Mast hinge upgrade recommendations

[Knot Stressin']

Awighty you fellow trailer sailers! I am lookin for mast hinge upgrade suggestions. I am curious who has upgraded, and what worked vs what didnt.
I bring this up because I cannot really afford to slip my boat and leave it rigged. So my wife and I have to do the whole raise and lower each time we go sailing. I have a mast (27 footer) that my wife and I have trouble setting up smoothly, and I think alot of it has to do with my mast hinge setup.
We have had zero luck with the boom raise. The mast tends to want to swing left or right as its raising and I cant even hold it in line with the center of the boat. Not sure why? So we just connect the trailer winch directly to the forestay and crank it up. But this is difficult too because it still wants to wander. Plus it has to be putting added strain on the mast cleat on top of the cabin. I think its because the mast is tear drop shaped and its pivoting on a very narrow spot at the rear edge of the mast while raising. I tried looking into getting a raising bridle, but the info I found on them said, not really worth the trouble.
Have any of you fabricated your own devices to assist with raising that have worked?
I cant find anywhere online to purchase this "Ultimate Mast Hinge" but it sure looks like a beauty. Has anyone tried this one?

 

[thinwater]

You need to rig lines from the masthead to the extreme beam, preferably at about the same height as the cabin top, which is tricky. On some boats the shrouds can do this, but often not. There are some tricks you can google. Same with the mast or gin pole (needs stays). Otherwise it will do just what you say.

More rigging, but then it is stable. It is not the hinge and there is no hinge alone that will overcome the problem.

 

[Justin_NSA]

Can't help on the mast hinge, but I installed the mast raising kit on my Mac 26S. It came with "baby stays" that attached on the cabin top and to tangs as high as I could reach them standing on the cabin. It made mast raising a one man operation.

 

[agprice22]

A mast raised with a gin pole will need to be steered with the pole as you raise it. As the mast gets bigger, this becomes impossible. A mast on a C22 can really be raised by hand. The mast on my Telstar 28 is right at my limit of hand steering. So, the gin pole really is only used by itself in the 22 - 27 ft range. Above that, “baby stays” (really shrouds) become the desired solution, so the mast stays in line, or it will break the step plate or base, which I have had happen. I have seen the video with the lever-arm pushing the mast up along the sail track, but I have to believe that has its limits too.

Edit: no hinge upgrade will prevent 20 or 30 ft of mast from going wherever it wants, so use baby stays. If the mast sways far enough to one side, it will tear the hinge or the mast base. As your mast nears vertical, your shrouds become effective, so do not dally from the start to the 3/4 mark! However, baby stays will let you dally as you please!

 

[Knot Stressin']

A mast on a C22 can really be raised by hand.

Yowza! You must be one bad ma-mahma-jamma! I wouldnt mess with ya. I am of at least average strength, (possibly a bit over) and I cant imagine swingin that thing up there by hand. Or doing that main sheet method.
Our trailer has a very tall winch stand on it. Which allows us to use the trailer winch to pull the front stay until the mast is in the upright position. I dont even trust myself to unhook the front stay from the winch and then connect it to the front chain plate with out first tying off the mast with a ratchet strap. I am afraid it will start tipping aft and there is no way I could stop it from going right towards major damage to the top of the cabin\cockpit area.
I did discover that the winch stand on our trailer extends out about 5 more feet, but there is no way to keep it out that far without it collapsing. So I drilled a 3\8" hole through it and I am going to pick up a 3\8" hitch pin to secure it in place. That will allow us to pull on the front stay from about 4 feet higher and 12" further forward!
It sounds like this "baby stay" idea is a good way to go. I will be looking into that.

 

[agprice22]

Well, you start from a tall mast crutch. Then you walk it up. The climb up the cockpit can be tough. You have to be determined. However, it is much easier with two people. Then there is someone to pin the forestay.

 

[Justin_NSA]

I've raised the 26S mast by hand...once. No stays, just walked up onto the cabin top with it while my wife pinned the headstay. I'd never do it again, I was lucky nothing broke! She didn't have to convince me we needed an assist system.

 

[rgranger]

@Knot Stressin'

I have had two larger "trailer" sailboats and both had something called "baby stays" My H26 uses them. The baby stay is only used during raising and lowering and it keeps the mast from swinging side to side.

