Anyone have pics of mast lowering Bridle attachment?

Aug 9, 2019
37
Hunter H26 Hayden Island
I bought my H26 used and in the water and have never lowered the mast. I want to lower the mast. I dont have the bridles, but figure I can make a couple. Does anyone have pics of how they attach?

The Railroad has stopped manning the tressel and wont open it without 4 hours notice anymore. So I'm land locked. I want to do a mod that allows me to lower the mast to about 45* and go under the bridge and then raise it again. But it starts with lowering it and doing some much needed maintenance of the mast. Masthead light, etc..

I am thinking of a quick release fitting on the forestay. Do I need to loosten the side shrouds?
 
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bmorr

.
Apr 5, 2009
75
Hunter 26 Pueblo Lake CO
I do not have a photo but this might help. The bridles attach to the mast with a hook that goes into a hole in the mast. You do not need to loosen the shrouds. It is very important to attach the bridles since once the shrouds go slack there is no side to side support and if it goes sideways there will be damage. We have had our 26 about 10 years and still love her-have fun.
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
I didn't know SBO sold them... or I wouldn't have made my own.... I bent my hook and had to make a new one.... here is a pic of how I made the "hook"... You can find these hooks at Tractor Supply and then use a hacksaw. Then it is simply a matter of thimbles, and wire nuts...
2016-09-27 19.05.30.jpg
2016-09-27 19.08.34.jpg
 
Sep 22, 2018
1,869
Hunter 216 Kingston
I bought my H26 used and in the water and have never lowered the mast. I want to lower the mast. I dont have the bridles, but figure I can make a couple. Does anyone have pics of how they attach?

The Railroad has stopped manning the tressel and wont open it without 4 hours notice anymore. So I'm land locked. I want to do a mod that allows me to lower the mast to about 45* and go under the bridge and then raise it again. But it starts with lowering it and doing some much needed maintenance of the mast. Masthead light, etc..

I am thinking of a quick release fitting on the forestay. Do I need to loosten the side shrouds?
Instruction found here along with other info.


I’m not sure I would try moving the boat with the mast at 45 degree or any other angle other than all the way down or up.
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
I’m not sure I would try moving the boat with the mast at 45 degree or any other angle other than all the way down or up.
:plus:

I would add to that ... make sure you are PARKED on LEVEL ground. The bent bridle hook seen in my pic above occured when I tried to lower my mast in the slip (was going to change the mast head light bulb)... and a dirt bag on a jet ski ignored the no wake ... the swaying popped the hook and fortunately the mast was almost all the way down but... I did bend my mast foot and had to replace it.

But all is not lost.... you may want to brush up on your trigonometyr skills and try something along these lines....

In all seriousness... you could use an 12V airpump for an air mattress with an addapter to your ballast tank plug and blow out about half of your tank... then have a crew member on the cabin top lean onto your starboard shroud... calculate the heel you need to clear the bridge and put a inclomete in the cockpit. You need to heel to starboard to keep your O.B. prop in the water. Get to the other side of the bridge and refill your ballast tank and go...

I would practice this at a slip so you know how much ballast you need to blow out and to make sure you don't create a situation where you boat wants to lay on its side and not come back up.
 
Sep 22, 2018
1,869
Hunter 216 Kingston
In all seriousness... you could use an 12V airpump for an air mattress with an addapter to your ballast tank plug and blow out about half of your tank... then have a crew member on the cabin top lean onto your starboard shroud... calculate the heel you need to clear the bridge and put a inclomete in the cockpit. You need to heel to starboard to keep your O.B. prop in the water. Get to the other side of the bridge and refill your ballast tank and go...

I would practice this at a slip so you know how much ballast you need to blow out and to make sure you don't create a situation where you boat wants to lay on its side and not come back up.
I don’t know that I would try this either. Self righting a H26 might be tricky! Columbia River traffic might not like the idea either.

If the only “safe” way to lower-raise the mast is on the trailer why not just trailer around the railway path and retrieve - launch on the other side. Lot of work for a sail, are there slips on the side you want or sail on or could you just park the trailer with the boat on it?
 
Aug 9, 2019
37
Hunter H26 Hayden Island
I don't have a trailer. It will be an on the water thing!
I am going to make a gin pole from electrical conduit from home depot. And use rope for the through pole attachments and use rope for the bridles. Do the whole thing for $20. And use my mainsheet for the lowering tackle. Probably leave it at the angle when I get home to my dock and then it's ready to get back out of the trapped area and raise it once through the bridges. Hook the main sheet between the fore deck eye in front of the roller furler and the other end to the roller furler.

