joe

Barquito · Apr 30, 2009

Thanks Joe

I hadn't considered the wind. good info

Theo

Joe11688 · May 1, 2009

Barquito said:
Thanks Joe

I hadn't considered the wind. good info

Theo

Theo,
In the many years that I had been trailer sailing Trinkka, I too forget some of the most common things that can really screw up the mast raising task. Two years ago I tried to raise my mast at the club with the boat on the trailer and I forgot to check the ground to make sure that it was level. I had the mast up about half way and it started to go over sideways, even with my temporary stabilizer stays and pivot bridles holding it. I looked down at the Tabernacle, and I could see the base of my mast splitting. Luckily, I was able to get it back down and move the trailer to a level position. I had a guy weld my mast about a month ago and fill in some corrosion areas caused by the stainless steel Tabernacle hinge where it comes in contact with the aluminum mast. I pass on this information so that you and others can be made aware of it. A broken mast can really ruin your day.
Smooth Sailing!
Joe

ODay 23 mast raising

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