I would like to know what the appropriate tension should be for the shrouds and stays. I only use the boat for day cruising. Anybody know?
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Neil
responses?
Sam, I'm curious about this too. I've stepped the mast on my new F235 last weekend. I set it up according to instructions from Beneteau that were tucked inside the cover of the original owners manual that came with the boat I bought - in essence: with the boom off ... center the mast left and right (using the mail halyard and a point along each toerail near the chainplate that is a fixed distance from the bow), tighten the uppers hard (recheck that mast is still centered), yank on the backstay until about 4" of prebend forms in the mast (looking up from foot of mast to masthead), evenly hand-tighten the lowers enough to take up all the slack and a little more, release the backstay, tighten the babystay enough to the prevent the natural prebend from being reversed in a seaway. The one thing that was not made clear in the notes was how much rake to impose, so I left the thing essentially vertical. I just bought a Loos gauge (it arrived yesterday) and will let you know what I find out when I strap it to my stays next weekend (there is one other F235 at our club which sails pretty well - I'll check his tensions too). Email me off line if you want to discuss this more, and give me your email address. Neil nquigley@comcast.net
Sam, I'm curious about this too. I've stepped the mast on my new F235 last weekend. I set it up according to instructions from Beneteau that were tucked inside the cover of the original owners manual that came with the boat I bought - in essence: with the boom off ... center the mast left and right (using the mail halyard and a point along each toerail near the chainplate that is a fixed distance from the bow), tighten the uppers hard (recheck that mast is still centered), yank on the backstay until about 4" of prebend forms in the mast (looking up from foot of mast to masthead), evenly hand-tighten the lowers enough to take up all the slack and a little more, release the backstay, tighten the babystay enough to the prevent the natural prebend from being reversed in a seaway. The one thing that was not made clear in the notes was how much rake to impose, so I left the thing essentially vertical. I just bought a Loos gauge (it arrived yesterday) and will let you know what I find out when I strap it to my stays next weekend (there is one other F235 at our club which sails pretty well - I'll check his tensions too). Email me off line if you want to discuss this more, and give me your email address. Neil nquigley@comcast.net
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Steve C
tuning tips
There is some tuning tips here: http://www.beneteau-owners.com/235/Tuning/Tuning.htm but no tension recommendations. Neil, how easy was it to step your mast? I've never done it on mine, as I keep the boat at the marina, and they just haul it stepped. Can you describe the steps you went through? I want to pull it down after this season and work on it. Thanks, Steve
There is some tuning tips here: http://www.beneteau-owners.com/235/Tuning/Tuning.htm but no tension recommendations. Neil, how easy was it to step your mast? I've never done it on mine, as I keep the boat at the marina, and they just haul it stepped. Can you describe the steps you went through? I want to pull it down after this season and work on it. Thanks, Steve
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Neil
F235 mast stepping
Steve, I haven't taken a mast down yet (catching it safely when it gets past about 45 degrees would be the most difficult step), but putting the thing up turned out way easier than I anticipated. After thinking about it a bit the night before, I decided to take my trusty aluminum extension ladder (about 20' overall length at max extension) out to the YC. The boat was on its trailer, with the mast lying on the baot (heel forward). I first propped the unextended ladder up against the transom. I tied it to the boat via the bottom of the rudder bracket and the motor bracket, and also via the pushpit brackets (passing the lines through the hollow rungs of the standing part of the ladder at both levels). I rested the masthead on the top rung of the unextended ladder (I had tied an old towel over the top rung), then I began sliding the mast aft over the towel on the top rung of the ladder. Just before the heel reached the mast step (i.e., before it reached its pivot point on the ladder), I attached the backstay (with tension adjuster fully relaxed) to its anchoring ring on the transom, and I attached the upper and lower shrouds to the chainplates- double checking that the shroud anchors were properly inserted in their slots in the mast. I tied (bowline-to-bowline) a long (~ 30') sturdy line to the jib halyard, and tied a good knot in other end of the halyard to prevent it being pulled into the slot at the base of the mast. I also looped a bungee chord around the foot of the mast (about 6-12" from the heel) and hooked it to either toerail. Now I was ready to slide the mast all the way back to line up the heel and the step (without the bungee chord, you'll need extra hands to stop it tipping up as it's now top-heavy). A strong-ish person can then hoist the extension ladder one rung at a time to hoist the mast, while another guides the hell to the mast step pin. By the time my ladder was at full extension, the person at the mast heel could insert the pin. At this stage the structure is totally