Last week i collided with a powerboat in the marina and sheered off one of the inner shrouds. I gave it a quick fix with the help of a seasoned sailor at west marine. Now I need to get up the mast about 8 feet above the boom to attach the new rigging. I've considered a "traditional" ladder of sorts, attached of course at the top and bottom; a "rope" ladder; a home-made ladder that rests on the hardware where the boom attaches to the mast [maybe too heavy for that]; and other ideas as well. . . ALL of these are backed up with one or two halyards and some sort of harness on me, with another person at the ready should i fall the 5-10 feet to the deck. . . [where i have 47 oversized pillows laid out just in case]. Any suggestions???
Anybody gone up the mast on a new 25'
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Drop the mast?
I'm not completely familiar with the rigging setup on the 25, but I had a 26 and I would never have considered going up the mast on that. First of all, I wouldn't be comfortable going up the stick on a boat that small without a heavy keel below to offset my bulk going up. Second, if you're going up to replace damaged rigging, that says to me that the integrity of what is there is not 100%. Again not a situation that would encourage me to go up. Third, on a trailerable boat like that, which has lowering and raising the mast part of its design, I'd just drop the mast. It'd be a lot safer. Now, if you do decide to go up, I wish you luck and hope it all works out well. But personally, I wouldn't do it. And don't forget those pillows. T J
I'm not completely familiar with the rigging setup on the 25, but I had a 26 and I would never have considered going up the mast on that. First of all, I wouldn't be comfortable going up the stick on a boat that small without a heavy keel below to offset my bulk going up. Second, if you're going up to replace damaged rigging, that says to me that the integrity of what is there is not 100%. Again not a situation that would encourage me to go up. Third, on a trailerable boat like that, which has lowering and raising the mast part of its design, I'd just drop the mast. It'd be a lot safer. Now, if you do decide to go up, I wish you luck and hope it all works out well. But personally, I wouldn't do it. And don't forget those pillows. T J
I wouldn't attempt to go up mine
I would'nt attempt to go up the mast. I think you would find yourself in the water pretty quickly. I don't think the boat has enough ballast to really go up the mast without the boat heeling. I would just drop the mast. You can do it in the water on the new 25. It's just as easy to do it in the water as on the trailer. The struts provide the side to side support, so the broken/repaired shroud shouldn't be an issue with lowering the mast as usual.
I would'nt attempt to go up the mast. I think you would find yourself in the water pretty quickly. I don't think the boat has enough ballast to really go up the mast without the boat heeling. I would just drop the mast. You can do it in the water on the new 25. It's just as easy to do it in the water as on the trailer. The struts provide the side to side support, so the broken/repaired shroud shouldn't be an issue with lowering the mast as usual.
Dropping the mast and then some
Is that a Schaefer SnapFurl I see? I love mine, but I've never disconnected it in order to drop the mast without dropping tools, pins and furler parts on the _ground_. ...RickM...
Is that a Schaefer SnapFurl I see? I love mine, but I've never disconnected it in order to drop the mast without dropping tools, pins and furler parts on the _ground_. ...RickM...
Snap Furler
Man! I wish I knew the answer to your question. I'm assuming you're talking about the roller furling mechanism. We've removed/installed it twice, but never over H20. Should be interesting. . . I plan on cleaning up that mess of line in the photo and adding a block of some sort to lead the line back to the port-stern cleat for added strength until we get the shroud fixed.
Man! I wish I knew the answer to your question. I'm assuming you're talking about the roller furling mechanism. We've removed/installed it twice, but never over H20. Should be interesting. . . I plan on cleaning up that mess of line in the photo and adding a block of some sort to lead the line back to the port-stern cleat for added strength until we get the shroud fixed.
