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DSC01040 In this pic I'm using the boom vang that came with my boat which has double sheave fiddle blocks and a cam lock. You can see how far it's stretched out with the mast laying down. I needed to change the line on this vang to be able to spread these blocks out this far and I believe there is about 55' of braid line on this vang.
DSC01279 On an O'Day 222, the side stay chainplates are aft of the mast as seen in the picture. Where the snap hook is connected to the stay, I'm using a long thin stainless steel "D" shackle attached to a turnbuckle toggle and this is where it has to go. The other snap hook is attached to a pad eye mounted through my deck on both sides of my boat. Note* In making up your pivot bridles, you need to make all the rope adjustments first before mounting the pad eyes. This requires that you snap one end of the pivot bridle you are make up, into the stay shackle and also snap it into the pad eye and just make your rope length adjustment by stretching out the pivot bridle while holding the pad eye to the deck until you can make the ring height and rope length adjustment by eye balling it. Remember, what we need to do at this point is get the rope lengths even and the ring needs to be even with the pivot point of the mast. Once you've attained this, mark the location of the pad eye on the deck with a pencil and mount it. After you've completed the first pivot bridle you can use it as a pattern to make up your other bridle. Then you can test it out by connecting it to the stay shackle on the other side of the boat and the loose pad eye by stretching it out and eye balling it. Both pad eyes should be about the same distance away from the chainplate on both sides of the boat. When you're able to get it right, then you can mount the pad eye on that side of the boat. I'm no expert on this, believe me. The fist time I mounted the pad eyes on my deck, I screwed up and mounted them in the wrong place. Consequently my bridles were uneven and I had to remember that the short rope on each bridle had to be snapped to the pad eye on both sides of the boat. After a year or two I decided to remove the pad eyes and use this procedure in order to get my bridles even. This required boring four new holes and filling the other four holes with Fiberglas Epoxy mixed with filler. Hey listen. I have several other holes on my deck where I had removed useless hardware, another four holes ain't going to make any difference. I just want anyone who reads this to understand where I'm coming from. I've been through the school of hard knocks just like you have and I've had more than my share of screw ups.
DSC01158 The pivot bridle shown in the picture is made up of two ropes, a large stainless steel ring and a couple of snap hooks. I have my pivot bridles pre-adjusted so that when they are connected and stretched out, the rings come even with the pivot point of the mast tabernacle. The thin line connected to the ring in this bridle is one of my baby stays which is attached to the mast yoke. The thicker rope is a bridle which is connected to the end of my Gin Pole. Note* If you make up a set of pivot bridles, it is important that you adjust the ropes so that they are even. This way, you can use them on either side of the boat.
IMG 0001 I use the "Lineman's Rolling Hitch" around the vinyl luff of the furler and then I take a round turn around the Gin Pole about 2/3s of the way out from the mast and secure it with two half hitches. The round turn with the half hitches can be seen in the pic just to the left of the furler luff. Now, with the excess line, take it around the vinyl luff and entrap it to the Gin Pole with a couple of half hitches around the Gin Pole.
DSC01038 In mast raising with a roller furler connected to the mast the question arises; What do I do with the fuler while the mast is going up or coming down? Well, you could have the Mate hold and guide it with the mast, or if you're by yourself, you can tie the furler luff off to the Gin Pole as seen in the picture.
DSC00423 For lack of a better term for his device, I've been calling it a mast yoke. It's main purpose is to anchor the temporary stays (baby stays) to the pivot bridles on each side of the boat. The baby stays offer some lateral stability in raising or lowering the mast. If you have a good roller reefing furler I recommend that you make up baby stays and pivot bridles if your boat is designed like this boat. If your boat's cabin top is designed like a MacGregor, you would only need the mast yoke and the baby stays. I firmly believe that this mast yoke would also work on an O'Day 25 or 26 in conjuntion with baby stays attached to the triangular plates, along with the boom bridles for over the bow mast raising.
DSC00628 The stern rail as mentioned previously is very helpful for supporting the mast crutch. I favor this mast crutch set up because it allows you to mount your rudder on the stern at the ramp and launch your boat if you choose to raise your mast with the boat sitting at the dock. Having a roller inside the crutch allows you to roll the mast aft or forward instead of having to man handle it as I was doing for many years.
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