stable, so you can leave it and go searching for one more able body to help with the final hoist. One person walked the line tied to the jib halyard to a point on the ground at least a boatlength forward of the bow (further if your line is longer - he needs sure footing). Two people stood under either side of the mast and pushed it up (off the ladder) as the bow person pulled the mast up. Having the backstay, and the shrouds in place let the mast stop safely in place. With tension still on the halyard line, and one person pushing at the back of the mast, the third person can go forward to attach the forestay. The mast anchor hook of one of the lowers got crooked on me during the hoist, so I just undid the turnbuckle, flicked the hook in place, and reattached the turnbuckle. Also, the backstay wasn't led past the ladder properly as the mast went up so it got caught and had to be freed during the hoist. Apart from those hiccups, it went very easily. One should set to angle the ladder a bit aft initially or it will be below the spreaders when the heel meets the step, and might get caught on the spreaders or the uppers' attachment points during the final hoist. However, it does make the final hoist a bit easier if one can push the ladder up against the transom when finally going up to full extension to get just a bit more height from it. It may help the ladder hoister if someone can stand in the cockpit and push up on the mast as the ladder is extended one rung at a time. I took a couple of photos of the set up and will email them to anyone interested. Cheers & good luck, Neil nquigley@comcast.net (then angled the top of the ladder away from the transom about 2', and tied it in that position
Steve, I haven't taken a mast down yet (catching it safely when it gets past about 45 degrees would be the most difficult step), but putting the thing up turned out way easier than I anticipated. After thinking about it a bit the night before, I decided to take my trusty aluminum extension ladder (about 20' overall length at max extension) out to the YC. The boat was on its trailer, with the mast lying on the baot (heel forward). I first propped the unextended ladder up against the transom. I tied it to the boat via the bottom of the rudder bracket and the motor bracket, and also via the pushpit brackets (passing the lines through the hollow rungs of the standing part of the ladder at both levels). I rested the masthead on the top rung of the unextended ladder (I had tied an old towel over the top rung), then I began sliding the mast aft over the towel on the top rung of the ladder. Just before the heel reached the mast step (i.e., before it reached its pivot point on the ladder), I attached the backstay (with tension adjuster fully relaxed) to its anchoring ring on the transom, and I attached the upper and lower shrouds to the chainplates- double checking that the shroud anchors were properly inserted in their slots in the mast. I tied (bowline-to-bowline) a long (~ 30') sturdy line to the jib halyard, and tied a good knot in other end of the halyard to prevent it being pulled into the slot at the base of the mast. I also looped a bungee chord around the foot of the mast (about 6-12" from the heel) and hooked it to either toerail. Now I was ready to slide the mast all the way back to line up the heel and the step (without the bungee chord, you'll need extra hands to stop it tipping up as it's now top-heavy). A strong-ish person can then hoist the extension ladder one rung at a time to hoist the mast, while another guides the hell to the mast step pin. By the time my ladder was at full extension, the person at the mast heel could insert the pin. At this stage the structure is totally stable, so you can leave it and go searching for one more able body to help with the final hoist. One person walked the line tied to the jib halyard to a point on the ground at least a boatlength forward of the bow (further if your line is longer - he needs sure footing). Two people stood under either side of the mast and pushed it up (off the ladder) as the bow person pulled the mast up. Having the backstay, and the shrouds in place let the mast stop safely in place. With tension still on the halyard line, and one person pushing at the back of the mast, the third person can go forward to attach the forestay. The mast anchor hook of one of the lowers got crooked on me during the hoist, so I just undid the turnbuckle, flicked the hook in place, and reattached the turnbuckle. Also, the backstay wasn't led past the ladder properly as the mast went up so it got caught and had to be freed during the hoist. Apart from those hiccups, it went very easily. One should set to angle the ladder a bit aft initially or it will be below the spreaders when the heel meets the step, and might get caught on the spreaders or the uppers' attachment points during the final hoist. However, it does make the final hoist a bit easier if one can push the ladder up against the transom when finally going up to full extension to get just a bit more height from it. It may help the ladder hoister if someone can stand in the cockpit and push up on the mast as the ladder is extended one rung at a time. I took a couple of photos of the set up and will email them to anyone interested. Cheers & good luck, Neil nquigley@comcast.net (then angled the top of the ladder away from the transom about 2', and tied it in that position
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David Walters
another similar method
