During the repair work on my N28, I became apparent that the mast needed to come down. I looked around at the various options I had, and decided to build a static A frame for lifting the mat off the step, and lowering it down to the deck. I based my A frame on a couple of youtube clips of others that used a static A frame. There are only three youtube clips of this process that I could find. I ws not impressed with the materials they chose to make the A frame, but more importantly, the method they used to lift the mast. Anyway, I had some 20ft long fiberglass square tubing that was 3" square qith a 1/4" wall thickness. I laminated some 2x4's together with epoxy, then ripped them to a little less than 2.5" square so they would slide up inside the fiberglass tubing. I did a little math and decided that I needed the A frame to be approximately 23ft tall at the apex. I also made some steel brackets for the top and bottom, and this was all bolted together. I also made a base pivot out of 2.5" angle steel 3/16" thick. This would allow the A frame to be pivoted up. Anyway, it only takes two people to raise the A frame. On one of the legs of the A frame, I mounted a 800lb rated brake winch with 1/8 cable. The cable runs from the winch up to the block at the ape, then back down to a loose noose around the mast at the spreaders. The winch allowed the mast to be slowly raised, and then lowered slowly to the deck without anyone having to handle the full weight of the mast. After much research, I decided the mast and rigging weighed approximately 200lbs, maybe a little more. Anyway the fateful day came, and a few of my friends and I met at the boat and proceeded to take the mast down. Everything worked perfectly, and at no time did it feel as if the mast was out of control. The use of the winch worked as expected, and everything went very slowly and deliberate. I think at the most, no one had to handle much weight, and mostly just guided the mast down. Here are a few pictures showing the mast being removed.
