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To Step or Not To Step

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jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/01/2007 : 20:02:27

So - most of the locals I've spoken with here on Long Island believe that ice can do serious damage to the standing rigging, and it's important to step the mast and wrap the entire boat. I'm considering leaving the mast up and just tarping the boat. What are your thoughts?

Many thanks!

Jerry

Edited by - on

ChrisandCheri
1st Mate

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USA
30 Posts

Response Posted - 10/01/2007 : 20:08:08

As I am a brand new sailboat owner in the finger lakes of NY, I will give you my thoughts. I want to have the practice of taking my mast down with my wife ourselves. We have only paid others to do it. It should be easier to do with no one watching us from their 250,000.00 boats-
Also, I want to check the top of the mast and the wiring. I suppose you would be okay leaving the mast up though.

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3462 Posts

Response Posted - 10/01/2007 : 21:34:19

When I used to keep my ODay 23 in a marina in Huntington, Long Island, the winters the boat was on a cradle or support blocks and we would cover the boat with a canvas tarp over a frame made of tubing and quick-disconnect couples. This was for a number of reasons: Keep strong winds from battering the hull with sand from the marina gravel/dirt yard; to protect the cockpit area from snow melting and refreezing as ice; also to keep the topsides out of the sun during the winter days that I was not down at the marina. As far as the mast goes..we kept ours down. Some keep it up. Not sure if it really is a concern but when the hull is in the water, the water would sort of be a cushion against sudden breezy conditions allowing the boat to sway to one side or the other. On dry land on support blocks, the hull is rigid - sudden breezes is absorbed by the rigging. One would think that the tension and any sudden force would not be all that great since there is little surface area to the mast in the wind....so maybe not a real concern.

Edited by - OLarryR on 10/01/2007 21:36:15

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/01/2007 : 21:55:03

I left the mast up most years--the exceptions being when I planned to do some work on it, and one winter in a yard where all masts were taken down. Most boats in that first yard, a big one in Norwalk, left their masts up. I stowed the boom in the cabin and tied the halyards off to stanchion bases. Ice in the cockpit is the primary winter issue, IMHO--I shoveled mine out after every significant snow-fall. I also poured some antifreeze into the bilge in case of seepage, and then pumped some of it through the bilge pump to protect it. I can't see how ice is going to hurt the mast and rigging.

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 10/01/2007 21:59:46

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 10/02/2007 : 13:06:33

I leave my mast up over the winter.

As to tarping, I just put a tarp directly on the cabintop from just forward of the mast to a couple of feet past the hatchboards. Before putting on this tarp, I take swim noodles, the kind with a hollow center, and slit them down one side. These go over the teak hand rails and the handle for the sliding hatch to prevent abrasion. I also put noodles by the hatch slides. Lastly, I put a tarp over the boom with the tarp slanting down towards the stanchion bases.

Edited by - on

stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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1608 Posts

Response Posted - 10/02/2007 : 15:55:30

My boat spends the winter in a very cold snowy windy place.
Mast comes down, tarp goes over entire boat.
Rudder and OB come home to the garage. Boom goes into cabin.
I use lots of bungy cords, lots of duct tape. (duct tape reversed so as not to leave residue)

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/02/2007 : 18:16:28

Good point about the rudder... If your winter is cold, take it home. Most of the split clamshell seams are probably caused by freezing moisture in the core, and on the newer, foam-cored rudders, bright sun on the bottom paint can cause swelling and splitting, too.

Edited by - on

glivs
Admiral

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USA
836 Posts

Response Posted - 10/02/2007 : 20:45:53

Only a handful of boats in our winter storage yard or area(VT/NY/QU)unstep their masts. The vast majority also remove the fore and aft lower shrouds and tie them to the mast. That leaves only the uppers to support the mast the advantages presumably being 1) the mast poses a less rigid structure in the wind, and 2)it is much easier to place tarps around one shroud as opposed to three per side. As Stempeder and Dave B. noted, boom, rudder, and ob are stored separately. I stretch my tarps over a 2x4 ridge pole with one end tied to the mast and the other supported by a 2x4 "T" or the pulpit. This allows a steep enough slope to dump most snows and allows easy entrance in the spring to start cleaning. Each yard does things a bit differently, however, depending upon local winds and exposure. I suggest you ask what is common for your area.

Edited by - on

Jmurfy
Navigator

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USA
176 Posts

Response Posted - 10/02/2007 : 22:38:14

Most of the sailboats in the yard whereI store my boat keep their masts up all winter here in Chicago.

Edited by - on

jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 10/07/2007 : 11:09:12

I'm happy to hear this news, especially from Chicago! I was concerned about freezing rain getting into the mast head, fittings, pushing things apart...maybe I worry too much.

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 10/07/2007 : 16:49:09

We take the mast down. Our current boat is a 1982 and she has never been covered. She rolled over once in an ice storm, but there has never been a tarp or shrink wrap on the boat during the winter. I think we were 50/50 with season's covering the old c-25 and some seasons letting it go.

If you are on a cradle you will be okay leaving the mast up. If you have a furled headsail that has to come off. Boom comes off and obviously the mainsail, halyards get cleated to the rail. When we did leave the mast up We put the two forward halyards to the bow, the topping lift and main to the stern with the Pole topper also going to the bow.

If you are not on a cradle the mast should come down...

But lets really put it into perspective - it takes about 30 minute to drop and wrap a c-25 mast - Why even do anything differently - you aren't dealing with a huge crane and a 50 foot spar. Bring it down in the winter and stow it where you know you won't have any problems with it.

Edited by - on

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 10/07/2007 : 17:08:44

Thanks, Duane. I was thinking was the only one that thought taking down the mast itsn't all that much work. Unless someone could convince me that there is a significant negative in taking it down, I'll check the lights and sheaves without the benefit of a bosun's chair. The rigging needs to be re-adjusted in the spring anyway so, letting it loose in the fall can't hurt it.

Edited by - on

jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 10/08/2007 : 08:33:37

For the trailering group stepping is part of the gig, point well made. We're in a marinna, no trailer or cradle, etc... the boat is hauled and mast unstepped/stepped by the yard. W/ my back and no helpers, that's OK anyway. I was just struggling w/ the whole ice/expansion thing.

Edited by - on

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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.