Remove a mast without a crane?

[hirondeller]

I have a 34 foot carbon fiber mast on a 23 ft LOA Hirondelle with an aero-rig. The boat is currently resting on the ground. A heavy fiberglass 'Yard' can be separated from the mast. I used an internet 'tube mass' calculator on the internet and approximated the weight of the carbon fiber mast alone at 100lbs. The mast is stepped on the cabin floor. I want to remove the mast by pulling it out through the cabin-top without using a crane (this is a critical requirement).



Using four friends I plan to: (1) lift it out slowly through the cabin top with straps, walk it to the side of the boat and lower it vertically to the ground. (2) Then, tip it, and lower it horizontally to the ground while two friends control the descent with two telescoping painters poles strapped on at ~24 ft.



1. Does the mast weight sound right? This calculation seems very low.

2. Has anyone done this? If so, please respond.

3. Any tips for this method?
4. Alternative ideas for removal? (remember, no crane)

[Checkswrecks]

The weight of the mast can vary, depending on dimensions, thickness, and most of all the resin or epoxy it is made of.

Keeping it vertical from the bottom would be really hard. If the top starts moving, the momentum and leverage will become a real problem real fast. Rather than 2 with painters poles, I'l want at least 3 people guiding it the entire time.

Personally I'd make a wooden rig on the deck to lift it and provide a lift and controlled pivot point above the deck. Bring the top down to the ground, then lower the base.

[skipperpete]

I installed the masts on my first cruising yacht with a chain block attached to an unused bridge but use cranes ever since.
The biggest problem with your un masting is guiding it out of the bearing holes and maintaining control, if your helpers can’t keep it central and it goes sideways it’ll probably lever up the cabin top or the mast will hurt itself. You should be able to get a feel for how heavy it is once it’s free of the bearing mounts but keep it supported ..... THREE painters poles!
Here’s an extreme idea...... get a couple of mattresses and heel the boat over till the mast is horizontal and then extract it from the bearings. WARNING, this advice assumes that you have an outboard motor, no fuel or water tanks and bugger all in the way of ballast.
As to your specific questions,
1. I doubt that the spar is 100lbs.... but having not seen the spar, it’s possible.
2. Yes but not with 2 painters poles on a spear rig
3. Get 4 really big guys.... and have a backup plan if the initial plan fails
4. Tip er on the side and walk it out slowly.
What exactly is a painters pole? I’m sure the trailer sailer guys will have better advice for you, this is a routine task for them.
Do no harm, good luck.

[Jim Cate]

YOur method has a lot of potential disasters associated with it. I'd not risk it myself.

You could consider using a larger boat alongside as a crane substitute. We've done this a couple of times for other boats, using our spinnaker pole as a "crane" and a combination of halyards to do the hoisting. Another time we used two boats, one on each side of a 35 foot trimaran, to step her mast. (The other boat was Bernard's Joshua).

Either way you have control of the mast and can maneuver it around safely and slowly.

Jim

[sanibel sailor]

He has a catamaran. Hard to heel over.

And nearly every trailersailer has a deck stepped mast... for this reason.

[sanibel sailor]

Sounds like a disaster about to occur. TikTok video of the catastrophe may generate enough to pay for the next mast.

Consider the cost of a new mast relative to the cost of a crane.

[DougR]

Google “bucket truck rental” and for little $ rent a truck with a hydraulic crane. Most of these have a capacity of 500 or 600 pounds and can lift the mast out of the boat without all of the attendant dangers mentioned above thread. Tie on to the mast above the CG and you’re in control of the mast, instead of the other way around.

[hirondeller]

A few answers:
(1) As described in the OP, it is a catamaran on the 'hard', so no heeling, rafting, or bridge ideas are possible.
(2) A 'painters pole' is a telescoping fiberglass pole, I can strap on 3 halfway up the mast. (3 poles it is Checkswrecks, in Post 2).
(3) Great idea Doug R (Post 7) I will look into a bucket truck, if it can handle the weight.
(4) Also in Post2: "a wooden rig on the deck to lift it and provide a lift and controlled pivot point"
Agreed, in combination with Doug R's bucket truck or, one of those 'scissors jack lifts' with some kind of pivoting wooden apparatus will be much safer.


Great feedback so far. Others?

[skipperpete]

Ok, the heeling idea won’t fly, how about a tripod made from 3 telescoping ladders, you could assemble it lying flat , possibly with the mast through the apex and the block and line in situ then 3 guys could close up the base of the triangle, secure each leg and haul on the lifting line. You can hire the ladders from an equipment hire service, usually a weight of 100kg is within reason on any one of those ladders if the tripod is correctly lashed together. I often use a tripod to lift engines out from below deck, (I avoid using booms and masts to do this. )

[MicHughV]

Ok, so this is me, the engineer talking, not me, the sailor. The weight of the mast is not the issue, it's the length. Don't forget to factor in the weight of all the rigging, probably another 100 lbs on top of the mast weight.