You guys will probably tell me I'm crazy. LOL. But I don't see why it wont work. I'll take pics and a video.

I am going to shorten the mast by about 4 feet. I am 43 feet tall and should be 39. I believe it's not the original mast. But it's close other than height. And remember my fore stay allows the mast to tilt back 18" instead of the 6 it's supposed to and the forstay is bottomed out. Hope to shorten with a new fitting to allow for proper trim of the sails. It's got terrible lee helm and is actually dangerous IMHO. I am used to being about to lash the tiller and have the boat stay on course. That's where I am headed. And not have to fight the tiller constantly. I know its the position of the sail plan.
 
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Jimmy

.
Jan 28, 2018
176
Hunter 26 lake Powell lake mead
The one time I lowered mast on the water I was nervous about boat rocking so I also put ratchet straps around mast on each side ‍
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
I don't have a trailer. It will be an on the water thing!
I am going to make a gin pole from electrical conduit from home depot. And use rope for the through pole attachments and use rope for the bridles. Do the whole thing for $20. And use my mainsheet for the lowering tackle. Probably leave it at the angle when I get home to my dock and then it's ready to get back out of the trapped area and raise it once through the bridges. Hook the main sheet between the fore deck eye in front of the roller furler and the other end to the roller furler.

You guys will probably tell me I'm crazy. LOL. But I don't see why it wont work. I'll take pics and a video.

I am going to shorten the mast by about 4 feet. I am 43 feet tall and should be 39. I believe it's not the original mast. But it's close other than height. And remember my fore stay allows the mast to tilt back 18" instead of the 6 it's supposed to and the forstay is bottomed out. Hope to shorten with a new fitting to allow for proper trim of the sails.
There is a lot to unpack in that last post... first off, I've made a gin pole... electrical coduit is not rigid enough nor strong enough but you can go to the fence area in Lowes and get what you need. A top rail is the exact same diameter as the original gin pole. ... (see pics)...BTW, the bent gin pole in the first pic is what happened when I lowered my mast in the slip...

On shortening your mast... the original specs for the H26 have the mast height at 40.33 feet from DWL... you mention actual mast length is 43 feet but I'm thinking you meant height from DWL (air draft).

And a rake of 18":yikes:.... are your shrouds slack? If not then you will definitly need to slake the aft shroud to allow the mast to rock forward. An 18" rake seems really dangerous. The rig is being held up almost entirely by the forestay.
 

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Sep 21, 2020
124
Hunter 26 Lake Mead
Don't underestimate the pressures that will be applied to the gin pole. My guess is that electrical conduit will collapse so make sure you're not under the mast.
 
Jun 8, 2004
10,024
-na -NA Anywhere USA
@joecool911

Send me a private message with phone number and location.
i will be glad o assist. I designed the mast raising system for Hunter and involved with the design of your boat.

Dave C0ndon alias crazy dave
 
Apr 27, 2010
1,236
Hunter 23 Lake Wallenpaupack
That last photo seems to be a form of halyard restrainer. Your forestay mounts very close above the halyard sheave, so the halyard would be almost parallel to the stay without it. I suspect the PO had problems with the halyard wrapping around the stay when furling. Creating a bigger angle like you have helps prevent the line from wrapping. That fitting may or may not be the best choice for a restrainer. But if you can raise the sail pretty easily through it, keep in mind you should not have to do that very often.
 
Apr 27, 2010
1,236
Hunter 23 Lake Wallenpaupack
Also, don't underestimate the forces on the mast when part way down. I would never consider moving the boat while it's not fixed vertical or all the way down. At say 45 degrees it'll want to sway sideways, easily damaging the foot or mast extrusion, or worse. It's happened to me even on the trailer.
 
Aug 9, 2019
37
Hunter H26 Hayden Island
That last photo seems to be a form of halyard restrainer. Your forestay mounts very close above the halyard sheave, so the halyard would be almost parallel to the stay without it. I suspect the PO had problems with the halyard wrapping around the stay when furling. Creating a bigger angle like you have helps prevent the line from wrapping. That fitting may or may not be the best choice for a restrainer. But if you can raise the sail pretty easily through it, keep in mind you should not have to do that very often.
Thanks for that. It doesn't allow for raising the height of the roller furler drum. Do you guys leave it attached directly to the attachment point at the bow? When I got the boat it had a webbing loop to raise it's height off the deck.