I am buying a Beneteau 311 soon. Is there a mast raising system I can purchase or a design that I could make one? I am buying a lifting keel model that I can trailer.
Mast Stepping Bene 311
- Thread starter House2349
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- mast stepping
You could build one, but it will have to be a design masterpiece. The basic premise is to build a lifting frame over the mast tabernacle and that has to be over 20 feet high on a 311. You have to be able to lift the mast near the center so you can pivot it down. This would take triangulated rods that mount temporarily onto the gunnels and a block and tackle system to lift the mast that high. I have some Dutch friends who have this system because they have to motor under bridges often. I think he bought theirs. And it's for a smaller boat. You're right at the limits of practicality and possibility here.
House2349,
Congratulations on your Beneteau purchase! You'll love the boat. I have a Beneteau 311 and normally a boat yard crane or a gin pole is used to hoist the mast. The mast on a 311 is heavy for even two people to lift, much less raise vertically.
The mast step is not set up for pivoting the mast into place. So if you plan to pivot the mast upwards on your own rig, you will need something to hoist the mast above the deck as Jackdaw implies, or adapt your existing mast and step to a hinged setup.
The mast wiring, on my boat at least, is a PITA to disconnect and reconnect at the deck. There are four sets of wires for lighting, radio, and instruments, and two are complex enough to need little mini-buses inside the boat to redo the connections after the wires are rerun through the deck. Someday I'll set up some quick-connect plugs with connections for up to eight wires apiece (such as for a trailer), but so far that job has not it made to the higher priority to do list.
I have a 311 with the "lifting keel"; it's really a center board that comes through a fixed winged keel. Are you having a trailer built?
When my mast was taken down for a lightening repair, the yard used a crane to both take the rig down and put it back up I can not imagine doing any other way it's big and heavy. Some older Catalina 30 had tabernacle for their mast you may want to try and locate one of those to see how they did it.
I for one can't imagine trailering the boat, because of the winged keel it will sit moderately high on the trailer. In addition it's 10' 6" beam will probably make it a permit load in some states. It;s a great boat for areas with shallow water area but I'm not sure trailering was in Beneteau's thought process when they designed the boat
When my mast was taken down for a lightening repair, the yard used a crane to both take the rig down and put it back up I can not imagine doing any other way it's big and heavy. Some older Catalina 30 had tabernacle for their mast you may want to try and locate one of those to see how they did it.
I for one can't imagine trailering the boat, because of the winged keel it will sit moderately high on the trailer. In addition it's 10' 6" beam will probably make it a permit load in some states. It;s a great boat for areas with shallow water area but I'm not sure trailering was in Beneteau's thought process when they designed the boat
Good luck trailering....
Anything over 9 feet wide is no doubt going to require a permit.
Stepping the mast will be no picnic either. No good way to hold the base of the mast in the step and a good chance of being over balanced..top heavy.. Because of the spreader location. no way to keep the mast from going sideways.
It's bad enough trying to step the mast with a crane.
Anything over 9 feet wide is no doubt going to require a permit.
Stepping the mast will be no picnic either. No good way to hold the base of the mast in the step and a good chance of being over balanced..top heavy.. Because of the spreader location. no way to keep the mast from going sideways.
It's bad enough trying to step the mast with a crane.