i have a 1969 venture. the old venture manual says that the shrouds should keep the mast from swinging side to side and to walk the mast forward with someone pulling on the forstay. i've been doing it like that but would like to go for a gin pole and winch type system so i can single hand raising the mast.i would like to know what kind of brake winch is used on the gin poles for mast raising. they seem narrow and light. i can buy a system commercially and may end up doing that if i can't find a winch separately. any ideas?
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Mainsheet!
hahaha i've been doing the same thing - except simply pulling on the rope attached the to gin pole. meanwhile the mainsheet is hanging out on the cabintop awaiting the boom!
hahaha i've been doing the same thing - except simply pulling on the rope attached the to gin pole. meanwhile the mainsheet is hanging out on the cabintop awaiting the boom!
mast raising system
MacGreggor has a mast raising system that is pretty much the same thing that George described. A boom vang or mainsheet blocks can be used to do the raising. If the line is long enough, you can use a winch to make it easier. The only difference with the MacGreggor system is there are what they call baby stays that attach to eyes on the deck about two feet out from the mast and eyes on the mast about 3-4 feet up the mast. They are short stays with small shackles on the ends so they can be removed once the mast is up. These will keep the mast from swaying side to side when raising. I built a system for my Mac 26S before I sold it and it worked great. I had a piece of 1.5" square tubing that was a little shorter than the distance from the mast to the forstay chainplate. All I did was make a short bracket to mount the tubing to the mast base or mast. and put two eyes on the other end for the boom vang to connect to. One eye facing up for the jib halyard to connect to and one facing down for the boom vang to connect to. Make sure you secure the end of the halyard to a cleat on the mast so it doesn't come off. connect the vang and run line to a winch. Start lifting. my stem fitting had two holes so it made it really easy to connect the forestay. hope that this helps
MacGreggor has a mast raising system that is pretty much the same thing that George described. A boom vang or mainsheet blocks can be used to do the raising. If the line is long enough, you can use a winch to make it easier. The only difference with the MacGreggor system is there are what they call baby stays that attach to eyes on the deck about two feet out from the mast and eyes on the mast about 3-4 feet up the mast. They are short stays with small shackles on the ends so they can be removed once the mast is up. These will keep the mast from swaying side to side when raising. I built a system for my Mac 26S before I sold it and it worked great. I had a piece of 1.5" square tubing that was a little shorter than the distance from the mast to the forstay chainplate. All I did was make a short bracket to mount the tubing to the mast base or mast. and put two eyes on the other end for the boom vang to connect to. One eye facing up for the jib halyard to connect to and one facing down for the boom vang to connect to. Make sure you secure the end of the halyard to a cleat on the mast so it doesn't come off. connect the vang and run line to a winch. Start lifting. my stem fitting had two holes so it made it really easy to connect the forestay. hope that this helps
Worm-drive winch
If you're concerned about the winch 'running away' and want a brake on it for more control, consider a cheap worm-drive winch. The worm-drive makes it impossible for the winch drum ( and the load) to cause the winch handle to turn. The down-side it that it's slower to lower a load as there is no free-wheeling capability, but control of the load, up or down, is 100%.
If you're concerned about the winch 'running away' and want a brake on it for more control, consider a cheap worm-drive winch. The worm-drive makes it impossible for the winch drum ( and the load) to cause the winch handle to turn. The down-side it that it's slower to lower a load as there is no free-wheeling capability, but control of the load, up or down, is 100%.
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