Mast Raising on a Capri 25

Apr 5, 2018
95
Catalina Capri 25 Jackson
Hey all,

Im looking at a capri 25 for sale in my area. One of my biggest concerns is the ease of raising the mast. At my local sailing area there is no crane, and at the moment no way to store the boat at the lake with the mast up. So im forced to rig it when i go sail it. With my current boat, a hunter 22, I can step and lower the mast myself by just heaving it up, with momentary help from someone else to hold it while i step from the cockpit to the cabin top. Has anyone been able to do this with a capri 25? Sailboat Data shows the capri mast being 3' taller than my hunter mast, 27' vs 30'

I'm a fairly young guy, with young friends, so if i had another 6' guy with me, what are the chances we can heave this thing up without a gin pole? My only aversion to the pole is that i dont want to make an already lengthy process even longer.

Has anyone done this? or know somone that has been able to do this with a capri mast? Im assuming the weight per foot of mast is similar to the hunter 22?
 
Sep 24, 2018
2,549
O'Day 25 Chicago
Lowering and raising a mast without a crutch or gin pole may be very stressful on either you or your mast step

Are you able to raise it at a dock or do you have to pass under a bridge?
 
Apr 5, 2018
95
Catalina Capri 25 Jackson
Lowering and raising a mast without a crutch or gin pole may be very stressful on either you or your mast step

Are you able to raise it at a dock or do you have to pass under a bridge?
I love stress, thats why i enjoy racing sailboats, so no issues there. As long as the mast stays directly over the base when going up, i dont see an issue with the motion of heaving it up :D

I should have asked the question differently, im not concerned with the ease of raising the mast, im concerned with the speed of raising the mast. This would be raising and lowering on the trailer.

Currently from the time i pull into the marina to the time the boat is tied up to the dock its about 40 min, to rig the boat and load gear and get it off the trailer, i just dont want that time to increase.

Ive determined i will deal with the consequences and pray to god this additional height in mast does not make it overly difficult. Im looking at the boat this weekend and as long as there are no glaring issues and the sails are in decent shape, ill most likely buy it. Horary for poor financial decisions.
 
Last edited:
Apr 5, 2018
95
Catalina Capri 25 Jackson
Lots of youtube videos on this subject. The youtube video and thread below might help. Please let us know if these help.

Ya, thats the method im not doing lol, that im trying to see if anyone else also avoids. They have too many cooks in the kitchen, so much extra shit to set up, their cable management is a disaster (could just be a result of not doing it that much so its not a refined process)

if anything, this is the route id go if i cant brute force it as easily as i do now
1610646178893.png
 
Last edited:
Sep 22, 2018
1,869
Hunter 216 Kingston
I’ve not stepped aboard a Capri 25 let alone stepped its mast so take the following for what’s it’s worth :)

Stepping a mast while on the trailer is way better than if the boat is floating so that’s a plus!

Having a tall crutch at the stern with a “roller” is a great help in getting the mast in position to heave and a great safety valve for those OH OH moments.

Using the main halyard perhaps with another line tied to it to increase length is quick to setup/disassemble and can be useful as a safety valve.

It sounds like you already know how to do this albeit with a slightly different boat/mast but we aren’t talking about you going from a laser to the Capri 25 ;)
For the initial attempts round up some buddies that can help “if required” and go for it! Only way to know for sure is to try :)
 
Apr 5, 2018
95
Catalina Capri 25 Jackson
I’ve not stepped aboard a Capri 25 let alone stepped its mast so take the following for what’s it’s worth :)

Stepping a mast while on the trailer is way better than if the boat is floating so that’s a plus!

Having a tall crutch at the stern with a “roller” is a great help in getting the mast in position to heave and a great safety valve for those OH OH moments.

Using the main halyard perhaps with another line tied to it to increase length is quick to setup/disassemble and can be useful as a safety valve.

It sounds like you already know how to do this albeit with a slightly different boat/mast but we aren’t talking about you going from a laser to the Capri 25 ;)
For the initial attempts round up some buddies that can help “if required” and go for it! Only way to know for sure is to try :)
Ya, i plan on building a long mast crutch with a roller to help with this situation. The other difference im not sure on, is how the swept back spreaders i currently have vs the perpendicular spreaders on the capri changes the equation.

Ha, ya...i caaaaaaaaaaaaant wait for the first time i have to figure this process out again with a new boat. joy
 
Sep 24, 2018
2,549
O'Day 25 Chicago
Ya, i plan on building a long mast crutch with a roller to help with this situation. The other difference im not sure on, is how the swept back spreaders i currently have vs the perpendicular spreaders on the capri changes the equation.
I never had to adjust my side stays on my last boat that had swept back spreaders. I have to loosen and readjust on my O'Day 25 that has perpendicular spreaders. I use essentially the same setup thats in the pic that was posted. Is your boat in a slip, mooring or trailer? Are there any bridges you need to pass under?
 