Its a hood furler
Its a Hood seaflex furler on the new 25. The trick to making an easy job out of disconnecting the furler is to make sure your mainsheet has enough room to put a lot of tension on the mast when you use it in the anchor locker. If you start with the gin pole pointed up a bit rather than level, it will give you enough line to put enough tension on the mast. This will allow the furler to go slack. Then all you have to do is hang over the front, remove the pin and ring and lower the mast. Nothing is really subject to falling in the water on this system except the pin and the ring that locks the pin in place. It is also best if you put the mast crutch on, but you could do the work you need to without it. One more word of advice here. Make sure you tie off the jib line to something solid in the cockpit. It is the key to keeping your mast from crashing down. Don't rely on the rope clutch alone. It also helps if you are doing this all in calm water. The most time consuming part of all of this is taking the jib and main (and boom) off the boat. The mast lowering itself is a piece of cake.
Its a Hood seaflex furler on the new 25. The trick to making an easy job out of disconnecting the furler is to make sure your mainsheet has enough room to put a lot of tension on the mast when you use it in the anchor locker. If you start with the gin pole pointed up a bit rather than level, it will give you enough line to put enough tension on the mast. This will allow the furler to go slack. Then all you have to do is hang over the front, remove the pin and ring and lower the mast. Nothing is really subject to falling in the water on this system except the pin and the ring that locks the pin in place. It is also best if you put the mast crutch on, but you could do the work you need to without it. One more word of advice here. Make sure you tie off the jib line to something solid in the cockpit. It is the key to keeping your mast from crashing down. Don't rely on the rope clutch alone. It also helps if you are doing this all in calm water. The most time consuming part of all of this is taking the jib and main (and boom) off the boat. The mast lowering itself is a piece of cake.
Let's do some rough calculations here,
Lets figure the distance from the point up the mast where you want to be to the bottom of the keel to be 18 ft. Then we will designate the waterline to be fulcrim or pivot point of the boat. This point will be up 2 feet from the bottom of the keel. I would say your keel is roughly around 1,600 pound. The mechanical advantage would be 16/2 or 8.0. if we divide the 1,600 lbs by 8 we get that the weight that would offset the weight of the keel at that height is 200 lbs. If you do not wish for the boat to tip uver you would need the person going up to be at least 20% lighter or not to exceed 160 pounds. Boat wakes, currents and even wind can influnce the forces keeping the boat upright and with such short margin of safety it would not be advisable to go up there. This is a long way to say, sorry, drop the mast. A proffesional rigger may stack the odds on his favor by anchoring the hull sides down to restrict rotation and by having someone shift their weight on deck to maintain balance while he works. You may consult one and see what the charge may be. You will need to tune and inspect the rigging anyways. Good luck.
Lets figure the distance from the point up the mast where you want to be to the bottom of the keel to be 18 ft. Then we will designate the waterline to be fulcrim or pivot point of the boat. This point will be up 2 feet from the bottom of the keel. I would say your keel is roughly around 1,600 pound. The mechanical advantage would be 16/2 or 8.0. if we divide the 1,600 lbs by 8 we get that the weight that would offset the weight of the keel at that height is 200 lbs. If you do not wish for the boat to tip uver you would need the person going up to be at least 20% lighter or not to exceed 160 pounds. Boat wakes, currents and even wind can influnce the forces keeping the boat upright and with such short margin of safety it would not be advisable to go up there. This is a long way to say, sorry, drop the mast. A proffesional rigger may stack the odds on his favor by anchoring the hull sides down to restrict rotation and by having someone shift their weight on deck to maintain balance while he works. You may consult one and see what the charge may be. You will need to tune and inspect the rigging anyways. Good luck.
