H260 Mast Raising

[Deucer]

Ok guys,

Mast on the H260 up for the first time in over a year! Yeah! I do have a question. I'm running the jib halyard through the port fairlead, then back a friction block, then to the portside cleat. We've noticed that this imparts a HUGE amount of side tension on the mast. My "fix" is to run another line from the forward part of the mast base (theres a metal loop there) starboard just like the jib halyard. This helps, but not completely.

Some other info. I've got a Charleston Spar mast and all lines come out at the base of the mast ( blocks for three on each side). The jib halyard comes out the aft port block.

Ok...is the tension normal, or am I rigging the thing wrong?

Deucer

 

[soling42]

Sounds right to me(but I'm a visual guy) and yes there's certainly an uncomfortable amount of side pressure and pins/blocks/clutches that could fail when raising a 260 mast as it's "supposed" to be done. As for me, I usually connect both the the jib and spinnaker halyards to the gin pole. Equally tensioned I'd tie the spinnaker halyard around the mast at the exit block and cleat the jib halyard on a clutch at the cabin roof.

For me there's nothing more anxiety ridden than raising a good sized mast, hopefully without incident. Redundancy has been my friend so far.

 

[Deucer]

Dave,

Thanks. I'll post a picture of what I do when we lower the mast later this week. We broke the mast foot two years ago (May 08) because of sideways tension. Hey..does your mast have rubber gommets in the holes? I think my boat uses a 7/16 clevis pin. I'd like to upgrade and I've got an idea of using a longer pin with a rounded point (easier to get through the mast). I'll let everybody know if this idea works.