The best way to go about this, is to build a simple wood A-frame, that can be positioned adjacent, but just ahead of the mast.
The purpose of the A-frame is not to just to take the mast out, but also to replace it.

The A-frame needs to be as high as about 6' above the spreaders, and can be position on deck or the cabin house, and the peak needs to be fitted with a block and line and the A-frame needs to be braced, once in position. You can use halyard, anchor line, etc, to tie it fore an aft so that it is pretty rigid and won't fall over. As the mast is not heavy, some 2x6's spliced together should do the trick to make an A-frame.
Use a halyard to pull the A-frame up. Tie the halyard to the A-frame with a loose fitting loop. Once the A-frame is in position. you should be able to loosen the halyard to allow the loop to slide down.

Take the bitter end of the line coming from the peak of the A-frame, and make a loop around the mast. Pull this loop, until it comes to rest under the spreaders. I'm assuming a single spreader rig here.

Then undue all the shrouds and stays.

Using the block and line arrangement, pull the mast up so that it exits the deck and gives you 6" or so of clear space between bottom of mast and top of deck. Seeing as you'll be dealing with 200 lbs or more, some additional hands on the line would come in handy. If this is a concern, use a line long enough that you can lead it to a winch, and winch it up. Once up, slack of the line, I trust you know how to do this slowly.

Now you will need one person holding the foot of the mast and walking forward with it, while another person(s) starts to lower the mast. Co-ordination will be required. Lower the mast as the same speed the mast can be walked forward. With the loop at the spreaders, the weight of the mast will be more or less equal around this fulcrum point so should not be overly unwieldy.

By the time, the foot of the mast is at the bow, the mast should be more or less level. Tie off the mast, at the bow and stern pulpits, so you can undo all the rigging.

Once all the rigging is off, you ( with friends) shoud be able to walk the mast of the boat.

Leave the A-frame up, as you'll need it to put the mast bask.

Trust that this gives you some guidance.

As a footnote, there are rental agencies, that might be able to provide you with some or other mini-crane or lift to serve the same purpose as the A-frame.

[wyb2]

^^^

If genuinely doing it without any kind of heavy equipment, something like this is the right answer. If your support structure supports the mast at or above it’s center of gravity (34 ft mast, so probably about 17 ft up), that takes out 90% of the risk of disaster.

[Jim Cate]

^^^^ Re post #4:

Sorry, didn't note that the boat was not afloat...

Jim

[psk125]

The mast itself is probably not very heavy, but the leverage, as mentioned, is tricky. We used to drop the 30' aluminum mast on our Soling with just one or two people -- but it was deck stepped. One person's job was to make sure the butt stayed in the step, while the other person walked it down. A third person could control a jib halyard run through an eye on the bow if they were available. On a Hirondelle, getting the butt of the mast up on the cabintop will be quite precarious - it is really up there. Getting the butt down to the ground will be even more fraught. A bucket truck or something like it (know any firefighters?) would be a much better approach. It would take less than five minutes.

[Jammer]

I have had two trailer sailors, one 24' and one 26', and lowered and raised masts multiple times with them. The masts were both deck stepped with hinges and with some amount of thought given by the original designers and builders to raising and lowering the mast in a controlled way.



100 pounds sounds about right. The mast on my Hunter 26 wasn't much more from that. I could carry it on my shoulder, with effort.


That said, it is my view that between the length and weight you are just beyond the point where you can reasonably muscle the mast down even with lots of good help. You need some kind of trustworthy support at or near the center of the spar. You could, for example, set up a 16' (or better, 20') piece of 4x4 (or other dimensional lumber) on deck and guy it in place, with a block at top, and put a loop around the mast and through the block to maintain control. You can screw a 1'x1' piece of plywood to the bottom of the 4x4, and put a piece of rubber non-slip rug pad between it and the deck. Or instead of lumber you can use steel antenna mast, which is available in 5' and 10' sections with swaged ends that fit into the next session. Or 20'/21' pieces of steel pipe if they are available where you are. Whatever the materials, that's your gin pole.


Use the gin pole to control the top of the mast, not necessarily to lift it. You can have your four muscular guys lift it, as long as you have something to control the top so it won't tip. Then one way or another you can lower it under control, though some combination of walking the foot of the mast aft or over the side, and carefully lowering the line from the gin pole around the top.


Most rental bucket trucks aren't set up for hoisting, if you go this route be aware of the dangers. It is very easy to be thrown out of the bucket when putting lifting force on some object and having a rope break or come loose leading to a sort of catapult effect. It is also easy to tip over the truck. There have been fatalities.

[Dave_S]

Anyway you go about it it will have your heart beat up.

I think you want 3 lines from around 2/3rds up the mast with an able bodied and able minded person on each line, spaced at roughly 120° seperation to each other, they can follow the people with the base and can lower the top once the foot is on the ground and secured from sliding or kicking.

But whatever you do....film it 🙂