Taking the mast down

[Mark]

I went for a last sail before hauling out for some maintenance. This is the first time that I have taken the mast down. I have read that you only need to undo the forestay and the front two stays to take it down. When we tried it this way the mast would bind and not lower past about 30 degrees. When we took the two side stays off the mast lowered perfectly. It looks like the mast bolt should slide up slightly to give more clearance for the back of the mast to pivot but it would not because the stays were holding it. What did I do wrong? BTW we took the stays down by releasing the clevis pins and not unscrewing them. Could that have been the problem?Mark C.#14007 "Markenda"

 

[steve c]

lowering the mast

hi mark you dont have to take the side stays off but you do have to loosen them and make shure your mast base is not flat but has a rounded curve to it so that the mast will pivet with out having to bind up

 

[Dick of Sylvan]

Mast Base

Steve: How can you add a curve to the base if it is flat? Custom welding? My old 1974 edition is fairly flat and the hole for the bolt is very close to the bottom, might even break thru someday. Still, I can take down and put up mast with the side shrouds loosened a bit. I wouldn't want to take these shrouds off completely during raising or lowering as perhaps the mast could fall sideways, causing a lot of havoc. Dick

 

[Mark]

Thanks

Thanks for the information.