Hinged Tabernacle
- Thread starter SUMB44
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This is the plug mounted to the 2 SS plates that hinge together? And you would be putting on an older 20 that used to have the aluminum tabernacle bracket, with SS bar that goes across the mast base?
If I am correct, and your mast base is in good shape, I would probably just used one of the SS tabernacle brackets from Dwyer Mast (who also makes the assembly DR lists.) https://www.dwyermast.com/items.asp...are&familyID=27&familyName=Tabernacles+&+Pins Otherwise, you'd have to make sure that the cross section of your mast matches the shape of the plug. If it matched, then you'd have to cut the bottom of the mast flush across, and drill and rivet the plug into the bottom of the mast. Then possibly fill holes in the deck to redrill for the 2 part hinge.
Whereas with a SS tabernacle bracket, you'd just measure for width of the mast, and hope the height of the pin matches the bracket in the upright position.
I've had both systems: tabernacle bracket on Harpoon 4.6, and hinged mast base on the 192. They both work fine. I can tell you that you MUST keep the mast on the centerline for the hinged base as you lower the mast close to horizontal. Recently we had to drop the mast on a 192 that is in poor shape, and was sitting cocked sideways on the trailer. The owner did not have any custom made crutches to hold the mast in the lowered position, and so someone tried to make a crutch using a patio umbrella base. Unfortunately, it did not hold the crutch up by itself, so they lashed the crutch to the motor mount to starboard of the centerline. As I lowered the mast and moved it to the side for the crutch, the mast base plate twisted. It should be easy enough to remove from the mast plug and straighten out, but it made me super thankful for all the custom crutches and mast stepping aids I've built for my boat. I guess I'm lucky I'm the kind of person who fiddles around with stuff, and makes things...
If I am correct, and your mast base is in good shape, I would probably just used one of the SS tabernacle brackets from Dwyer Mast (who also makes the assembly DR lists.) https://www.dwyermast.com/items.asp...are&familyID=27&familyName=Tabernacles+&+Pins Otherwise, you'd have to make sure that the cross section of your mast matches the shape of the plug. If it matched, then you'd have to cut the bottom of the mast flush across, and drill and rivet the plug into the bottom of the mast. Then possibly fill holes in the deck to redrill for the 2 part hinge.
Whereas with a SS tabernacle bracket, you'd just measure for width of the mast, and hope the height of the pin matches the bracket in the upright position.
I've had both systems: tabernacle bracket on Harpoon 4.6, and hinged mast base on the 192. They both work fine. I can tell you that you MUST keep the mast on the centerline for the hinged base as you lower the mast close to horizontal. Recently we had to drop the mast on a 192 that is in poor shape, and was sitting cocked sideways on the trailer. The owner did not have any custom made crutches to hold the mast in the lowered position, and so someone tried to make a crutch using a patio umbrella base. Unfortunately, it did not hold the crutch up by itself, so they lashed the crutch to the motor mount to starboard of the centerline. As I lowered the mast and moved it to the side for the crutch, the mast base plate twisted. It should be easy enough to remove from the mast plug and straighten out, but it made me super thankful for all the custom crutches and mast stepping aids I've built for my boat. I guess I'm lucky I'm the kind of person who fiddles around with stuff, and makes things...
Yeah, I'm not really sure a hinge would improve the situation much, and the mast would hang over the back a dreadful long distance... I also noted that they sell a hinged tabernacle... not sure how that works out, but same problem.
It is just quite a chore to raise and lower the mast, and due to impending repairs that must be made my wife and I will be lowering the mast and raising it again before we can splash the boat... spreader is practically falling of the mast as is.
It is just quite a chore to raise and lower the mast, and due to impending repairs that must be made my wife and I will be lowering the mast and raising it again before we can splash the boat... spreader is practically falling of the mast as is.
My boat is not too much smaller than yours. Stepping and unstepping the mast isn't trivial, but it's not hard when prepped.
My technique has evolved. Key to this is a crutch made from an 8' 2x4 with roller at the top, and "pintles" fashioned from a square U bolt cut in half to create L pintles. These fit into the gudgeons mounted on the back of the boat. It is difficult to go from the storage and travel crutch which holds the mast on the centerline, to the mast propped up on this tall crutch. The key to this is that the tall crutch has already lifted the mast to about 40º, which is the worst part of the lift or lower.
I stand on the cabin straddling the mast, facing aft. I can lift the mast from this high crutch position very easily, and I can easily see what the standing rigging is doing. Usually, the backstay kinks up the triangle plate for mainsheet attachment. This year I split some vinyl tubing to put over the triangle plate area, and it held the backstay straight so no kinking. The lower and upper shroud turnbuckles usually stay well upright if I place them in that position, but if I see one fall over, implying a bent stud may occur, I can lower the mast into the crutch and prepare again. Also, I have a few cleats on the sides of the house for asym tack line, and jib downhaul line, and I occasionally get something hooked there. Again, it's very easy to glance side to side quickly and catch these problems early on.
Lowering the mast would be much easier if I had a 6" or wider roller at the top of my crutch. It would be a bigger target to aim for. There is a company on the West Coast that makes a metal crutch, with sections that slide inside each other. It's designed for trailering, and to easily raise the mast up to my critical height, but I think it costs $250. If I had a welder and I hung out at metal supply companies, I know it would be quite easy to fabricate my own, but being a woodworker and not much of a metalworker, I make do fine with what I've got.
If you need pics, let me know, I have them at home.