Apr 5, 2018
95
Catalina Capri 25 Jackson
I never had to adjust my side stays on my last boat that had swept back spreaders. I have to loosen and readjust on my O'Day 25 that has perpendicular spreaders. I use essentially the same setup thats in the pic that was posted. Is your boat in a slip, mooring or trailer? Are there any bridges you need to pass under?
No bridges or anything, it just lives on a trailer and will get transported a fair bit for sailing/racing.

dang, thats what i figured. will be kind of annoying to have to adjust the stays, but thats what i figured. Never had to mess with the swept back spreaders either once i got them set right.
 
Sep 22, 2018
1,869
Hunter 216 Kingston
I was just Googling to see if anyone uses Johnson (sp?) levers on a Capri 25 and came across this. Thought it might prove useful. I’m not sure if a C 25 is the same as a Capri 25 though?

 

JRacer

.
Aug 9, 2011
1,331
Beneteau 310 Cheney KS (Wichita)
When pressed, we used to do the Iwo Jima, mast stepping routine on the J/24 when the line of boats to get hauled out by the crane was too long at regattas and we wanted to be road ready when dropped on the trailer. Keel stepped stick. Always stressed me out but never had a failure, knock on wood.
 
Sep 24, 2018
2,549
O'Day 25 Chicago
Those levers that @Hunter216 mentioned are awesome. I had one on the forestay of my last boat along with a PTO pin. It definitely sped things up.

My current boat has a mast stepping system built into the trailer. A long steel beam slips into the bow support. I have an electric atv winch mounted towards the bottom and a block for the winch cable at the top. The cable is tied off to a halyard. I use a mast crutch to prevent the gooseneck from touching the cabin top.

My mast crutch is simply a couple of 2x3's screwed together to form an X. It gets tied to the rear pulpit and cleats. If I didnt have this I would be assisting holding the mast as far up as I could in the beginning. That's a lot of stress on the mast step. The higher the pull angle the less stress.

The ATV winch is a 2500lbs wireless one I picked up from harbor freight. This is light work for it. The wireless feature is fantastic and I've de-stepped using a little 7 amp gel cell battery. I think a 7 pin trailer connector could easily power it as well

My system is essentially the same concept as this
1610764891887.png


As far as your sidestays go it should be dependent on the height of the mast step in relation to the pivot point (usually the pins of the turnbuckle). The bigger the difference in height the more it will go slack as the mast comes down. I'm baffled as to why mine tighten up as the mast goes down. I've ran tests on little models as well as ran some simulations in Sketchup. In every test scenario the distance between the mast head and chainplate decreases as the mast comes down. Anyways, I discovered this when I destepped the first time. I got about halfway down, brought it back up, loosened the turnbuckles and proceeded with destepping again. Give it a try and see what happens

Also, have you checked out the mast stepping systems from Catalina Direct? I've heard a lot of positive things about them
 
May 25, 2019
12
Catalina Capri 25 Mooresville NC
I have a Capri 25. You’ll never step that mast by yourself. Even if you have 1 other person it will be a big challenge without a gin pole. The biggest issue you have is connecting the base of the mast to the plate and getting the bolt inserted. Bear with me as I explain this.
Unlike a lot of boats and unlike the Catalina 25 in the video. The plate the mast attaches to is not on the very top of the cabin. It sits down inside a short recess. So you can’t just raise the rear of the mast a couple feet and attach the mast to the plate. The rear of the mast has to be about 8-10 feet in the air for the plate and the base of the mast to line up so you can insert the bolt it pivots on. The issue I ran into was as you raise the mast higher and higher it tries to slide forward past the plate. It takes several people to hold the mast in place, raise it, the insert the bolt. Doing it once would be ok but stepping the mast every time you want to sail is probably not realistic. I think you’d be better off with a Catalina 22 with a wing keel.
 
Apr 5, 2018
95
Catalina Capri 25 Jackson
I have a Capri 25. You’ll never step that mast by yourself. Even if you have 1 other person it will be a big challenge without a gin pole. The biggest issue you have is connecting the base of the mast to the plate and getting the bolt inserted. Bear with me as I explain this.
Unlike a lot of boats and unlike the Catalina 25 in the video. The plate the mast attaches to is not on the very top of the cabin. It sits down inside a short recess. So you can’t just raise the rear of the mast a couple feet and attach the mast to the plate. The rear of the mast has to be about 8-10 feet in the air for the plate and the base of the mast to line up so you can insert the bolt it pivots on. The issue I ran into was as you raise the mast higher and higher it tries to slide forward past the plate. It takes several people to hold the mast in place, raise it, the insert the bolt. Doing it once would be ok but stepping the mast every time you want to sail is probably not realistic. I think you’d be better off with a Catalina 22 with a wing keel.
weeeellllllll

i already bought the boat, so im going to have to figure it out. I dont expect to do it alone in the method described. 2 people, thats my goal. Ill be sure to post results as i figure out the process in late April or so haha
 
  • Like
Likes: jssailem
May 25, 2019
12
Catalina Capri 25 Mooresville NC
I hope you figure it out. I wouldn’t mind dropping my mast once in a while for maintenance. There isn’t always someone to help