How much does the mast weigh???

Steve Dion · Apr 20, 2010

I do not think you can handle the mast on a 40' sailboat without a crane. This mast must weight several hundred pounds. Most of the trailer sailors can have problems with their short sticks on a 26' boat.

The cost of replacement is not worth the risk.

Patrik · Apr 20, 2010

Don´t make it without a crane. I do this every year and with a mastcrane. The weight is more than 250kg and the momentum of the mast with your idea is enormous. You will need at least two strong people to carry tha mast on the gound. Crash and disaster is the result. I have done it "your way" with mast on 20 feet boats and that is ok. Use a crane and fix a rope under the top spreader and lift. Good luck

Andreas7699 · Apr 21, 2010

Dont try it.

Rick Webb · Apr 21, 2010

Not That Much

But try lifting a 2X4 strailght up from the bottom two or three feet. It is the moment of the part of the mast you can not reach that will bite you in the ass.

I have seen folks use the halyards from two neighboring boats to lift a mast if you have a couple of freinds on either side of you it may be worth a try.

Vinny · Apr 21, 2010

Rick Webb said:
But try lifting a 2X4 strailght up from the bottom two or three feet. It is the moment of the part of the mast you can not reach that will bite you in the ass.

I have seen folks use the halyards from two neighboring boats to lift a mast if you have a couple of freinds on either side of you it may be worth a try.

Rick,

Your first advice is good advice but then you go on to your second piece of advice and I'm wondering how muck Jack Daniels have you consumed between the two pieces of advice. You might get away with it on a 24' boat but not so on a larger boat.

That mast weighs a lot and when you have the top of it 50+' up over the deck and the bottom hanging straight down it is going to be unruly to say the least. It has to come up a foot or so to clear the wire chase for starters and hang there to disconnect the wires so all of the shrouds need to be off. Also consider that if you were to drop it straight down from there it could go right through the bottom of the boat.

Bottom line is don't even think about trying it.

Vinny · Apr 21, 2010

KandD said:
I assumed that would be the response. How much should I budget for this?

Just ask the yard that is going to haul the boat to put it on the trailer. It can't be more than $100-150 over the haul out.

Steve Dion · Apr 21, 2010

Assuming that you are going to loosen the rigging, I would think that they may charge for the equipment/labor charge.

I would think that Vinny's estimate would be good. It should be included in the charge to pull the boat and put it on the trailer, but everyone does these things different.

Rick Webb · Apr 21, 2010

Works Fine Vinney

So long as the boats are the same size or better a little larger. Each of them put the main halyard around the spreader and raise the mast up then real carefuly an inch or so at a time one at a time lower the mast into the step. Up is easy down require finese. It aint rocket surgery but it does require 5 or 6 guys. Jack showed up after it was done.

I can't be the only one who has seen this done.

Dan Johnson · Apr 21, 2010

Rick...

When I was a dealer, I saw the consequences when a guy lost control of the mast-lowering on his water-ballast Hunter 26. It ruined the mast and sent him to the hospital. And it had the side struts for bottom support and alignment.

A 40 foot boat's mast is tremendously different from a trailer boat's. Don't forget there's the weight of all the halyards, wiring, and masthead hardware that must be considered. A yard near me uses a crane on his travel-lift to set and pull masts. Even he has trouble with the oscillations of the larger ones. It's just not worth DIY on that size boat.

Vinny · Apr 21, 2010

What size?

Rick Webb said:
So long as the boats are the same size or better a little larger. Each of them put the main halyard around the spreader and raise the mast up then real carefuly an inch or so at a time one at a time lower the mast into the step. Up is easy down require finese. It aint rocket surgery but it does require 5 or 6 guys. Jack showed up after it was done.

I can't be the only one who has seen this done.

Rick,

What size boat did you see this done on?

Rick Webb · Apr 21, 2010

It Was a 33.er

The boat on one side was a 34' or 36' Columbia the boat on the other side was an Oday about a foot larger than the Columbia the boat we lowered and raised the mast on was a Yamaha 33. I was in college at the time and was there as extra muscle. The guys who did it had done it a number of times before it went real smooth I did not now enough to understand the complexity of the operation.

Alex Dare · Apr 22, 2010

All I can say is..Don't even think about it without a crane! Yamaha 33...totally different animal and even then with lots of hands I wouldn't try it. Your mast is close to 4 times the diameter and who knows how many times the weight.
I don't mean to sound like an alarmist but doing this without a crane is a recipe for a broken rig, trip to the hospital and damage to your boat and ones near it.
One thing you can do to save $$ is to have all the turnbuckles freed up, cotter and clevis pins ready to pull, electrical wires disconnected and all the running rigging tied up against the mast and ready to come with the mast as it's pulled. That way you're only paying for the use of the crane an operator and maybe a yard worker or two for better part of an hour.

Vinny · Apr 22, 2010

Alex Dare; "electrical wires disconnected" [/quote said:
They can not be disconnected until the mast is up a foot or so on this boat.

But the rest is good prep.

mark_swart · Apr 22, 2010

Definitely not. I tried it with a 26 and it was all that three people could to do get it up. 40 is out of the realm of sanity : ) !! I just shippped my 34 a couple months ago.
One thing you can do to cut costs is to prep the mast yourself after you pay the yard to take it down. Take the shrouds and stays off, put them inside the boat, bundle it up/secure as necessary. Get some old carpet to protect your mast from the roller furling (if you have one, it's normal to leave those on during transit). I took industrial garbage bags and put them on the ends of my mast, then used duck tape to wrap them up. This keeps all of the lines from getting too much road dirt on them. You can also buy this packing wrap (movers use it for soft furniture like couches) and wrap the whole mast if you really want to protect every inch.
I've found that most of the expense comes from the prep more than taking the mast down, as long as you are there to de-rig it yourself.

mark_swart · Apr 23, 2010

I took my rigging off the mast (mine has B & R also), but left the rigging attached to the spreaders and coiled it up. I thought about doing what you are talking about, but it was going to take so long to wrap up the spreaders and shrouds that I decided it was quicker to just remove them and bundle the rigging by itself. Plus all of that stuff adds a lot of weight to the mast, which makes it harder to handle when loading/unloading.
I doubt that a shipping company will transport your mast with the spreaders and rigging still on.
Use tape to mark your shrouds and diagonals before you take it all apart. That will make it a lot quicker to put back together.
I usually leave the halyards in, just secure them.

Steve Dion · Apr 23, 2010

If you are going to remove the halyards, be sure to replace them with fish lines. This will make it much easier to replace the halyards when you re-step the mast. This goes for the boom too. It can be very difficult to re-thread these lines from scratch.

David in Sandusky · Apr 23, 2010

Mast thoughts

Our marina unsteps any size of mast for $160. That includes detaching the stays, lifting the mast with their crane, and setting the mast and stays of a storage rack.

Many yacht clubs and some marinas have a mast crane you can use for free. When we were at Mentor Harbor Marina, we used their crane to take down our mast every year since they could not lift a boat with the mast up. The two of us could do the job on our 27 footer. I've taken down the mast on a 40 footer with a crane and 4 guys. I suppose 3 could to it with good organization.

I'd suggest you find out what's available in terms of cranes and services at several nearby marinas. Also, talk to other owners about what they do when they need to take down the stick.