stepping the mast using a gin pole???

[centerline]

The factory system incorporates the head sail halyard, which is connected to a strap at the end of the gin pole. Once the mast is secured with the head stay, you simply unhook the halyard. No need to climb the mast! (I always connect my unused halyard to the bow pulpit for added safety, since my CDI furler uses an internal halyard).

Your idea sounds interesting, but...I know you're concerned about lateral movement of the mast as it's being raised, which is why you designed the bridal system to keep things tight all the way. The side to side forces are really minimal, even though there is considerable sideways movement, no need to worry! The baby stays only keep the mast from falling sideways, but the Shrouds take over about half way up.

Your proposed system sounds like more trouble to setup. Why don't you just try using the same kind of system the 26's use? The MAC26S mast is 28' long.

The pic's Sum posted show the setup real well. I'm not sure this has been mentioned yet, but make sure the attachment on the deck for the block & tackle, i.e. bow cleat has good backing, and the deck is good and strong.

I made it sound more complicated than it really is.... once I have the attachment points on the mast and on the deck, I will clip in to the the deck on each side and then snap it to the mast, and then the gin pole..... it will be only 2 lines with blocks on them.... about 30 seconds to untangle and hook up.

and yes.... I could just make it the same as all the others, as that has always worked well, but the only added expense here is the cost of the blocks, and I have to go thru all the same trouble and motions to do the initial install anyway, one more step wont hurt me.
if it doesnt work, then I can drop the blocks out of the system, hook the stays to their anchor points in plan "B", and use the halyard to the gin pole...

ONE THING...... I have set an 8ft 2x4 in the tabernacle to use as a dummy mast for trying to figure out a spot on the deck to attach baby stays. with the mast tabernacle about 10 inchs higher than the stay attachment on the deck, there is absolutely no geometrical location on the deck to prevent the length of the stay attachment points from changing to unacceptable lengths within the arc of the mast. at one point the shrouds will take the side movement out, but not before the baby stays have about 7-8 inches of slack. or become to tight that they have to be removed.

there will be unacceptable slack either while the mast is laying in the saddle, or, while it is nearing the upright position. there is no sweet spot to keep the slack within a barely acceptable 4-5 inches. AND yes, 8 inches of slack will keep the mast from falling, but I dont want to damage anything in the process of it all either.

Plan "B"....on the raised part of the cabin roof, at the front corner where it breaks toward the deck forward and to the side, that is the sweet spot. its 4 inches lower and about 4 inches forward of the tabernacle. at a distance of 24 inches from the middle. it would be unsightly to have anything mounted at that spot. that is why I have to try the other method I have planned before i put an attachment here.

 

[caguy]

If you don't want to drill unecessary hole the PO on the Mac installed cheek block to route the halyards to the cockpit.
the one on the starboard sign was perfectly place at about 2" in from of the tabernacle hinge. The one on the port side was about even with the hinge. I was able to tighten the one on the starboard side nice and taut. The one of the port side I would leave a slight slack. When the mast was raised they were both perfectly taut. If you were to make both deck organizers 2" in front of your hinge you can kill two birds with one stone. Here is a pick of the cheak blocks. You can see from the unfaded lines on the deck how they line up.

 

[centerline]

caguy,
I dont have any existing hardware on the deck forward of the mast until the pulpit.... and it isnt wide enough to give the stabilization I want.
If i had a use for cheek blocks mounted in the spot I need to attach the stays to, I wouldnt be opposed to using blocks as the anchor point and getting double duty out of them. that would make the best use of the time and space, but my halyards go back to the cockpit from the mast to the outer corners of the cabin top.

 

[Phyrexii]

This is how I found the optimal position for the baby stay attachments on the deck (regardless of the size / shape of the deck).

First, raise the mast. Pick a spot on the mast where you want to attach the stays. Actual position is largely irrelevant. I mounted mine 6' off the deck, so I could easily reach the spot when the mast was up. Attach two strings (twine) roughly equal length to the mast at this spot. They need to be long enough to reach the outer edge of the deck (or cabin top, or wherever you wish to put the deck attachments). Tape a pencil to the end of the lines so that the pencil is parallel with the line, and just touching the deck with the tip. Being careful to keep the line taught and the pencil straight, draw an arc on the deck.

Now, without disturbing the pencils / lines, lower the mast to the position it would be in when you would raise it (don't unbolt it from the base). Now, keeping the lines taught and the pencils straight in line (as much as possible), draw an intersecting arc on the deck. This will be where the center of the attachment should be.

It's kinda hard to explain, and I didn't think to take any pictures when I did it. But, I never cleaned the pencil lines of my deck (see picture). The arc fore and aft (left to right in the picture) was made with the mast up, and the shorter arc (top to bottom in the picture) was made with the mast down. I offset my deck loop (just a ss ubolt from Lowes) toward the mast to compensate for the height of the loop (when the baby stay is tight, it should form a straight line pointing at the intersection of the two arcs.

Positioning it this way basically keeps the stays as tight as possible all the way up (there is *still* a little bit of slop because the mast does not come up in a smooth arc, due to the squareishness of the bottom of the mast - but the line I use for the stays has some give)

Hope this helps, sorry about any confusion!