Lifting CD26 mast

[rollo_cd26]

Basic (dumb) Question: I am new at this "big" boat stuff. How do I take the mast on my CD-26 from horizontal to vertical without a crane? I have been told that three people can do this using a yoke to support the mast up, step the mast in the plate, and secure the aft stay. How much does the mast weigh? seems pretty heavy to me. I don't think many of the marinas around my area are going to have a crane to do this with.

[BlueSeas]

Hi rollo,
You can check out a the Macgregor 26S mast raising. I'm sure the Mac is a lighter mast section but the basic technique is the same. I've lifted solo a 30ft mast of a 6600lb catamaran using a gin-pole, 6:1, temp shrouds, no problem. Be careful, lot of potential energy there to bite if not treated with respect.
Good luck

[Oswego John]

Hi Rollo,

"How do you raise a mast" is not a dumb question at all. It is an excellent question that applies to many readers.

There are many reports in the archives of various methods that owners use to raise and drop their masts. Some are very simple and others rather ingenious.

It gives a person a warm and fuzzy feeling each spring and fall to know that they will save on the cost of paying for the use of a crane and the help force to do their masts.

I won't go into detail, but will give you an idea of what I used to do for mast work.

I made a temporary crane of wood. It was actually a tripod held together at the top by a stout bolt and nut. Hanging from the bolt was a sheave.

You will measure the distance from your spreaders to the mast's butt. To this measurement add a foot and a half, or two feet. This will be the minimum height of the crane.

I have a line installed up, around the sheave and down to the deck. I tie a loose bowline around the mast under the spreaders. I also tie a retriever 1/4" or 5/16" cord to the bowline to pull it back down after the mast is raised. The bitter end of the haul line is made secure to prevent it from running through the sheave and falling to the deck.

Depending on which way your tabernacle faces will determine if the mast is raised from the bow or the stern, There are many ways of raising the mast. After jamming the mast but into the tabernacle base, you can use Swedish Steam and a yoke, halyard and deck winch with a block, or even the winch on the trailer that is used to haul the boat onto the trailer.

If raising from the stern, untangle and secure the aft stay and the two upper shrouds.

I found that using single 2x4s for the legs left the crane rather wobbley so I doubled up the wood on the lower half portion. A CD 26 is doable but anything with a higher and heavier mast, I would consider having a crane do the work.

Good luck,
O J

[bhartley]

We step the mast on our SS23 ourselves. The mast is the same height, but it is a good bit lighter AND the mast is stepped on the deck and not the cabin top (which means hoisting even higher). Our mast swings just along the side deck and around to the step with this system.



The furler on our 25D also adds to the difficulty in stepping the mast. It adds a good bit of weight (rigid extrusion) and awkwardness. Our yard steps the mast on the 25D. I am cheap, but this is way worth the money!

Just my .02~

[jepomer]

I weighed my CD25 mast (original Spartan) last fall. It was just about 100 lbs. Yours will be similar, perhaps a few pounds more. It can be raised by hand, but you will need to use some form of mechanical advantage and lateral sway reduction.

[rollo_cd26]

I am really impressed by the resourceful and generous replies, especially the picture of raising the TY mast! However, do you guys really think the CD26 mast would weigh only ~120 lbs? With shrouds, halyards, winches and all it looks a lot more substantial. I am going to give the tripod method a rehearsal. Now my only problem is getting the boat off the trailer. I think that it could be rolled off as my trailer is 30 feet long and I can find an extension. Perhaps the big issue is the low lake levels right now in Arkansas, most are 8 feet below normal. Thanks!

[drb9]

I had a CD25, whose mast I was able to raise with a couple friends. However, the deck plate for the CD25 had two pins, which means that if you removed one, the mast was basically hinged and could be lowered or raised with control.

When I bought my 26, I realized that there is no hinged deck plate, but the mast rests on a pin instead. It seems awefully risky to try to lower it without a crane.

If you try it, could you have someone video-tape it for Youtube, either for our edification or entertainment, depending on how things turn out?

Darin

[bhartley]

The mast on a Cape Dory 25 is significantly less beefy and lighter than the 25D/26 mast. I would not consider the 25 mast as a comparable.

