I am brand new to sailing, but have acquired a bigger boat than I expected, with no instructions. Their is a mast raising system on the boat, but the videos on YouTube, are extremely vague about how and where to attach the side stabilizers. Does anyone know or have exact pictures of where each part attaches. The videos point out obvious stuff but when it comes to these most important aspects they just gloss over it. There is a video on the 32RK, but even that is not as detailed as I need.
Seaward 26RK Mast Raising
- Thread starter BigFraser
- Start date
-
- Tags
- mast raising system
When single handing, I use a gin pole (winch mounted on gin pole), and baby stays. I found the baby stays are essential for stabilizing the mast horizontally. Because my shrouds are aft swept, they take over as the mast gets more than half way up for any side-side sway.
I mounted strap eyes to the mast (about 6ft up on a 25ft mast), and tied some nylon 1/4" line to the eyes. The baby stays run to deck mounted blocks that are 2" forward and 2" lower than the mast tabernacle pivot pin, then run to my jib sheet jam cleats. This makes the baby stays tightest at about the 45 deg point of mast raising, which is when sway is most dangerous for my mast and tabernacle. And has the added benefit of stopping the mast pivot pin from backing out the back of the tabernacle. The baby stays are rigged before raising the mast, and removed after the mast is up.
When there are 2 to raise the mast, I save time by walking the mast up myself, and have the helper tend the jib halyard. My mast is light enough to stabilize by hand as I walk it up. Rigging and unrigging the gin pole and baby stays adds about 30 minutes to the mast raising/lowering process but is the only way I could come up with to do it safely single handed.
I engineered my system myself, learning the hard way (dropping the mast). My first gin pole broke where it connected to the mast. And my 2nd gin pole was a disaster in some crosswind without baby stays.
Fred W
Stuart (ODay) Mariner 19 Sweet P
I mounted strap eyes to the mast (about 6ft up on a 25ft mast), and tied some nylon 1/4" line to the eyes. The baby stays run to deck mounted blocks that are 2" forward and 2" lower than the mast tabernacle pivot pin, then run to my jib sheet jam cleats. This makes the baby stays tightest at about the 45 deg point of mast raising, which is when sway is most dangerous for my mast and tabernacle. And has the added benefit of stopping the mast pivot pin from backing out the back of the tabernacle. The baby stays are rigged before raising the mast, and removed after the mast is up.
When there are 2 to raise the mast, I save time by walking the mast up myself, and have the helper tend the jib halyard. My mast is light enough to stabilize by hand as I walk it up. Rigging and unrigging the gin pole and baby stays adds about 30 minutes to the mast raising/lowering process but is the only way I could come up with to do it safely single handed.
I engineered my system myself, learning the hard way (dropping the mast). My first gin pole broke where it connected to the mast. And my 2nd gin pole was a disaster in some crosswind without baby stays.
Fred W
Stuart (ODay) Mariner 19 Sweet P
I use my main halyard and spinnaker halyard as temporary side shrouds while raising the mast. I attach them athwart the mast step so they stay in tension all the way up until the actual shrouds take over.
Hi Fred,
I too made a gin pole raising system that is imperfect. The biggest issue is that the gin pole, where it seats around the mast, wants to kick up and the raising line is tensioned. Scares the bejuezus outta me every time. How do I keep the gin pole—2x4 shaped to the curve of the mast from kicking off?
my second issue is that I need baby stays. Are your baby stays attached to the boat forward of the mast. Sounds like they’re aft. if they're aft, how do they hold the mast pin in the tabernacle?
any advice is appreciated.
Bev
I mounted strap eyes to the mast (about 6ft up on a 25ft mast), and tied some nylon 1/4" line to the eyes. The baby stays run to deck mounted blocks that are 2" forward and 2" lower than the mast tabernacle pivot pin, then run to my jib sheet jam cleats. This makes the baby stays tightest at about the 45 deg point of mast raising, which is when sway is most dangerous for my mast and tabernacle. And has the added benefit of stopping the mast pivot pin from backing out the back of the tabernacle. The baby stays are rigged before raising the mast, and removed after the mast is up.
When there are 2 to raise the mast, I save time by walking the mast up myself, and have the helper tend the jib halyard. My mast is light enough to stabilize by hand as I walk it up. Rigging and unrigging the gin pole and baby stays adds about 30 minutes to the mast raising/lowering process but is the only way I could come up with to do it safely single handed.
I engineered my system myself, learning the hard way (dropping the mast). My first gin pole broke where it connected to the mast. And my 2nd gin pole was a disaster in some crosswind without baby stays.
Fred W
Stuart (ODay) Mariner 19 Sweet P
[/QUOTE]
I too made a gin pole raising system that is imperfect. The biggest issue is that the gin pole, where it seats around the mast, wants to kick up and the raising line is tensioned. Scares the bejuezus outta me every time. How do I keep the gin pole—2x4 shaped to the curve of the mast from kicking off?
my second issue is that I need baby stays. Are your baby stays attached to the boat forward of the mast. Sounds like they’re aft. if they're aft, how do they hold the mast pin in the tabernacle?
any advice is appreciated.
