Raising/Lowering the mast using an A-Frame

[wikakaru]

In the past I have shared bits and pieces about using an A-frame for raising/lowering the mast on my Cape Dory Typhoon and CD22, but this fall when I hauled the CD22 I took a few more photos of the setup, and I thought that the subject deserved its own post. So here are the details of my A-frame setup.

Construction was simple. It consists of a pair of 2x4 boards, an eye bolt and eye nut, and a few bits of rope.

I ordered my eye bolt and eye nut from eRigging.com. Model 51611628 3/8" x 4" eye bolt with 3/8"-16 UNC thread and model 51612215 5/16" eye nut with 3/8"-16 UNC thread. Total cost was about $18 including shipping. Don't make the same mistake I made the first time out and order a 3/8" eye nut to go with your 3/8" eye bolt. The eye bolt size is the size of the threaded rod, but the eye nut size is the size of the rod used to make the circle, not the size of the threads. So a 3/8" eye bolt fits a 5/16" eye nut. Go figure. Read the thread sizes carefully.

Each leg of the A-frame (i.e. each 2x4) is just a bit longer than the distance from the cap shroud chainplate to the forestay. (This is assuming your boat has in-line rather than swept-back spreaders. To my knowledge, all Cape Dorys have in-line spreaders.) For my CD22, that meant using 10-foot long 2x4s and cutting them down slightly. Cut the excess off at an angle so the legs of the A-frame will rest flat on the deck with the A-frame standing straight up. It's best to cut them at the boat so you can make sure everything fits right.

A-frame construction drawing.jpg (323.5 KiB) Viewed 2110 times

I added some non-slip/non-scratch PVC material to the feet. I used EasyLiner Select Grip. It is sold as shelf or drawer liner in the housewares section of stores. A few staples from a staple gun hold it in place.

When using the A-frame, the apex of the frame should be positioned just forward of the forestay attachment point, and the feet should rest on deck as close to athwartships of the mast base as possible. On my CD22 I tie the legs to bales on the stanchion bases to keep the A-frame from slipping. The stanchion bases are pretty close to the right place. The tricky bit is to make the A-frame long enough to clear the headstay attachment, but short enough to clear the bow pulpit. Using ropes to tie the feet in place helps, because you can change the rope length to change the location of the feet.

An anti-spread rope is tied to holes drilled about half way down the 2x4s. It keeps the A-frame feet from splaying outwards over the toe-rail. Put the A-frame in place then tie the anti-spread rope to the correct length.

The jib halyard is connected to one side of the eye bolt/eye nut fitting at the apex, and the trailer bow winch is connected to the other side. Take up tension on the winch to hold the mast in place, then the headstay and forward lower shrouds can be removed.

Here's a photo that shows the setup ready to lower the mast, with the headstay already removed:

A-Frame 1.jpg (335.98 KiB) Viewed 2110 times

Here's a close-up of the A-frame apex at the bow. The running light is in the way a bit at the start, but once the mast comes down just a bit, the angle of the support line changes, and it doesn't touch anymore.

A-Frame 2.jpg (357.38 KiB) Viewed 2110 times

[Continued in next post to allow more than 3 photos...]

[wikakaru]

We use two people to lower the mast. My wife operates the winch on the trailer, while I stand on deck holding the mast "just in case". I don't actually do anything. I hold the mast lightly to make sure it doesn't swing from side to side. She does all the work.

A-Frame 3.JPG (128.23 KiB) Viewed 2109 times

A-Frame 4.JPG (163.86 KiB) Viewed 2109 times

A-Frame 5.JPG (168.95 KiB) Viewed 2109 times

[Continued on next post to allow more than 3 pictures...]

[wikakaru]

Here's the mast all the way down. It's time to remove the A-frame, detach the mast from the step, and move the mast into its trailering position:

A-Frame 6.jpg (211.33 KiB) Viewed 2109 times

Raising the mast is just the same process in reverse.

I hope this helps anyone looking for an easier way to raise and lower their mast themselves.

Smooth sailing,

Jim

[Typhoon4Fun]

Nice!! I use a very similar system to step the mast on our TySr, but since we have to do it in the water, I also rig some temporary bridles to support the mast as an added safety measure.

I use a single gin pole that I ratchet-strap to the mast, also supported with temporary bridles, but I like your a-frame. Looks quite sturdy.

[John Stone]

Outstanding.

[Brimag]

Nice photos, just set up a similar system with some spare aluminum tubes. I used your set-up and pictures as a guide. Worked perfectly! Kept waiting for a problem but not one. The only change I will add is a mast crutch to attach to the Stern rail . Very pleased wife also!!***

[S/V Ethan Grey]

Very nice! I had a MacGregor 26s that was easily trailerable and had a mast lowering system. The biggest issue was making sure the base didn't kick out and that the mast didn't start to lean to one side or the other.

I wonder if the mast on a CD30 is too heavy for something like this. I really need to drop mine because the wires inside the mast rattle around annoyingly.