Since I am a consumate tinkerer, I take my mast down each fall and restep each spring. Thus I've come to a process that works well for me. First, since I do keep the boat on a trailer off season, and I do plan to trailer her to far flung places (OK, 5 hours drive is not that far flung), I use a telescoping mast crutch on the stern instead of a ladder. The crutch is just made from a galvanized TV antenna (remember those?) pole. These were made to be telescoping anyway, so all I had to do was cut it down to size. It is set so that the lowest position puts the mast about 1 ft above the cabin for trailering and the highest position allows the mast to clear the hatch cover while pinned into the mast step. The top of the crutch has a roller like you'd find for your keel on the trailer. This allows me to walk the mast forward and pin it in the maststep. I leave the aftstay, and shrouds attached and only the babystay and forestay are detatched at the deck. With the mast pinned to the maststep I attach an A-frame made of two 8' 2x4's to the toerail on the same plane as the maststep. The pointy end of the "A" has a heavy hinge holding the two boards together and two heavy eye lagbolts screwed into the ends. The jib halyard is attached to one of these eyes and the hook from the trailer winch, after running through the anchor roller, is attached to the other. Don't forget to tie a safety line from the trailer to the boat before you unhook the winch strap. If your doing this on a cradle or stands, you could use your mainsheet tackle. Oh yeah, the A-frame is set at about an 80 degree angle to the mast so that when the mast is fully raised the A-Frame still has about a foot to travel before hitting the deck. Now I simply start cranking the winch. If there is any wind or I'm not on a level parking spot, I have someone else do the cranking and I just babysit the mast on its route up to make sure it doesn't wander side to side too much. The tuning guide referred to earlier suggests putting as much rake in as possible. The first year I did not and this year I did and I can tell you using the upper-most set of holes on the stem fitting is the way to go. The helm stays neutral all the way to about 35 degrees of heel and then the weather helm comes gradually. Before, the boat had lee helm in really light winds and would heel to 45 degrees before any weather helm set in. And when it did, it would be a solid round up. Far to fast for my taste. For the tensioning issues go to http://www.trailersailor.com/forums/trailersailor/index.cgi and do a search for LOOS. There was some very helpful hints on how far to tension the stays. Good luck and leave time to have fun.
Since I am a consumate tinkerer, I take my mast down each fall and restep each spring. Thus I've come to a process that works well for me. First, since I do keep the boat on a trailer off season, and I do plan to trailer her to far flung places (OK, 5 hours drive is not that far flung), I use a telescoping mast crutch on the stern instead of a ladder. The crutch is just made from a galvanized TV antenna (remember those?) pole. These were made to be telescoping anyway, so all I had to do was cut it down to size. It is set so that the lowest position puts the mast about 1 ft above the cabin for trailering and the highest position allows the mast to clear the hatch cover while pinned into the mast step. The top of the crutch has a roller like you'd find for your keel on the trailer. This allows me to walk the mast forward and pin it in the maststep. I leave the aftstay, and shrouds attached and only the babystay and forestay are detatched at the deck. With the mast pinned to the maststep I attach an A-frame made of two 8' 2x4's to the toerail on the same plane as the maststep. The pointy end of the "A" has a heavy hinge holding the two boards together and two heavy eye lagbolts screwed into the ends. The jib halyard is attached to one of these eyes and the hook from the trailer winch, after running through the anchor roller, is attached to the other. Don't forget to tie a safety line from the trailer to the boat before you unhook the winch strap. If your doing this on a cradle or stands, you could use your mainsheet tackle. Oh yeah, the A-frame is set at about an 80 degree angle to the mast so that when the mast is fully raised the A-Frame still has about a foot to travel before hitting the deck. Now I simply start cranking the winch. If there is any wind or I'm not on a level parking spot, I have someone else do the cranking and I just babysit the mast on its route up to make sure it doesn't wander side to side too much. The tuning guide referred to earlier suggests putting as much rake in as possible. The first year I did not and this year I did and I can tell you using the upper-most set of holes on the stem fitting is the way to go. The helm stays neutral all the way to about 35 degrees of heel and then the weather helm comes gradually. Before, the boat had lee helm in really light winds and would heel to 45 degrees before any weather helm set in. And when it did, it would be a solid round up. Far to fast for my taste. For the tensioning issues go to http://www.trailersailor.com/forums/trailersailor/index.cgi and do a search for LOOS. There was some very helpful hints on how far to tension the stays. Good luck and leave time to have fun.
S
Steve C
Thanks David and Neil
for the mast raising lessons, I'll digest them both and give em a try .. thanks again.
for the mast raising lessons, I'll digest them both and give em a try .. thanks again.
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