Lowering the mast

[Mark]

A cautionary tale

Last summer we sailed the Delmarva peninsula. To get into the waterway at the mouth of the Chesapeake, I had the bright plan of lowering the mast part way, motoring through and then putting it back up. Bad idea! Just as we were ready to move through a power boat passed us, it did slow down but even its small wake had me scared the mast was going to come down - an unbelievable amount of noise. Luckily, except for one of the shrouds breaking off a spreader there was no damage. coming back we took the mast down completely in a no-wake zone and put it back up in a sheltered anchorage a few miles up the Chesapeake. More work but far less worry.

Mark

[simonhayes]

Mark,

That sounds a little too exciting..

Was that on a 26 or a T2 ? The mast raising and lowering system on the T2 is pretty robust so can't see how you would break a shroud. Losing the cotter pin/ring for the head stay overboard is frequently a problem that is what I try and do this while on the trailer vs on the water. I heard some owners do raise and lower the mast regularly on the water

[Ron]

With the mast part of the way down, the forces generated by a powerboat wake or some chop could be enough to bust something. You got to remember that the force is magnified as it goes up the mast, whether it is all of the way up or even 25 percent. Have you ever gone up the mast to fix something in a moderate or heavy sea. You won't believe how you get flung around up there. Every inch of movement at the base is magnified by a factor of 10 or more.

[Mark]

Simon

This was on a T2 with the amas out. The rather small wake hit us side-on. It truly sounded as if the mast was going to rip out the support frames holding it to the deck and come crashing down. I doubt if its possible to take the mast down the usual way in any kind of sea. Try shaking the boat on the trailer with the mast say 20% down and you'll see what I mean.

The rivets holding the U-bracket to the spreader were pulled clean out.

Mark