How to remove forestay with furler from standing mast ???

[ribbony]

Any suggestions on how to remove the forestay (with furler) from the boat afloat (at dock) with mast standing. I can rig up some sort of temp forestay, but those long alloy foils on the furler worry me that they might bend if not supported somehow. It is about a 11.5mt high mast, double spreaders, masthead rig.

[SilentOption]

I took mine down to replace a bent section that was hit by the travel lift.
I am cutter rigged which helped but if you can rig a stay it will be the same. I disconnected the stay at the bow then went aloft and tied my spinnaker sheet to the stay. Once that was secure had my wife take some tension while I disconnected the top of the stay.
Once I was on deck my wife slowly lowered the whole thing while I walked it out on to the dock. Once it was repaired we reversed the process. The stay flexed somewhat while going up and down but nothing bent.

[Vasco]

Deck stepped or keel stepped.

[ribbony]

Cutter rigged also, and the mast is deck stepped.

[Brent Swain]

I've lowered mine over the side with a halyard in deep calm water. A line on the furler lets you take up the weight of the drum when pulling it back up.Several at various points along the furler may also help, if it's on the light side.

Brent

[ribbony]

We like that one, that's a paradygm shift in thinking from the above waterline to full 3 dimensional.

[Vasco]

As you know the most important part is a couple of halyards to take the strain off. I have helped a friend do it and we took the sections apart, slide one down, undo it, slide down some more, undo it. The sections are stronger than you think and even with a lot of sag in it , it will not buckle. You might have to slide it into the water, in that case put a line on the section you're removing. Usually the sections are screwed together with locktite so some heat might be required. If you're going to take the forestay down with the furler intact Bill seems to have that covered. Myself, I would be very wary about going aloft on a deck stepped mast with only a halyard acting as the forestay.

[delmarrey]

I put mine up but haven't taken it down but the procedure should work in reverse.

Obviously, you need to secure the top of the mast to the foredeck. I have two forward and one spinnaker halyards. One of the halyards was secured to the foredeck to keep the mast in place.

Another halyard was attached to the top of the furling just under the eyelet.

With the furling laying on the dock in front of the boat with the eyelet facing aft, the furling stay was hoisted up while some one was at the drum end keeping the stay/aluminum taut enough to reduce the bend in the aluminum until it got high enough to hang just over the bulwark with little bend.

I took down the lifelines forward so the drum could swing on deck w/o bending the aluminum.

After attaching the eyelet to the masthead then I tied a line onto the lower part of the furling and pulled it up to the bow plate. You also have to ease off on the back stay to allow enough slack at the masthead to attach the forestay. That's it, now reverse it.

[starfish62]

We lowered ours (on a mooring) until the drum got into the dinghy and then just let the dingy ride up with it as we brought it in with the spin halyard (had a baby stay rigged, but you shouldn't need that, I reckon).

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by Vasco

As you know the most important part is a couple of halyards to take the strain off. I have helped a friend do it and we took the sections apart, slide one down, undo it, slide down some more, undo it. The sections are stronger than you think and even with a lot of sag in it , it will not buckle. You might have to slide it into the water, in that case put a line on the section you're removing. Usually the sections are screwed together with locktite so some heat might be required. If you're going to take the forestay down with the furler intact Bill seems to have that covered. Myself, I would be very wary about going aloft on a deck stepped mast with only a halyard acting as the forestay.

Mine are riveted and that is a pain in the arse to say the least..but a good way indeed if bolted...

[roverhi]

I just dropped mine at the dock. Tied the jib halyard around the end Norseman. Used the spinnaker halyard to replace the head stay though don't think it was really necessay on my non bendy stick. No problems with bending the foil as you really don't get much side load till it's quite a ways down. Two of us lowered it though it would have been better to have three. I was handling the halyard and ran out of halyard about the time I really needed to grab the foil. Bent on a piece of line to overcome that. Furling is a ProFurl 32.

Not looking forward to putting it back up as there isn't much space to work at the mast head and awkward to haul on the stay. Afraid getting the pin in the toggle isn't going to be easy. Will try some of the hints that have been given above.

Aloha
Peter O.
Pearson 35.

[ribbony]

Thanks everyone, we now can approach that task with a little less apprehension and some good ideas on how to tackle the work.

[witzgall]

For those that have done this, did you slack your backstay to reduce the amount of tension needed in the temporary stay? I ask because our rig is fractional, and as such the tension is alot higher than a masthead rig.

Chris

[roverhi]

I slacked the backstay on a mast head rig. It wouldn't hurt on a fractional rig though don't think it would be as important.