New to the forum, but love the info. I'm interested in the Javelin for my family (and me!!!) and thought that the later production models had an easily stepped mast, I'm assuming a hinged tabernacle. But noticed in two of the Javelin reviews for a 1979 and 1980 the owners complained of "difficult single-handed stepping". Can anyone confirm if the Javelin ever had a hinged mast and, if so, when they started? Thanks!!
Javelin Mast Stepping
- Thread starter ront8261
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I'm not really sure if they ever built the Javelin with a hinged mast step, and I once owned an older Javelin years ago, but if you see a good Javelin in decent shape you should consider scooping it up. A sailboat rigger could convert it over to a hinged tabernacle very easy. If you're handy with tools, you could probably do it yourself but the stay length needs to be taken into consideration when you make the mast cuts. The Javelin that I owned was very stable out on the bay which is more than I could say for the other sailboats that I owned.
The hinged mast was never a standard item on the Javelin, but was an option for most of the production run. As Joe says, it is not a hard modification nor is it all that costly! Rudy at D&R Marine sells the parts with pretty good instructions (I re-typed them for him, not sure if he uses the copy that I gave him after I retyped what he gave me?) A sparmaker can do the work for you, cost is greater...total will probably be around $100-150.00 vs around $50.00 for the kit from Rudy.
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