Guidance on transporting a 26' mast (from Tanzer 22)

[Dave0963]

Good afternoon folks!
The weather is improving so I'm making moves to start the electrical work on my "new to me" Tanzer 22.

I'd like to work on the mast in my workshop, which necessitates bringing it home from the marina. I am concwerned with the mast bending en route.

I will support the mast with a brace from the hitch receiver at the back bumper and making a 2" by 4" splint on the roof racks extending forward for an additional 5 feet of support. I expect there to be approximatley 5 feet of mast, unsupported at each end of the mast.

What are your thoughts on the likelyhood of this mast bending?

Working in a shop is preferred as this is where I have all the tools and supplies are readily available.


Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

 

[JoeWhite]

Why not place the mast on the boat and trailer it into your shop. It is safer that way.
If you do not have room to store your boat at your shop then remove the mast and take the boat back to the marina.

 

[Dave0963]

Why not place the mast on the boat and trailer it into your shop. It is safer that way.
If you do not have room to store your boat at your shop then remove the mast and take the boat back to the marina.

 

[Dave0963]

That would be ideal. Except my trailer is not road worthy and the marina is 60 highway miles away from my shop.

 

[dlochner]

The mast on a Tanzer 22 is a telephone pole and very stiff. Tanzer used the same extrusion on their larger boats. Support it over the cab and off the trailer hitch as you described and you will be fine. Get some help putting it on the truck, that sucker is heavy!

 

[jssailem]

Like you do on the back bumper put a support on the front bumper to carry the weight of the mast. That way the mast should have maybe 2 ft of overhang at each end. Put a flag on the mast at the back end. You do not want anyone stop to close and spear themselves. Also give plenty of room to the drivers ahead and you might be ok.

You might check the DMV rules for carrying a long pole on a car. They may have a special rule in your state. 60 miles is a fair way to go. You might encounter a State Police officer that has read the rule book and knows about carrying long poles on a car/truck

 

[dLj]

In the past I've made a carrying platform for masts. Take some 2X4's and plywood and make a bed the length of the mast. It doesn't have to be fancy, just done well enough so the support of the mast is carried by the platform. Use good padding to make the mast stable and not rubbing on anything or you can rub through your anodizing.

You probably don't need to do all that for your mast, but if you are worried about it, it's an easy enough thing to do to remove all doubt. You will want to make sure wherever your mast is supported, however you carry it, to wrap those points of contact in protective cloth or something so you don't get wear at the points of contact. It's amazing how much vibration happens running down the road.

On the back end run a red flag. I've not seen a similar requirement on the front.

dj

 

[dlochner]

I owned a Tanzer 22 for 17 years and am quite familiar with the mast. As I said earlier, the mast is like a telephone pole. After trying to step the mast without a crane or gin pole once, we opted for using a gin pole. When the mast was picked up at one point in the middle of the mast, it did not bend, not an inch. The mast is stiff and way over built for a boat its size. One average person has trouble picking up the mast due to its weight, in contrast a J24 mast can easily be picked up by one person.

A 5' overhang at either end will not be a problem, the mast will be fine. It's only going to be sitting up there for a couple of hours.

 

[shemandr]

I've used an extension ladder on the roof of my SUV to support a mast from a Ranger 29 from the marina to home. For those who don't know that mast is also heavily built - being a masthead rig. It was only about five miles and max speed was probably around 35 mph.

 

[SteveHughessails]

The masts on both of our trailer sailers surely bounce around when travelling. The ladder (I like that idea) would surely support your mast as good or better than the 20 foot span on ours.

 

[LLoyd B]

30 foot mast supported at 5 feet from each end should be a pretty easy to do with pretty much any boat trailer set up properly. Although a mast running down the freeway with one end strapped to the top of my car on blankets so as to pivot and the other end sitting on a ladder on the boat trailer might look strange but my wallet would feel warm and fuzzy.

 

[jssailem]

The Tanzer is a masthead sloop. With the I specification being 28.4ft and the mast being deck stepped it is reasonable to assume that the mast is about 30ft long.

If he is driving a reasonable midsized sedan (not a mini cooper ) or a midsized SUV (i.e. Honda Pilot) the vehicle length (bumper to bumper) would be about 16ft. That means 7-8 feet of mast is protruding out beyond the ends of the vehicle. it does not seem viable to be driving 60 miles from marina to home.

A standard pickup would be about 19-20 ft long. There again 5ft would be in the air off the front and 5 ft hanging free off the rear end of the vehicle.

I am going to repeat: the Highway Traffic Act probably has stated rules for driving a vehicle with a “Protruding Load”. Understanding them would help a lot before getting on the road.

The ladder idea would help stabilize the mast. Supports for 70% of the middle of the mast on a trailer and spread over a pickup would likely stabilize the mast. I know when carrying my mast that percentage worked as we moved the mast from the boat to a storage location in the boat yard.

Good luck. Let us know what you do.

 

[Dave0963]

THank you for all your thoughts, insights and instructions.

I like the extension ladder suggestion and I have an assortment to choose from. Meaning "no additional costs". Beautiful! Plus there will be no twisting as the cab (roof rack) is independant to the hitch/receiver support.

Now, I just need to go to the Highways department to see what the rules are regarding overhangs and what not.

Once again this forum has proven indespensible. I hope to be able to contribute some day.

Cheers