Bev
I mounted strap eyes to the mast (about 6ft up on a 25ft mast), and tied some nylon 1/4" line to the eyes. The baby stays run to deck mounted blocks that are 2" forward and 2" lower than the mast tabernacle pivot pin, then run to my jib sheet jam cleats. This makes the baby stays tightest at about the 45 deg point of mast raising, which is when sway is most dangerous for my mast and tabernacle. And has the added benefit of stopping the mast pivot pin from backing out the back of the tabernacle. The baby stays are rigged before raising the mast, and removed after the mast is up.
When there are 2 to raise the mast, I save time by walking the mast up myself, and have the helper tend the jib halyard. My mast is light enough to stabilize by hand as I walk it up. Rigging and unrigging the gin pole and baby stays adds about 30 minutes to the mast raising/lowering process but is the only way I could come up with to do it safely single handed.
I engineered my system myself, learning the hard way (dropping the mast). My first gin pole broke where it connected to the mast. And my 2nd gin pole was a disaster in some crosswind without baby stays.
Fred W
Stuart (ODay) Mariner 19 Sweet P
[/QUOTE]
Bev
I was blessed with a hole in the front of my mast when I bought the boat. So I decided to put a pin in my gin pole in the saddle. Measured the size of the hole, got some threaded rod, and an insert, and used those to secure the rod into the gin pole saddle (along with some epoxy to make sure nothing lets go at a critical moment). I use a heavy duty velcro strap around the mast to retain the gin pole in place. See the right end of the gin pole.
I originally used a 2x4 but the jaw around the mast broke during a raising causing everything to crash down. Learned my lesson, went to a 2x6 as shown. Used metal angles to reinforce the wood near the jaws. The photo shows the bottom of the gin pole. The winch line goes to a block mounted on the stem fitting where the jib tack normally goes. Line is then led to the bow cleat. I set up the gin pole at a 90 degree angle to the mast with the threaded rod in the mast hole. Crank away until the mast is vertical, and forestay can reach the stem fitting. Having the winch line run through the block at the stem fitting is critical to getting the gin pole to bring the mast all the way up.
This photo shows the baby stays in place after raising the mast. As you can see the deck block is slightly forward of the mast tabernacle to compensate for being lower than the tabernacle. This puts the baby stay in line with the mast at about the 45 degree angle while raising, or peak load on the baby stays. As you can see, my shrouds sweep aft, so they hold the mast in place during the last part of raising, and it's then OK for the baby stays to lose a little of their tension. When I mount the gin pole and baby stays, I pull the baby stays as tight as I can get them. I use nylon so they do stretch a little under load, which is what I want. System has worked well since I refined it for the 2024 Mariner Rendezvous in Connecticut. Baby stays are tied to eyes mounted on the mast about 6ft up (so I can remove them after raising the mast).
One last gotcha - see the cleat sitting on the aft side of the mast almost at deck level? That cleat needs to be moved up in the slot before lowering the mast. Otherwise the cleat catches on the aft side of the mast plate before the mast lowers all the way. Everything gets jammed up, and the only way to fix is to raise the mast back up. Don't ask how I know (notice the cracks in the aft ridge of the cabin hatch?).
Yes, the boom does come off before mast raising and lowering.
hope this helps
Fred W
Stuart (ODay) Mariner 19 Sweet P
Hi,
Thank you so much for the details. This helps a lot. I‘ll mount the strap eyes on the cabin 2” forward of the tabernacle as my set up matches yours. And, yes, my cabin hatch cover has been cracked by the mast crunching it when the mast is lowered all the way and we forget to put in the support over the tabernacle. I don’t mind fiberglass repair, but I seem to keep putting that one off.
Lucky you to have that hole at the foot of your mast to help the gin pole from slipping. I think I’ll add screw eyes to the top and bottom of my gin pile and use 3 ratchet straps spread apart.
I very much appreciate your help.
Best,
Bev
Thank you so much for the details. This helps a lot. I‘ll mount the strap eyes on the cabin 2” forward of the tabernacle as my set up matches yours. And, yes, my cabin hatch cover has been cracked by the mast crunching it when the mast is lowered all the way and we forget to put in the support over the tabernacle. I don’t mind fiberglass repair, but I seem to keep putting that one off.
Lucky you to have that hole at the foot of your mast to help the gin pole from slipping. I think I’ll add screw eyes to the top and bottom of my gin pile and use 3 ratchet straps spread apart.
I very much appreciate your help.
Best,
Bev
Glad I could help - hope it works out well for you. A lot of extra work to single handed raise the mast. If I am fortunate enough to have a second person, they hold the jib halyard (attached to a second line) tight as I walk the mast up and attach the forestay. No gin pole, no baby stays, and about 40 min less time. But I have to be able to do it on my own, or not sail, since DW no longer feels mobile enough to go with me.
Fred W
Stuart (ODay) Mariner #4133 Sweet P
Fred W
Stuart (ODay) Mariner #4133 Sweet P