mast height issues

[Bob the builder]

Hi Have recently purchased a waterfront property on the Brisbane river at Chelmer.
The problem I have is the mast on our Fusion 40 cat. is too high to pass under some of the bridges on the river.
Has anyone come across a solution to this ?
I don't really wish to change boat but also would like to have her at the bottom of our garden
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

cheers

[puffcard]

How much over are you? Foot just cut the mast down, recut sails, and roller furler. Several feet just pull the mast, everyone knows cats never sail.

[JPA Cate]

Bob the Builder,

How about a mooring in the river?

Change house to somewhere in a canal development.

Change boats? I don't know of anyone I'd trust to design a tabernacle for your mast, and it would still be a major PITA, even if that could be engineered. There is a good mast engineer in Brissie, Simon ???? can't remember the last name, used to work for Sparmaster, a long time back. If you decide to follow this up, pls. send me a PMl, and I'll try and get his contact details for you. It will mean a few phone calls.

You might contact Fusion about the issue. I would not want to "cripple" a performance cat by shortening its mast, but if you really want it at the bottom of your garden, your options are limited. The bridge just past the botanical gardens is quite low, or so it seems to me, with a mast height above the water with VHF of about 20.5 m.

Good luck with this one, mate.


Ann

[Don C L]

Never done it, and I could be wrong, but I believe it may be easier to rig a tabernacle on a cat than a mono. I bet there is a way to set it up for safe and easy 2 person job...toward the bow... just to allow enough room to clear.. I'm just taking a stab at it, but that's what I'd look at.

[puffcard]

Had a tabernacle on a Hobie 33, that boat it was well engineered and was a piece of cake to raise the mast.

The width of the cat might help, but the size and weight of the rig would be huge to over come. All the points of attachment (rig) and mast pivot point need to be on the same plane, this very important. The sweep back spreaders on a cat might make that hard.

The harder it is to get underway, the less likely it will be used. Same goes with friends who have boats behind their house that's trapped by the tide.

There is a reason that this isn't done very often.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Shortened mast = Piss poor sailing performance, & Crap resale value.
Spar on a 40'er = Too Big to Tabernackle for Self Hoisting (regularly). Especially with a Furler !!!

Find a Plan B. And perhaps rent out your dock?