[Brimag]

Hold on! As a ex rigger we never "Dropped masts" we always lowered them !!! Brian

[wikakaru]

I wonder if the mast on a CD30 is too heavy for something like this. I really need to drop mine because the wires inside the mast rattle around annoyingly.

I don't think the problem doing this with a CD30 is the weight so much as it is the shape of the mast step. Both the Typhoon and CD22 that I have used this method on have hinge mechanisms at the mast base that allow you to lower the mast while it still remains connected to the boat and it won't slide away. The CD30s that I have seen lack such a hinge. You could certainly fabricate a tabernacle mast step once the mast is down to make it so that you can lower and raise the mast yourself in the future, but that doesn't help you now while the mast is still standing.

Another method that I've heard about but haven't tried is to use the masts of two adjacent sailboats rafted on either side of your boat as makeshift cranes to lift your mast up. Unless you are off in the wilds somewhere and don't have access to a boatyard with a crane, you are probably better off just paying someone with a crane to pull your mast.

I gotta say that I hate clanging wires in the mast. Last spring I re-wired the mast on my CD22. Some previous owner, or maybe the factory, had shoved lumps of closed cell foam cushion material into the mast in an effort to stop the noise. It didn't work and the noise drove me crazy. It was a huge job getting all the useless old foam out of the mast. I finally did it by taping a dismantled cork screw onto a long length of PVC conduit, skewering the foam, and pulling it out.

DSC_4817a.JPG (238.51 KiB) Viewed 1956 times

When I re-wired I used the 3-cable-tie method about every foot or so. The mast is now absolutely silent when the boat rolls at anchor. I love it.

DSC_4818.JPG (236.2 KiB) Viewed 1956 times

Smooth sailing,

Jim

[S/V Ethan Grey]

Nice work Jim. I never would have thought of the corkscrew.
-david

[wikakaru]

Nice work Jim. I never would have thought of the corkscrew.
-david

It was all I could think of. I live on an island and the resources available to solve problems are very limited.

My first method was to try pushing the foam through from one end of the mast to the other with a 30-foot length of PVC conduit. I didn't realize until too late that the spreaders have a through-bolt that runs all the way through the mast, so when I tried pushing the foam from one end it just piled up at the through-bolt in the middle of the mast. After removing the through-bolt I still couldn't push the foam through the mast because all the foam was stuck in a single large clump in the middle of the mast and the friction from all that foam was too much to push through. My only remaining option was pulling. I tried a couple of iterations of the corkscrew before I found one that would work. I finally had to cut apart a "jumping jack" style corkscrew with a Dremel so I could have a piece of corkscrew that I could easily attach to the conduit yet wouldn't snag on anything inside the mast, and which would allow me to twist the conduit to screw the corkscrew into the foam. I'm not sure how a boatyard with access to a vast variety of tools would have done the job, but as they say, "necessity is the mother of invention".

Smooth sailing,

Jim

[wikakaru]

Another method that I've heard about but haven't tried is to use the masts of two adjacent sailboats rafted on either side of your boat as makeshift cranes to lift your mast up. Unless you are off in the wilds somewhere and don't have access to a boatyard with a crane, you are probably better off just paying someone with a crane to pull your mast.

This video shows using a single adjacent sailboat to remove the mast from a Cape Dory 28. It was posted by Rigging Doctor a few hours ago: https://youtu.be/Vs9rywic7XY?t=428. I've never seen it done that way before.

--Jim

[JD-MDR]

Nice work Jim. I never would have thought of the corkscrew.
-david

Mine has a tube of soft foam wrapped in mesh. It has a cord on each end so it can be pulled either way. I still get a little slapping noise. Yea, I hate it. Halyard slapping is one of my pet peeves. Even though there is a note the marina lease agreement most boats halyards are really noisy and it really wears the paint on the mast.

[yankeefan]

I wish I would have seen your post before lowering the mast on my CD25. I think I will have to try this simple A-frame when raising. Question: were you able to keep all the shrouds connected when lowering? I'm thinking it's the shrouds that kept the mast from coming down either port or starboard.
Also, any close up pics of how you attached the lines at the foot of the A-frame would ease my mind a bit about trying this on my boat. The lines would have to be loose enough to prevent lateral movement, but tight enough not to slip away from the base of the cleat or chainplate.

[wikakaru]

Question: were you able to keep all the shrouds connected when lowering? I'm thinking it's the shrouds that kept the mast from coming down either port or starboard.

The CD22 has cap shrouds, forward and aft lower shrouds, headstay, and backstay. You have to remove the forward lowers and headstay, but the upper shrouds, aft lowers, and backstay can all stay in place.

Also, any close up pics of how you attached the lines at the foot of the A-frame would ease my mind a bit about trying this on my boat. The lines would have to be loose enough to prevent lateral movement, but tight enough not to slip away from the base of the cleat or chainplate.

Here's the best photo I have of attaching the feet of the A-frame to the stanchion bases. I used about 1-foot long pieces of paracord run through holes drilled in the 2x4. I think paracord is a bit small. Next time I will replace those lines with 1/4-inch polyester.

A-Frame foot attachment.jpg (367.29 KiB) Viewed 1836 times

Smooth sailing,

Jim