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R
robin
tales of a moron
John, I can tell you how not to do it, which I think is more important than how to do it. I had mine unstepped two days ago at a local yard. They were going to hook up a cherry picker with a belt to the spreaders and lift it off the deck plate. They told me to loosen the stays, which seemed a bit odd because they hadnt attached the crane yet. I figured that the mast step plate would hold the mast (which was free of sails etc and should have weighed 300-400 pounds). I loosened the stays then removed the three to port and was loosening the back split stay when I heard a terrific crash. As you can probably guess, the mast came crashing down on the nearby dock and almost killed me and took out another boat near me. I had a heart attack, a stroke, and aged about 50 years all at the same time. Amazingly enough the mast came out with only scratches, and a busted mast light (that i dont think worked anyway). It turned out that the step plate had broken. The only other damage was a broken support on the bimini and a bend in my roller furling foil. Several onlookers declared i was the "luckiest sonofabitch alive". I went into the office to tell the yard people that I had saved them some work. Everyone found it very entertaining (even myself once the urine in my pants dried). So now I have decided to write it off as fate and am taking the opportunity to change my mast wiring, rigging, and compression post. I am posting this because I think that people on this list can benefit from each others ignorance as much as wisdom. In retrospect, I think the best way is to have the yard attach the crane for support, then loosen or remove your rigging and wiring (if possible). Take your boom and sails down prior to getting to the yard if possible to save a little money. The yard initially was going to charge me a hundred bucks to pull the mast, hold it up while i resealed around the wiring, and drop it back in place. Good luck.
John, I can tell you how not to do it, which I think is more important than how to do it. I had mine unstepped two days ago at a local yard. They were going to hook up a cherry picker with a belt to the spreaders and lift it off the deck plate. They told me to loosen the stays, which seemed a bit odd because they hadnt attached the crane yet. I figured that the mast step plate would hold the mast (which was free of sails etc and should have weighed 300-400 pounds). I loosened the stays then removed the three to port and was loosening the back split stay when I heard a terrific crash. As you can probably guess, the mast came crashing down on the nearby dock and almost killed me and took out another boat near me. I had a heart attack, a stroke, and aged about 50 years all at the same time. Amazingly enough the mast came out with only scratches, and a busted mast light (that i dont think worked anyway). It turned out that the step plate had broken. The only other damage was a broken support on the bimini and a bend in my roller furling foil. Several onlookers declared i was the "luckiest sonofabitch alive". I went into the office to tell the yard people that I had saved them some work. Everyone found it very entertaining (even myself once the urine in my pants dried). So now I have decided to write it off as fate and am taking the opportunity to change my mast wiring, rigging, and compression post. I am posting this because I think that people on this list can benefit from each others ignorance as much as wisdom. In retrospect, I think the best way is to have the yard attach the crane for support, then loosen or remove your rigging and wiring (if possible). Take your boom and sails down prior to getting to the yard if possible to save a little money. The yard initially was going to charge me a hundred bucks to pull the mast, hold it up while i resealed around the wiring, and drop it back in place. Good luck.
F
Forrest B true
Mast removal h31
John: Assuming you want to store the mast for the season or transport it, don't disassemble the spreaders and the fixed shrouds. The mast can be unstepped, stored and or transported as an assembled unit. It is one miserable time consuming job to reset once taken apart. I have had my 87 h31 hauled over the road many times and the haulers have never given me any grief about the B&G rigging. Most people don't realize that the B&G rigging was meant to be pre-rigged. I did experience one yard employee trying to take it a part but caught it just in time. Whatever you do don't try it yourself like the previous responder. That is a funny storey.
John: Assuming you want to store the mast for the season or transport it, don't disassemble the spreaders and the fixed shrouds. The mast can be unstepped, stored and or transported as an assembled unit. It is one miserable time consuming job to reset once taken apart. I have had my 87 h31 hauled over the road many times and the haulers have never given me any grief about the B&G rigging. Most people don't realize that the B&G rigging was meant to be pre-rigged. I did experience one yard employee trying to take it a part but caught it just in time. Whatever you do don't try it yourself like the previous responder. That is a funny storey.
C
Claude L.-Auger
Mast removal
John, I agree with Forrest B True that if you are going to store the boat you should not dissassemble the spreaders and shrouds. Do support the stores mast in 3 points. I store it on the boat, and use the mast as a boom tent with spreaders pointing down, thus giving a good suuport for my winter cover. However,I have had 2 Hunters transported in the last 3 years and each time the boat trucker wanted it dissasembled so they could store it on a special support on the side of the truck. And they will not assume responsability for it if not dissassembled. Re-assembling is not that complicated, but does take time. About 2½ hours on my 34. Good Luck
John, I agree with Forrest B True that if you are going to store the boat you should not dissassemble the spreaders and shrouds. Do support the stores mast in 3 points. I store it on the boat, and use the mast as a boom tent with spreaders pointing down, thus giving a good suuport for my winter cover. However,I have had 2 Hunters transported in the last 3 years and each time the boat trucker wanted it dissasembled so they could store it on a special support on the side of the truck. And they will not assume responsability for it if not dissassembled. Re-assembling is not that complicated, but does take time. About 2½ hours on my 34. Good Luck
T
Tom Madura
I've done this.
