Masting The 17 Daysailer

[ggraham]

Just Learning to sail the 17 ; is there any easier way to mast this boat than with three people ? I have tried to imagine some easier ingenious method where two persons can get the mast in in a remote shore with no trees . Has anyone an easy method of rolling the hull in shallow water ?
Much obliged , George from ON

 

[chuckwayne]

a really strong person can step the mast by putting the foot of the mast on the hole in the cuddy and, with arms spread wide, swivel the mast up and into the hole. Once the mast is vertical, lower it onto the hull. It's much easier if you have someone holding a line attached to the forestay to pull the mast up while you hold the foot in the hole and keep the mast straight from side to side. it's best if you have one or 2 people to steady the mast by holding the shrouds.

to careen the DS, bring her into shallow water, turn her sideways to shore, and pull on the jib halyard to roll her on her side. It helps to have someone lift the other side of the rubrail. Once she's on her side, light pressure on the mast will hold her there

 

[Joe11688]

George,
I'm not too familiar with your boat, but it might be possible to have the mast cut and add a stainless steel hinge Tabernacle to it. The lower part of the mast could become permanently attached to the mast step. Dwyer makes a mast hinge that would work for this. Also, two mast plugs would be needed for each end of the mast to be able to attach the hinge plates. It's worth looking into if you can do it. Although, a job such as this is better off left to be done by a mast rigger. The stay lengths need to be taken into consideration when the cuts are made.
Joe

 

[chuckwayne]

George,
trinkka's suggestion is a pretty standard Daysailer mod, Dwyer used to build a mast that had a tabernacle (hinge) and the kits are still available-however, most people seem to feel that the rig works better without the hinge. you might post a question at www.daysailer.org about people's experience iwth the mod, and any other hints for raising the mast

 

[Florida sail]

George,

On a previous boat (Rhodes 19) I used the Dwyer hardware and did the conversion to a tabernacle mast. It was relatively easy and I used the winch on my trailer hooked up to the forestay to raise the mast by myself. As said previously: you must take into consideration the entire height of the add'l hardware when cutiting the mast so that your standing rigging relationship remains the same.

Fair winds,

>>ron<<
S/V Serenity

 

[Joe11688]

George,

On a previous boat (Rhodes 19) I used the Dwyer hardware and did the conversion to a tabernacle mast. It was relatively easy and I used the winch on my trailer hooked up to the forestay to raise the mast by myself. As said previously: you must take into consideration the entire height of the add'l hardware when cutiting the mast so that your standing rigging relationship remains the same.

Fair winds,

>>ron<<
S/V Serenity

George,
With a hinged mast step, you could build a Gin Pole that would enable you to raise your mast by yourself, also. You would only need to build a temporary mast holding device for the stern.
http://slowflight.net/upgrades/tips-GinPole.html

http://www.boatus.com/goodoldboat/maststepping.asp

 

[RAD88]

George,
With a hinged mast step, you could build a Gin Pole that would enable you to raise your mast by yourself, also. You would only need to build a temporary mast holding device for the stern.
http://slowflight.net/upgrades/tips-GinPole.html

http://www.boatus.com/goodoldboat/maststepping.asp

If you are talking of the ODay daysailer, I had one for years. One of the most fun boats I have ever sailed. My mast was keel stepped and but it was very tough to align the mast to the step fitting after the mast was through the cabin top hole. I fixed this by attaching a length of pvc tube to the inside of the cabin and the keel fitting. This way when I fed the mast through the cabin top hole the mast would automatically find its way on to the mast step on the keel. This made setup very quick and easy. As for getting the mast up to that point you had to be strong and very careful of the wind and balance of the mast but it was always do-able. I will look for an old pic to post if this helps.

 

[oldiesrocker2001]

Trinkka's original suggestion is about the best and as stated, the Dwyer setup Can be done(I had the local shop do it for me). My O'day style 17 had the mast cut and sectioned below decks with a galvanized steel flanged pipe(!) installed topside. I decided to try to unstep the mast once by myself just to convince me that it would be well worth the cost of conversion to hinged/tabernacle design. Afterwards I could go from road to launch in less than 1/2 hr singlehandedly. I still miss my O'day "knock off" every time it takes me more than 3 times that to rig my V21 from the road.