Question for Crazy Dave or anyone that might know the steps for adjusting the mast struts. I kept my boat in a slip for the 1st 6-7 years and only rasied the mast a few times with help. Earlier this year I tried raising the mast by myself and couldn't get it more than a few feet off the crutch before the gin pole started to bend to starboard pretty hard. I lowered the mast and checked to make sure nothing was hung and tried again. Each time same result. Eventually I decided to quit before I broke something expensive and sleep on it.
On the way home I remembered the mast struts were adjustable. My mast has always pointed to starboard when lowered and the base was always a bear to pin. So I decided maybe the struts were never really adjusted properly. Yesterday I spent a couple hours adjusting the struts. I rocked the mast into position with the base ready to pin and removed the struts from the mast. I was able to pin the base very easily compared to before. Then I adjusted the struts and reattached them and tried to unpin-pin the base. I repeated these steps several times until I could pin the base without having to wrestle the mast into submission. After that the mast went up like butter, no bend in the gin pole. I used the cabin top winch to get the mast up to about 45 degrees, after that it was easy going just pulling on the mainsheet. Much better. Obviously it helped to adjust the struts but I was wondering what the correct procedure is for commissioning in case I missed something not obvious.
FWIW, my struts were not even to begin with, the starboard strut was adjusted about 1.5 inches shorter than the port strut. After adjusting they are still not even. I forgot to measure them after adjusting but he starboard strut is still much shorter than the port strut. I expected them to be close to the same length. Also worried about shroud tension now that I adjusted the struts. Any thoughts?
On the way home I remembered the mast struts were adjustable. My mast has always pointed to starboard when lowered and the base was always a bear to pin. So I decided maybe the struts were never really adjusted properly. Yesterday I spent a couple hours adjusting the struts. I rocked the mast into position with the base ready to pin and removed the struts from the mast. I was able to pin the base very easily compared to before. Then I adjusted the struts and reattached them and tried to unpin-pin the base. I repeated these steps several times until I could pin the base without having to wrestle the mast into submission. After that the mast went up like butter, no bend in the gin pole. I used the cabin top winch to get the mast up to about 45 degrees, after that it was easy going just pulling on the mainsheet. Much better. Obviously it helped to adjust the struts but I was wondering what the correct procedure is for commissioning in case I missed something not obvious.
FWIW, my struts were not even to begin with, the starboard strut was adjusted about 1.5 inches shorter than the port strut. After adjusting they are still not even. I forgot to measure them after adjusting but he starboard strut is still much shorter than the port strut. I expected them to be close to the same length. Also worried about shroud tension now that I adjusted the struts. Any thoughts?