I bought my '85 h31 this spring and had to have it hauled overland. I had a boat yard unstep the rig, but I disassebled the spreaders and shrouds myself to pack it for travelling. Putting it back together was no big deal (my wife and I did it in about 2 hours). Putting it back up took a little longer, and I ended up needing 4 helpers, but I did a couple of dumb things.I assume you're just pulling the rig to store for the winter. My previous boat was an old 31 footer with a wooden mast, and I pulled the rig every year for eleven years, so I have some experience at this. The Hunter rig is a little heavier, but not much harder to do. Here's some pointers: 1.As stated in previous posts, hook the crane up BEFORE removing any rigging. 2.If you mark the turnbuckles with tape before you loosen them, it's way easier to tune when you get it back together. 3. You really only need to loosen turnbuckles on one side (port or starboard); that should give you enough play to take out the pins on the other side. Again, this makes it easier to put back together. 4.Use a heavy rope for lifting. I use a 7/16" Dacron jib sheet. Don't use nylon; it stretches too much. 5.Lift the BandR rig ABOVE the first set of spreaders; it's very top-heavy and won't balance very well if you lift below the spreaders. I made this mistake when re-stepping and needed 4 people to horse the butt end down onto the deck plate; if you balance it right it's a two man job. You'll have to go part way up the mast in a bos'n's chair to attach the rope above the spreaders. 6.Have two people to help you; one to work the crane, and one to help control the mast while you loosen the rigging. 7.Remember to unplug all the electrical connections as soon as the mast is a few inches above the deck, or you'll rip the connectors off. Like most things on boats, once you've done it once it will seem easy. Our boat yard charges about $200 to unstep a mast, and I can do it with a couple of friends in about two hours, for the cost of half a case of beer. Good luck.
I bought my '85 h31 this spring and had to have it hauled overland. I had a boat yard unstep the rig, but I disassebled the spreaders and shrouds myself to pack it for travelling. Putting it back together was no big deal (my wife and I did it in about 2 hours). Putting it back up took a little longer, and I ended up needing 4 helpers, but I did a couple of dumb things.I assume you're just pulling the rig to store for the winter. My previous boat was an old 31 footer with a wooden mast, and I pulled the rig every year for eleven years, so I have some experience at this. The Hunter rig is a little heavier, but not much harder to do. Here's some pointers: 1.As stated in previous posts, hook the crane up BEFORE removing any rigging. 2.If you mark the turnbuckles with tape before you loosen them, it's way easier to tune when you get it back together. 3. You really only need to loosen turnbuckles on one side (port or starboard); that should give you enough play to take out the pins on the other side. Again, this makes it easier to put back together. 4.Use a heavy rope for lifting. I use a 7/16" Dacron jib sheet. Don't use nylon; it stretches too much. 5.Lift the BandR rig ABOVE the first set of spreaders; it's very top-heavy and won't balance very well if you lift below the spreaders. I made this mistake when re-stepping and needed 4 people to horse the butt end down onto the deck plate; if you balance it right it's a two man job. You'll have to go part way up the mast in a bos'n's chair to attach the rope above the spreaders. 6.Have two people to help you; one to work the crane, and one to help control the mast while you loosen the rigging. 7.Remember to unplug all the electrical connections as soon as the mast is a few inches above the deck, or you'll rip the connectors off. Like most things on boats, once you've done it once it will seem easy. Our boat yard charges about $200 to unstep a mast, and I can do it with a couple of friends in about two hours, for the cost of half a case of beer. Good luck.
E
Ed
unstep
I agree with Tom's method. On my 34, I use 4 people - 0ne on hoist, one at mast base, one to support the furler so that it doesn't kink and one extra body to free up any rigging that gets caught or to take care of anything I forgot to take care of. I put a sling around the mast at the spreader light and keep it from sliding up by running a line down around the lower spreaders.
I agree with Tom's method. On my 34, I use 4 people - 0ne on hoist, one at mast base, one to support the furler so that it doesn't kink and one extra body to free up any rigging that gets caught or to take care of anything I forgot to take care of. I put a sling around the mast at the spreader light and keep it from sliding up by running a line down around the lower spreaders.
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