My husband can carry the Sea Sprite mast on his shoulder (comparable to the CD25 (no D) mast. It weighs by his estimate 80 pounds. He can step the mast himself using the gallows in the picture. You do need every inch of the 12' 2 x 4s to the the elevation needed. The mast is the same height as the 25Ds, BUT you do not have to get it up to the cabin top!

The extrusion on the 25D mast is larger in diameter and thicker. My husband figures it is a little less than double the weight of the 23's mast.

If you search for Hinge Dwyer Mast Step on the forum, you will details on people with 25Ds who use this method instead.

Our marina does not own a crane. If they can't use the travel lift (they have a special rig for the mast), they just contract with a local crane company. They drive in on schedule (the rig is ready to go), attach a sling just below the spreaders (with a downhaul attached!) and up it goes. It takes about 15 minutes, but they bill for the hour. Take a look at your Yellow Pages.

[rollo_cd26]

Just as I figured. The 26D mast does look and feel a lot heavier than what you could throw over your shoulder. Also, I think my mast step has holes where two SS bolts to fix the mast in place, which means that it could function as a hinge. A friend of mine informed me that his marina has a A-frame to hoist the mast, things are starting to improve.

[jepomer]

The CD26 typically had the Spartan Spars CD-3.5

This spar weighs 2.41 lbs. per foot. Standard lengths are 30'1" and 33'7"

So, the bare spar will weigh about 81 lbs. To this add the weight of the rigging. Any furler will add some more weight.

My CD25 mast is the Spartan Spars CD-3. It weighs 1.49 lbs per foot for a total of 45 lbs. With the rigging, it weighed approximately 100 lbs.

The CD25 and CD26 use the same diameter stays and shrouds so the additional weight will be vey similar.

From the calculations, I would expect that the CD26 mast and rigging will be about 150 lbs. You may want to find that guy who "picks things up and puts them down" to help.

http://www.rigrite.com/Spars/Spartan_Sp ... _mast.html

[rollo_cd26]

The PO of my boat had the standing rigging - shrouds and stays replaced in 2006 with heavier cabling (reportedly 75% more load rating) for an aborted solo across the water east of Charleston SC. So, I figure I am nearing 200 lbs for the mast and rigging - a "Hunky Dory". I still have the original material that was removed as spares.

[drysuit2]

If you do come up with a usable rig to lift and step your mast I would be very interested in photos of the event. It is some thing I have allways thought about; but never been able to actualy do.

Good luck.

and Thanks!

[sharkbait]

Anchor real close to a bridge and have someone on the bridge to lift the mast. Or, park your boat between two other sail boats and use their running rigging to raise your mast.

[Como No Cruising]

Re-Sharkbait's comment about using two other boats, one on either side. If at all possible use spinnaker halyards from each of the boats alongside in order to avoid having a halyard jump a sheave. If the three boats are well secured to the docks and the halyards from the two adjacent boats are lead to a seperate line that is tied into a loop below the spreaders of the mast to be hoisted, a tag line tied to the end of the mast and someone guiding the butt of mast home, there should be little problem, even with heavier masts. Just think it through before hand and discuss the entire process thoroughly with all helpers. The method works very well, even on large boats. We have used the aforementioned method to pull and to install masts on boats of 40 feet in length.
Fair Winds- Will

[John Vigor]

I, too, have used two smaller sailboats, one on either side, to lower and raise the mast on a C&C 28-footer I once owned.

I sandwiched myself between a 20-footer and a 24-footer, lashed up tight so nobody could move, and they both used their main halyards, tied in loops under my spreaders, to winch my mast up and down.

It was perfectly easy, and all under control. We laid my mast down from pulpit to pushpit on our boat, and then my wife and I lowered it over the side, fore-and-aft onto our 11-foot dinghy. Then we paddled it to a jetty ashore. There we hauled it up, one at each end, and carried it off on our shoulders to our car, parked nearby.

We placed it on the roof-rack and motored it a couple of hundred yards to the yacht club's outdoor spar yard, where we worked on it.

A couple of weeks later we reversed the process and our boat was back in business. I don't know how much that mast weighed but it was certainly at least as heavy as a CD25's.

John V.