raise the mast..... which way ?

[C. goldsbary]

I have just purchased my first sailboat.I have not been on, or ever sailed before. My question is, which direction do you raise the mast? Do you raise it from the stern forward, or from the bow aft? The base of the mast facing the bow is curved, and the base of the mast facing aft is squared off. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[calehuff]

raiseing mast

I have used a "A" frame device, which I attached to the 'stay' brackets on the port and starboard deck. Then with the top of the mast over the stern of the boat and the top of the 'A' frame over the middle of the boat and it would be about 10' high above the deck I attaach a line to the top of mast and the other end to the top of 'A' frame. Another line is attached to the top of 'A' frame and taken froward to bow of boat where I stand and raise mast. Sometimes I have used the "fore stay" and a piece of rope to pull the mast upright. The 'A' frame gives me leverage. The 'stays are loosely attached... and I move slow. Hope this helps..Denny

 

[Danny Bond]

Up she goes heave ho

It took us a while to figure out a safe and relatively easy way to raise our mast on our laguna 26. Luckily the previous owner had some custom equipment he included with the boat, but surprisingly he didn't know how to use it. The equipment would be easy to make by yourself. It consists of a pole about 8-10 feet long which can be bolted to the mast, near the mast base, at one end and an eye for attaching a line at the other end. If you do a google "image" search using the search words "mast raising" you'll see examples of this pole and how to make one for yourself. The other piece in the system is a mast support that fits into the rudder mounts and holds the mast up about 5 feet above the stern. We start with all stays attached and not changed in length from when we took the mast down, all stays except the forestay. Have the mast base bolt in place and partially tightened, not enough to make raising difficult, but enought to make sure the bolt won't come out. Nylon lock nuts on the mast bolt is a good idea here. We then attach both the jib halyard and spinnaker halyard to the top of the raising pole. Make sure they are very secure and will share the load. Then a line from the top of the raising pole to the anchor roller at the bow, and run that line back to a cockpit winch. Make sure the boat is level, and have someone start winching in the line slowly watching for any snaging stays or other problems, while one strong individual guides and lifts the mast with the help of the line tension. It's good to have a third person to deal with snags or to help the person guiding the mast up. Be carefull!!! if anything goes the mast will fall down onto the person guiding it and maybe get the person at the winch too. The hardes part is at the very beginning, if you can get the mast up to 45 degrees it gets much easier quickly. After the mast is up keep tension on the mast raising system, and attach the forestay to the stem fitting, and your good to go! Don't be in a hurry and be carefull, I know of a few people who have been in the hospital after a mast has crashed down on them. In fact it almost happened to me before we started using this system. GOOD LUCK