Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
Back in the Spring 2017 when setting up the new-to-me boat I added a spinnaker crane.
The spinnaker crane was procured from Catalina Direct.
I mounted the crane directly to the masthead.
Did not work with the roller furling jib.
On two occasions while attempting to roll in the jib - it fouled the spinnaker halyard. Ouch... and dangerous... if the halyard could not be cleared and the jib rolled in.
Something had to be done.
While at House of Stainless for the anchor locker cover I had them fabricate a 12-inch long piece of 1/8-inch stainless plate into a tapered angle for use as a crane extension.
To install, the choices were to bring down the mast or climb... I chose to climb.
I used a special climbing line tied to the main halyard and an assender/gri gri to climb to the top... it's been seven years since I climbed a mast and this time I found it difficult to get to the top. Fighting around the rigging and re-learning the hang/raise foot straps/stand/raise gri gri cycle made for a tedious afternoon. Had to make two trips too... one to retrive the crane and the second trip to reinstall the extended crane.
Thankfully I was able to reuse the old bolt holes and bolts on the masthead to minimize tasks at the top.
Hopefully the problem of the roller jib fouling the spinnaker halyard is forever gone.
It's only been up there for a few hours but I already wish I would have used aluminum plate for less than half the weight of the extention.
(No worries... that rear nut is tight... just the inner web of the masthead interferes with the bolt head so it does not rise as high as the forward bolt)
It’s really important to put your boat info in your signature. Lots of advice, both given and received, is incorrect without model, year of manufacture, hull number, and keel/ballast design.
Rick S., Swarthmore, PA PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor) New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.