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Mast foot bolt and tight baby stay

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Initially Posted - 03/13/2006 : 07:10:03

Put the mast up in the driveway this weekend. Raised it single handed on the trailer, pretty easy once I overcame a couple of issues.

First issue, putting the mast foot bolt in place.
I always put a fat fender aft of the mast step to support the lower part of the mast on the cabin roof, but I found the reason that it's pretty tough to put the mast foot bolt through the mast step is the tendancy of the mast to slide forward (it's trying to fall downhill (fwd) from the aft support stanchion). Once I figured out why it was tough to put that bolt in place, I used my knee to keep the mast foot from moving fwd and the bolt was easy to put in place. (was not easy balancing and keeping my knee there.)
I'm going to figure out some kind of bridle to keep the mast from doing that.

Second issue: Tight baby stay.
Because of the offset mast support on the extra set of gudgeons (JD has a wheel, so the mast points slightly to stbd when it is in the aft mast support cradle) the Port side stay has to be slightly longer than the stbd, but both stays are the same sise. The port side baby stay excessive tension is always an issue.

I really don't like the pelican shackle only having 2 or 3 threads engaged, so this weekend I put a 1" D Shackle on the port lifeline stancheon, then attached the Pelican shackle to the D shackle.

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That allowed a much better ajustment of the baby stay, it also removed some of the strain to port which normally restrains the mast from leaving the aft support cradle. Previous raisings have resulted in the mast 'popping' out of the cradle once there was sufficent tension on the halyard. The sudden movement of the mast upwards is a bit hairy. This time with the extra length of the port side baby stay, it (the mast) rose effortlessly)

When we launch this friday at blackpoint, the mast raising should be a breeze.

Joint Decision. (Sold)
PO C250WB 2005 Sail # 841.

Moved up to C34 Eximius

Updated August 2015

Edited by - britinusa on 03/13/2006 07:25:24

johnsonp
Admiral

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USA
606 Posts

Response Posted - 03/13/2006 : 12:30:27

Good show.....
After a few more times raising and lowering I'm looking forward to hear about future fixes.
paulj C250 WK #719

Edited by - on

bear
Admiral

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USA
909 Posts

Response Posted - 03/13/2006 : 13:30:53

One of the best accessories I bought was a pair of gel filled knee pads, I can almost drop to my knees now with out hurting those boney OLD knee caps.......