Chrysler Sailors Forum

Thanks to Capt. Scott's great instructions, her mast is now raised.



Two things I noticed for other complete noobs,

1 ) The lower shrouds love to grab the winches as the mast raises. Luckily my wife was on hand to pop them free.
2 ) Two of my .. um what do you call the part of the stay/shroud that attaches to the chainplates, with the turnbuckle in it? Two of those fouled, and were twisted at the chain plate, which I didn't notice till the mast was full up. The first clue was when the fore stay was 2 inches short of its plate. Investigation found one of the aft stays fouled, which when cleared gave me back the two inches. After I had her fore stay attached, I did a walk around and found my port top shroud similarly fouled, and bent in the chain plate. I took it off at the turnbuckle, massaged it in a vice, and put it back, but I'll probably replace the piece.


Thanks for all the handy info.

Chris

What did you wind up using as gin a pole instead of the boom?

I made one



Its an 8ft, 1.5 inch diameter chain link fence corner pole, with
two screw loops grabbing each other at the top



and for the pin, I just took a 1/2 inch x 3 foot rod, and used pipe straps to tie it to the pole,



It seemed plenty strong and stable for the job.

I did a double eye at the end of mine just like.............could be a patent infringement..................had i filed one that is.

Do you run lines through each of the loops to the block attached to the forestay clip? I'd love to see a pic.

What I did was,

1 ) Put the mast foot on the step. I found that for my mast to engage the step without obstruction, the top of the mast had to be raised about 3 ft higher than the base,
2 ) put the jin pole in place, pin in the mast base.
3 ) attach jib halyard to one of the loops at the end of the jin pole,
4 ) attach the center of the jib sheets to the other (fore) loop at the end of the jin pole.
5 ) run the port jib sheet down to the port lifting bridle, then back to an attachment point about 4 feet up the mast. Make that tight and fast.
6 ) repeat for stbd.
7 ) Rather than use my main sheet, I made a little two pulley tackle. I tied one end of the line to the forward cleat, attached one pulley to the forward loop at the end of the jin pole, and ( for convenience ) tied off the other pulley to the first opening in the toe rail ( rather than the forward chain plate. It was getting a little crowded there ).
8 ) tightened up the jib sheets
9 ) pulled the line through the pulleys, and up came the mast.

Awesome Chris! Congratulations! She looks good with the stick up!
Glad to know I can return the favor of information with all the great help I've already received here!

Scott

Was it a one person job?

I had my wife puttering around in the garden, so I called her to help clear the shrouds that got stuck on the winches, and the later to hold the lifting line as I went aft to clear the fouled chain plate connector for the aft stay. In both cases I could have easily tied off the lifting line and done the job myself.

So yea, it can be done by yourself easily. You'll know right of the bat if the mast has any swing (left/right) in it as it starts to lift. That's why the jib sheets need to be tight, to keep the mast from shifting like that. With the two double pulleys I was using, the might have been about 15lbs of tension on the lifting line as I was pulling the mast up.

It the past we had issues with the mast swinging on the way up, But we've solved them I think using a slight modification I learned from Capt. Scott. It is all about keeping the jib sheets tight. The other issue is we have no stern rail ??? so someone or something has to keep the mast up high enough to engage the step and balance the weight of the mast hanging off the stern of the boat. This year we are installing a hinged mast step.

FranS wrote: The other issue is we have no stern rail ??? so someone or something has to keep the mast up high enough to engage the step and balance the weight of the mast hanging off the stern of the boat.

Heh, I made the Most Ugly Mast Holder(tm), ie an 8 ft board, on crossed 2x4s, with smaller boards making a 'v' above to grab the mast. Trial and error to get the height right, using junk wood I had left over in the garage.

parared wrote: . . . so I called her to help clear the shrouds that got stuck on the winches, and the later to hold the lifting line as I went aft to clear the fouled chain plate connector for the aft stay . . . .

LOL!

Didn't ya read my instructions enough? I clearly stated to check those lines and when you thought all was clear, check again! LOL!

Yeah, I did that to several times! LOL!

I'm a slow learner!

Scott

Glad it went so smooth. Where were you standing on the boat when you pulled the mast up? Did you have to steady the mast? or did the jibsheets do all the work keeping the mast from swinging to the side? You gave me the confidence for my first mast raising. thanks, Mike

69Shark wrote: Didn't ya read my instructions enough? I clearly stated to check those lines and when you thought all was clear, check again! LOL!

Heh, what I think surprised me was that the chainplate connections could get fouled without me noticing from the bow. They're sneaky little &@#$&s.

I didn't have to touch the mast at all, the jib sheets kept her still, and once she passes about 45 degrees the shrouds add to the stability.

I was standing on the bow as I raised the mast, as you can see in this most flattering picture ... ( TODO, 1: raise mast ... 2: lose 30 lbs ... )

i wish it was only 30 i needed to lose!!

The double purchase is a great idea. Using just the main sheet attached to the forestay bracket on the bow puts your back to the mast as it's coming up. I always clunk my head as the boom comes down.

frans..

that is designed in....it is the automatic "mast-up" indicator... won't find that feature on many other boats!

Them Chrysler guys thought of everything

"a head" of their time.... to funny...

NYCSAILOR wrote:frans..

that is designed in....it is the automatic "mast-up" indicator... won't find that feature on many other boats!

I love it!!!


Scott

We successfully raised our mast yesterday! Just like last year, one of the shrouds got caught on the port winch. I don't know if it can be avoided, but this time, as she went up, we knew to look down for snags.

Let the season begin!

Congrats Matt!
It always feels good once it is up doesn't it?!?!?

How about some photos of the lady with her stick up?

Scott