Here is a pic I found of some on a MacGregor 26

Notice how they only go about half way up. I used to have a Balboa 26 and I used ratchet tow straps for the baby stays. I connected them to a ring on the mast about 1/5 up the mast and the other end to rings on the stanchion bases. I could adjust the tension of the ratchet strap to be what I needed it to be. If you go with actual wire rope, you will need to figure out the length needed so they are taught at about the angle the mast starts to sway.

If you want to experiment with this option, try the ratchet strap method. You just need to figure out where to attach on the mast and on the boat. You could add some cleats on deck (you can never have to many cleats) and some attachment point on the mast.

There is also a really good page on this site (SBO) on different mast raising systems...

https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?media/albums/mast-raising-lowering.2761/

 

[Justin_NSA]

@Knot Stressin'

I have had two larger "trailer" sailboats and both had something called "baby stays" My H26 uses them. The baby stay is only used during raising and lowering and it keeps the mast from swinging side to side.

Here is a pic I found of some on a MacGregor 26

Notice how they only go about half way up. I used to have a Balboa 26 and I used ratchet tow straps for the baby stays. I connected them to a ring on the mast about 1/5 up the mast and the other end to rings on the stanchion bases. I could adjust the tension of the ratchet strap to be what I needed it to be. If you go with actual wire rope, you will need to figure out the length needed so they are taught at about the angle the mast starts to sway.

If you want to experiment with this option, try the ratchet strap method. You just need to figure out where to attach on the mast and on the boat. You could add some cleats on deck (you can never have to many cleats) and some attachment point on the mast.

There is also a really good page on this site (SBO) on different mast raising systems...

https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?media/albums/mast-raising-lowering.2761/

That's my old system. I had the 26M kit which used a ratcheting gin pole. The older kits led back to a winch I think.

 

[Knot Stressin']

@Knot Stressin'

I have had two larger "trailer" sailboats and both had something called "baby stays" My H26 uses them. The baby stay is only used during raising and lowering and it keeps the mast from swinging side to side.

Here is a pic I found of some on a MacGregor 26

/

Thanks for the info. And pictures always help! I guess what I am experiencing is more normal than I thought. I just knew we had to be missing something. Cause its a bit of a fight to get the mast standing up each time we go out. I have LOTS of ratchet straps allready. So that might be my easiest way to go for now. There is a small tang like attachment point about head high on the mast while standing on top of the cabin..... I am now guessing that has to be a baby stay attachment point? I didnt know what it was before now. I just know it was awfully handy the other day when I needed somewhere to attach the hook for my ratchet strap so I could secure the mast and unhook the forestay from the winch and pin it to the front chain plate.
I would estimate that the mast is at about a ten degree angle from the ground when its engage in the mast cleat on top of the cabin and resting on the roller at the back of the cockpit. This is the position we start the raising process in.
When we get to about the point of 20-30 degrees it always seems to want to wander. By the time we reach 75- 80 degrees, it takes very little to steady it as the shrouds have pretty much takin' over the job.

 

[agprice22]

I've raised the 26S mast by hand...once. No stays, just walked up onto the cabin top with it while my wife pinned the headstay. I'd never do it again, I was lucky nothing broke! She didn't have to convince me we needed an assist system.

Now THAT is impressive!

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Feel free to contact me. The system shown by rgranger was my design which is similar to MacGregor

 

[LeeandRick]

Knot Stressin', just don't look up the term baby stay in sailboat rigging, it won't be the same thing.
If you do setup a mast raising stabilization system the short shrouds, stays, ratchet straps or whatever, have to pivot in the same plane as the mast hinge (pin) point. This is hard to do on a curved cabin roof by just putting anchor points on the fiberglass. I wished I had book marked all of the ideas I've seen, and tried. Do a youtube search on mast raising. You will find many different ideas and probably one that will fit your boat.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

The key for attachment of baby stays or stabilizeer wires are two fold. First the pad eyes need to be the same to attach to the deck. The stabilizer wires should be adjustable by use of turnbuckles to be included.

Attaching the eye pads to the deck, they need to be equidistant equally on each side of the mast and perpendicular to the mast standing straight up during installation
One other thing make sure attachment points are in the same place exactly on the mast