Anyone raise h260 mast without gin pole, using hands to get third up then ALSO really pulling on jib line from point of bow? Maybe using a pulley to amplify pulling force of the jib line. Using muscles all the way including 4 people pushing it up from rear as much as possible and with people standing on top. I gotta believe this has been tested and found OK and maybe 10% of manly men with friends do it this simple way. Anyone see or heard of this? I've raised by myself a Macgregor 26c mast just pushing from rear so I know the h260 is much heavier but the principle is the same. Thank you. - - D
Anyone raise h260 mast without gin pole, using team of hands to get third up then ALSO really pulling on jib line from bow?
- Thread starter Davenport
- Start date
Without a gin pole the force from the line to the bow is going to be principally forward and not up. A good way to break things. until the mast is up 20 or 25 degrees take it easy on the tension. Lots of ways to fashion a gin pole don't do without one.
I’ve built a gin pole for an H26 before. The standard chain-link fence poles sold at Lowe’s and Home Depot are the same diameter as the factory Hunter gin pole. Add some stainless steel cable, a few thimbles, and wire nuts, and for under $30 you can make a gin pole that’s essentially identical to the original Hunter version.
Make something like this to go on the end of the pole to clip your halyard to and use some ratchet straps to make baby stay to stabilize the mast on the way up. Review the owners manual to see how the baby stays are used.
Make something like this to go on the end of the pole to clip your halyard to and use some ratchet straps to make baby stay to stabilize the mast on the way up. Review the owners manual to see how the baby stays are used.
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Place a block at the stemhead and run a line from the forestay through the block and back to a winch to pull the mast up. This makes life much easier and safer once the mast is high enough for force on the forestay to be vertical and horizontal.
The mast crutch for h26 already raises mast past horizontal, has no one just used block and tackle and pulled very very hard on line to get the mast to start coming up? And either succeeded or totally failed with bent metal and crying? Just wondered.
Yes, I have done this with a well trained crew and no gin pole on my H260. The trouble is I can't muster that team of people on launch day. I'm lucky to find the one helper that is absolutely required to rig and launch a h260, even with the gin polll. That mast and standing rigging is a stone bitch to raise. I've asked strangers from the parking lot to assist when I was at the point of pulling the mast up.
I used to look for a declining slope in the parking lot so the nose was down a little. That def. helped. I suppose in a pinch, you could block the tires on the trailer, disconnect the hitch and let the nose of the trailer down to get the same effect.
I owned my H260 for 10 years. The worst days with that boat were when I attempted to rig it solo! Otherwise I grew to love that family safe (low performance) boat.
Did you pull on a rope at the bow with a block and tackle pulley system giving you some mechanical advantage? . . . . . I have hopes Hunter did all the design work so the mast can't easily drift off center or alignment.
I wonder if there is some extending pole system to push from the rear no the mast mid height. Do sailors ever use such a thing?
I guess the mast is under 100 pounds but wow that is enough if momentum gets going it is hard to control. I guess if you dropped it a foot and stopped it over 1 foot that doubles the force of weight felt. . . . If the mast drops a foot onto your foot, wow, x25, says AI. """"If 1 pound drops a foot and hits your foot and compresses the skin and tissue by half an inch, it feels like 25 pounds. """"
- D
I wonder if there is some extending pole system to push from the rear no the mast mid height. Do sailors ever use such a thing?
I guess the mast is under 100 pounds but wow that is enough if momentum gets going it is hard to control. I guess if you dropped it a foot and stopped it over 1 foot that doubles the force of weight felt. . . . If the mast drops a foot onto your foot, wow, x25, says AI. """"If 1 pound drops a foot and hits your foot and compresses the skin and tissue by half an inch, it feels like 25 pounds. """"
- D
I had a furling jib. It had to be hooked into the mast before raising. I tied a harness around the drum and connected it to the trailer winch. If the jib was even inches off of center, it would twist the mast to the point the pin at the base couldn't go in.
The only realistic way to raise the mast is with a gin pole. Easier to fabricat a gin pole, as described in one of the earlier responses, then come up with new tools and methods.
The only realistic way to raise the mast is with a gin pole. Easier to fabricat a gin pole, as described in one of the earlier responses, then come up with new tools and methods.
I raised my 23 solo like this all the time. Mainsheet tackle with a tail running back to the cockpit. I would shoulder it up from the back of the boat, start hauling, easily get up past 45. Doing this I could get enough tension to prestretch the shrouds and hook up the forestay without touching any turnbuckles