Another way to make mast stepping and unstepping is to rig a gin pole, and some form of baby stays to hold the mast straight during the hoist. I think I'd also use a long crutch. The key to baby stays is to make SURE they pivot at the exact same point as the mast step hinge, otherwise they will be loose and won't hold the mast straight the whole way. I imagine a bridle rigged between stanchions, terminating at a welded ring at the pivot point, and then the stay going up the mast from there. Some people use winches on the gin pole, some use mainsheet purchase from the stemhead fitting, some people use an extension of the trailer winch stand (like Precision Boatworks does for factory supplied trailers on Precision boats.) There are loads of videos on YouTube, posts here, and Google searches that can show you many options. I haven't rigged anything yet, because I still feel young and strong enough to man up the mast myself.
Other people start the hoist in the cockpit, then somehow step up onto the house and lift it the rest of the way all facing forward. I don't know how the hell they do that; as soon as I try to step up, everything goes off the centerline, and that is NOT what you want to have happen.
My technique has evolved. Key to this is a crutch made from an 8' 2x4 with roller at the top, and "pintles" fashioned from a square U bolt cut in half to create L pintles. These fit into the gudgeons mounted on the back of the boat. It is difficult to go from the storage and travel crutch which holds the mast on the centerline, to the mast propped up on this tall crutch. The key to this is that the tall crutch has already lifted the mast to about 40º, which is the worst part of the lift or lower.
I stand on the cabin straddling the mast, facing aft. I can lift the mast from this high crutch position very easily, and I can easily see what the standing rigging is doing. Usually, the backstay kinks up the triangle plate for mainsheet attachment. This year I split some vinyl tubing to put over the triangle plate area, and it held the backstay straight so no kinking. The lower and upper shroud turnbuckles usually stay well upright if I place them in that position, but if I see one fall over, implying a bent stud may occur, I can lower the mast into the crutch and prepare again. Also, I have a few cleats on the sides of the house for asym tack line, and jib downhaul line, and I occasionally get something hooked there. Again, it's very easy to glance side to side quickly and catch these problems early on.
Lowering the mast would be much easier if I had a 6" or wider roller at the top of my crutch. It would be a bigger target to aim for. There is a company on the West Coast that makes a metal crutch, with sections that slide inside each other. It's designed for trailering, and to easily raise the mast up to my critical height, but I think it costs $250. If I had a welder and I hung out at metal supply companies, I know it would be quite easy to fabricate my own, but being a woodworker and not much of a metalworker, I make do fine with what I've got.
If you need pics, let me know, I have them at home.
Another way to make mast stepping and unstepping is to rig a gin pole, and some form of baby stays to hold the mast straight during the hoist. I think I'd also use a long crutch. The key to baby stays is to make SURE they pivot at the exact same point as the mast step hinge, otherwise they will be loose and won't hold the mast straight the whole way. I imagine a bridle rigged between stanchions, terminating at a welded ring at the pivot point, and then the stay going up the mast from there. Some people use winches on the gin pole, some use mainsheet purchase from the stemhead fitting, some people use an extension of the trailer winch stand (like Precision Boatworks does for factory supplied trailers on Precision boats.) There are loads of videos on YouTube, posts here, and Google searches that can show you many options. I haven't rigged anything yet, because I still feel young and strong enough to man up the mast myself.
Other people start the hoist in the cockpit, then somehow step up onto the house and lift it the rest of the way all facing forward. I don't know how the hell they do that; as soon as I try to step up, everything goes off the centerline, and that is NOT what you want to have happen.
When we finally managed to get the mast up, I started in the cockpit with the mast on my shoulder (I'm 6'3"), wife is on the bow clapped on to the main halyard... I raise the mast above my head and walk forward, extending on my tip-toes as i reach the companionway (hatch open) and by this point my wife is heaving on the halyard to raise it the rest of the way and by some miracle of physics we didn't lose the mast over the side. There were a few terrifying moments of lateral motion, but all's well that ended well enough. I'd love those pics you offered, btw.
It turns out I don't have the pictures I thought I had. Let's start off with version 1 of this crutch. I made it to be a trailering and storage crutch for my 15' Boston Whaler Harpoon 4.6. It is not as high as the crutch for the O'day, but all the design features are the same. Note the cross piece which prevents the crutch from turning in the gudgeons. Also note the tall cheek plates for the roller were shortened to be the same height of the bow roller sides, because if they are any higher than the roller, the hounds and shrouds hang up on them.
And 2 pics of the crutch in position on the boat:
You can see how the side plates are WAY too tall for the roller in this pic. I thought they would hold the mast on the roller better, but then decided A) they aren't necessary, the V of the roller is good enough, and B) You can see how the hounds and shrouds would hang up mercilessly.
Here is a pic of the tall crutch in place on the O'day. You can see how it holds the mast up at 45-50º. It allows me to roll the mast from the pulpit to the step, and insert the pin. I'm not saying this rolling is easy, what with having to hold the mast at that angle while it tries to roll back down, but it allows me to position the mast and get the hinge pin in by myself. Oh, and you can also see my travel/storage crutch in position.
Here are a couple of pics of an unstepping at the end of a season. Looks like I had 2 people in the boat and one on the ground with a line to jib halyard. None of these extra people are needed; I can unstep myself. But at Club haul-out day, everyone wants to lend a hand, so I allowed them to be excessive.
You can see my "face aft and straddle the mast" lifting/lowering technique in the first pic. In the next pic, you can see how the mast is angled up pretty high when lowered into the crutch. After this, it's unfasten the step hinge pin, move the mast base onto the pulpit bracket (I have a custom bit of wood that spans the pulpit and holds the mast), and then lower the mast from the raising crutch to the trailering/storage crutch from back in the cockpit. The worst part of the system is the fact that the raising crutch is on the centerline of the boat, and so is the storage crutch. I guess I lean the mast alongside the raising crutch, and when I lower the mast into the storage crutch, I hold it off-center to put the mast into it, and then it leans against the raising crutch until I take that off the boat. The raising crutch is stored on the trailer with bungees.
Hope this helps.