New owner of Cape Dory 26 / Mast Weight Question

[mkaplan]

Hello. I'm the proud owner of a new-to-me Cape Dory 26 with the name TAMB II. As it was explained to me, one of the prior owners was an Italian gentleman who named it "That's A My Boat". Since I'm not Italian we may rename the boat, but that is still to be determined.

I'm having a trailer made which I'll use to bring the boat home to Atlanta.

I got this boat because of the Cape Dory reputation for seaworthy boats, because I can trailer it and my wife likes the standing headroom in the cabin. I'm planning to sail to the Bahamas, the Gulf of Mexico, the Northeast US, the Great Lakes and maybe more.

I plan to build a mast raising system like I did for my 23 foot boat. Does anyone know the combined weight of the 32 foot mast and standing rigging? If I had to guess I would use 250 pounds for my calculations but I'm hoping it's less than that.

Mike Kaplan
Atlanta, GA

[mgphl52]

Congrats and Welcome aboard!

I've never owned a CD26, but I have had 2 CD25s in the past. On the last one I actually lowered and raised the mast by myself at the dock. (I was was at least 15 years younger then...)
The tackle I used was a multi-purchase boom vang with *lots* of extra line. I connected the vang between the jib halyard and bow stem. With the forward lowers disconnected and the uppers loosened a bit, I could disconnect the forestay and ease the mast down with the vang.

I used the technique multiple times on my previous Typhoon, but only once on the CD25.

[steveg]

Hi Mike,

My familiarity is with the 25D, which is about the same as the 26. The mast and rigging weighs well under 200 pounds, in my estimation. I use a gallows, which others refer to as an A frame to raise and lower the mast. It is quite manageable with two patient people. Don't rush and don't force it.

[tjr818]

According to rig-rite the mast section weighs 2.41 pounds per foot:

Screen Shot 2019-06-21 at 1.29.30 PM.png

[drb9]

I have never raised or lowered the mast on my 26 because it appears to sit on some kind of base, and I've very wary of being able to keep it on the base as I'm raising it.

This is in contrast to my CD25, which had a base with a pin in front of and behind the base of the mast, meaning that if you removed one pin, the other would remain fixed and act like a hinge.

I don't think I'm answering your questions, except that even for the smaller CD25 mast, it became a little unwieldy on its way up and down, and that was with a hinged base.

Darin

[Ken Textor]

A rough estimate of my CD 26 mast's weight (with all rigging attached, including RF) is 135-150 lbs. I base this on two facts: 1/ Two men in their 60s can hoist it on their shoulders and move it a VERY short distance; 2/ I regularly hoist mine, alone, to the top of my barn's 2nd floor joists, using two block-and-tackle arrangements. Easy-peasy. I use the boat hauler's crane to step and un-step the mast each season. Good luck,

kt

[Tim Mertinooke]

I created a mast raising system for my 26 that allows me to raise and/or lower the mast by myself. I’ve done so safely for the past two seasons. In short, The mast is on a tabernacle hinge, there is a gin pole that attaches to the forward base of the mast and is supported by non-stretch spectra on either side which runs through padeyes in the deck then up to the mast to support that. There is a lifting strap that is attached to the gin pole which a halyard is tied to and is lifted up to a point just below the spreaders. A block and tackle then gets attached to the bottom of the end of the gin pole and is then attached to the stem fitting on the bow. The mast rests on a 6’ ladder that is attached to the stern pushpit with straps. I can position the gin pole using the spectra side supports which run back to the winches on the coachroof. Once in place I simply start pulling and up it goes. Because the gin pole and mast are both supported laterally, I can stop at any point. Lowering follows the same procedure. I trailer mine as well. My goal was to get the biggest boat that I could launch and retrieve in my own as well as step and lower the mast alone. The CD26 is a perfect fit for that criteria. It’s also a very seaworthy boat in my experience. We are anchored in Provincetown Harbor as I type this and will be sailing across Massachusetts Bay to Cape Ann tomorrow morning.

[mkaplan]

Thanks to everyone for your informative and helpful comments. 150lb will be a lot easier to handle than 250.

Tim, It seems that you are further down the road that I want to be on. I will try to contact you to get advice and feedback on your experiences.

Mike

[Tim Mertinooke]

I used this article and many manuals from boats that have mast-raising systems in order to make mine.

https://www.goodoldboat.com/reader_serv ... epping.php

[mkaplan]

Tim, That is the article I used to build a mast-raising system for my current boat, a Com-Pac 23 with a 25 ft mast, so I'm on the right track. Instead of a boom vang I use a winch on the gin pole that is auto braking in both directions.

A couple of changes I may make are: 1. When the bridles are taut they are difficult to unhook from the padeyes on the mast so I may use pelican hooks or similar easy-to-release hook. 2. Instead of connecting the boom vang and jib halyard to eyebolts atop the gin pole, I may connect them to each other and run them over a Y shaped fitting at the top of the gin pole. That way when the gin pole gets near horizontal the pulling angle will be directly to the top of the mast and not to the top of the gin pole.

I have a few questions for you: How far from the base of the mast are your padeyes on the mast and how tall is your gin pole? I assume you have a mast crutch to support the mast near the stern rail. With the mast in raising position on the crutch, what is the mast angle to horizontal?