Mast removal, O'Day 23

[Warren]

I will be taking the boat out of the water for the winter in a few weeks. I have a hauler meeting me at a ramp to take the boat out and will be storing it at my house. I will need to remove the mast while it is still in the water. Can anybody walk me through the procedure, I will have plenty of friends helping out, so I do not think it should be too difficult. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[James]

Not so difficult

Warren I have a 23 and lowering the mast is not too difficult. 1) Begin by removing the mainsail.2) Once the sail is off the boom remove the boon from the mast and securing the halyards and topping lift.3) Loosen the side stays or shrouds at the turnbuckles. I do not remove - only loosen. This will require removing the split pins or what-ever you have used to stop the turn buckles from turning.4) Take a look at the mast base. The mast is held onto the boat using a tabernacle. There are two pins which hold the mast base to the tabernacle. Remove the split rings or cotter pins holding the rear/aft pin. Do NOT remove the cotter pins through the forward pin - This will allow the mast to pivot forward.5) Loosen the back-stay and remove from the triangle - have someone stand at the mast and hold the mast vertical.6) Once the back stay is loose you can lower the mast forward. Have a couple of friends to help with this step or you can use a rig to help with this step. Make sure that the shrouds can rotate and do not get tangled.7) Once the mast is down and resting on the bow pulpit you can remove the forward pin in the tabernacle. The mast is now free and the base can be lifted so the bottom of the mast can be moved back and placed on the stern pulpit.8) Tie everything down.I made some instructions with a couple of sketches for myself whcih show how I rigged the back-stay so that I could lower the mast easily. if you would like a copy send me your e-mail and I will send to you (jforster@ti.com) Hope this helps - pulling the boat is always a sad day - I will try to stay in until November.

 

[MArk]

Mast overboard!

You should really consider removing the mast once the boat is on the trailer (you mentioned ramp so I'm assuming...) for 2 reasons:1. In the water, the boat will rock and roll as you lower your pole and that might cause you to fall. (sorry about the Rimes, LeAnn)2. You'll be more likely to lose your clevis pins and rings removing them over water. In which case, see Salty Dog for replacements. He has quite a selection. (Link below)

 

[MArk]

Mast Raising System

Here's a mast raising system for an O'Day 25 I found on this site. (pdf file related link)I guess it could work in reverse.They also recommend doing the raising/lowering once out of the water.

 

[Geof Tillotson]

On the hard

You would be amazed how much easier it is to do with the boat sitting still. Even a moderate powerboat wake can upset a fairly delicate balancing act when lowering the mast.I also can't agree more whole heartedly with the comment about loosing small bits and pieces overboard. At least you have a chance of finding them if the go overboard out of the water.Geof

 

[David]

Not a problem w/ help.

I too have an O 23. Last week we unstepped the mast in my slip. It was not a problem. You do have to wait until boat wakes pass, but now there is not much power boat traffic. My friend and I lowered the mast with the help of someone we recruited from the dock. (He had just finished lowering his mast.) The process was similar to what James described except we left in the rear pin on the tabernacle and lowered the mast toward the stern. (Make sure you leave the backstay attached and release the forestay.) We did it at the dock becaused we did not want to take time on the ramp, or delay the person pulling out my boat. Good luck.David