More calcs
Benny - I appreciate your engineering approach to the subject question but the waterline wouldn't be the fulcrum, would it? When we are under sail, the fulcrum is below the waterline. I'm too lazy to do a complete analysis but whatever the point of rotation when we heel would be the fulcrum. If the waterline were to ace as the fulcrum, the whole hull on the windward side of the boat would lift out of the water with the hull on the lee side still at the waterline. As far as the horizontal force on the boat, the centroid of the sailplan, which as we know can exceed 200 square feet, is located approximately 12' above the waterline when under full sail. The study of statics tells us that if we multiply the average force exerted on the sailplan by the moment arm, which is approximately 12' in this case, a 1 lb. force exerted on the centroid yields 2400 ft/lbs. We all know that a 12 knot wind exerts a great deal more than 1 lb. of force. The point I'm trying to make is that when we are under sail in a 12 knot wind, the horizontal force exerted on our boats far exceeds 2400 ft/lbs. If there is no horizontal force acting on the 200 lb. man, the resistance to his weight is straight down. A man would need a tremendous amount of horizontal force exerted on him to equal a boat under sail. Assuming no horizontal force, he would need to be suspended 12' from the centerline of the boat (200 lb. x 12') to equal a fully rigged boat with 1 lb. of force exerted upon it by the wind. I'm not very skilled as a sailor or as an engineer for that matter. I'm trying to apply stuff I learned in a statics class 35 years ago. I'm not sure it transfers to naval architecture.
Benny - I appreciate your engineering approach to the subject question but the waterline wouldn't be the fulcrum, would it? When we are under sail, the fulcrum is below the waterline. I'm too lazy to do a complete analysis but whatever the point of rotation when we heel would be the fulcrum. If the waterline were to ace as the fulcrum, the whole hull on the windward side of the boat would lift out of the water with the hull on the lee side still at the waterline. As far as the horizontal force on the boat, the centroid of the sailplan, which as we know can exceed 200 square feet, is located approximately 12' above the waterline when under full sail. The study of statics tells us that if we multiply the average force exerted on the sailplan by the moment arm, which is approximately 12' in this case, a 1 lb. force exerted on the centroid yields 2400 ft/lbs. We all know that a 12 knot wind exerts a great deal more than 1 lb. of force. The point I'm trying to make is that when we are under sail in a 12 knot wind, the horizontal force exerted on our boats far exceeds 2400 ft/lbs. If there is no horizontal force acting on the 200 lb. man, the resistance to his weight is straight down. A man would need a tremendous amount of horizontal force exerted on him to equal a boat under sail. Assuming no horizontal force, he would need to be suspended 12' from the centerline of the boat (200 lb. x 12') to equal a fully rigged boat with 1 lb. of force exerted upon it by the wind. I'm not very skilled as a sailor or as an engineer for that matter. I'm trying to apply stuff I learned in a statics class 35 years ago. I'm not sure it transfers to naval architecture.
it's decided
we're definitely dropping the mast, and i truly do appreciate all the time everybody's spent helping us out! i just never get over how the community of sailors comes to the aid of others. . . very cool!
we're definitely dropping the mast, and i truly do appreciate all the time everybody's spent helping us out! i just never get over how the community of sailors comes to the aid of others. . . very cool!
While dropping is fairly simple, going up is no
Big deal either. The 260 is notably higher than the 25 and I (at 170#) have been up to the top a few times (lights, windex, etc.) If you're nervous about the rigging going that short distance to the inner connection, you probably shouldn't put the sails up, because they would certainly snap the mast in half if it were that weak. This assumes your not going up while under sail, in which the wind blowing in the sail with you making a very high CG, would probably cause a knock-down on a boat that size.
Big deal either. The 260 is notably higher than the 25 and I (at 170#) have been up to the top a few times (lights, windex, etc.) If you're nervous about the rigging going that short distance to the inner connection, you probably shouldn't put the sails up, because they would certainly snap the mast in half if it were that weak. This assumes your not going up while under sail, in which the wind blowing in the sail with you making a very high CG, would probably cause a knock-down on a boat that size.
Gone up my H23
...Several times. Not to the top but above the spreader! Just used a bosuns chair. I did snap the winch off once but just a few feet up, the rivets where old and rusted so replaced them and all is fine!
...Several times. Not to the top but above the spreader! Just used a bosuns chair. I did snap the winch off once but just a few feet up, the rivets where old and rusted so replaced them and all is fine!
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