Catamaran Nadja

[catamaran nadja]

hi gys,
I am a proud owner of a 2000 robertson & caine Leopard 45 , beautiful boat with plenty of extras ,now anchored in Spain my plan is to sail in oktober 2015 strait to Belgrade /Serbia , the idea is to enter the danube river in romania and from there upstream to Belgrade . The only problem is the mast so the idea is to make it shorter than actuall by bending it in half or less than a half ,when passing under the briges . Does someone has any idea if this is possible .
The idea to take the hole mast out is not very practical because the mast is around 21 meters and the boat is only 14 meters long
If someone has any idea of a tool witch will enable me to for a short period of time bend to 45degree the mast it will be great ...

thanks in advance
nikola

[robert sailor]

This should be interesting!

[monte]

This tool might work. This one is in the USA but there's sure to be one available locally
http://youtu.be/o2r7Mf9dqXY

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Nikola.

[Sand crab]

I think your actual mast length is about 2 to 3 meters shorter because you may be using the mast height off the water specs. Putting it on the deck means it will only be sticking out about 2 meters at each end. People do this in the Erie Canal in the states all the time.

The bending thing is called a tabernacle and is done on smaller boats but there are many complicated and expensive issues to overcome on a big mast.


Taking the mast with you, shipping it by barge or trucking it will be what you end up doing.

[blighhigh]

simple solution: take mast off boat. store in a boat yard. put mast back on at the end of the trip

[ub1]

On my 1998 leopard 45 the mast is 65' actual. Off the water is 72'


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[catamaran nadja]

I know but I will enter the danube river in one point and will never go back the same way the exit point will be roterdam and then the north sea .....thanks

[catamaran nadja]

not quite it touch the bottom of the dining room so if my height is around 22,90 met less about 1 met from the watter line to the bottom of the boat it is all in all around 20 meters to lay down . would realy like to store it properly especialy I have in mind a total of around 1200 nm to cross to get to the other side up to rotterdam
thks for the advise but this is the last solution

[catamaran nadja]

Thank you for the first cuple of answers I know that I can store my mast parallele to the boat and ship it with me but I am looking for a better solution if there is any .
My ges is to find a tool witch will allow me to bend the mast when passing under the briges and then thanks to ropes strait it up again and secure the bending point with some kind of a tool .........there must be somethning or should I make it .....
regards to all good poeple
Nikola

[onavegador]

I would not cut the mast in two as after doing that the mast is weaker and you may have a lot of preseen and also unseen problems. Do not forget the rigging has a much harder use on a catamaran as on a monohull. On my 40foot catamaran the standing rigging was with 12mm dia (around 7/16) 1x19 stainless steel. Coming to Australia after 11/2 circumnavigations, arriving from Fireland, I had to replace the shrouds as on one shroud 4 strands of 19 were broken where coming of a "fitting".
As told by other users your mast is not 21 m long, as in technical specification you see the mast height over water. So you can easily deduct about 3 m.
Having experience with mast stowed on deck I would recommend that you stowe the mast with the mastfoot forward and this not forward of the bows. So you have only to watch to the mast head who will be aft of the stern of your catamaran. Make the masthead visible with a orange piece of fabric and during the night with a white light e.g. with the stern light.
I was sailing with the mast stowed on deck down the river Rhone and also the River Rhine and was happy so far. Both rivers are comparable in view of commercial traffic with the Danube.
Good luck.
James

[scuba0_1]

The physics of putting a swing joint on a mast is probably not possible. First the joint would be the weakest point. It would need lines above and below holding the mast. If the top shroud was tighter then the lower it would bend at the joint or locking mechanism. Also the reason the mast is one peace is force travels thru objects and it would till it got to the joint and the amount of pressure there would be emence. Because a mast is one piece it travels through the block into the boat it would not do that at the joint because a joint would still be connected partly to the mast with a gap if you're boat was to flex so would your mast.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[PaulinOz]

1:Take Mast off
2:Ship to Rotterdam by cheapest available method (no time constraints)
3: Do trip
4: Re-install mast
That will be cheaper and easier than anything else other than carrying the stick on deck with you.

[Palarran]

I really think you have the wrong boat to follow your dream with. If you want to get to the North Sea, maybe you will have to sail there. If you want to river cruise, I'd get a different boat. Is there anything floating in the river? If so, your going to have some issues with your saildrive at some point. IMO, it really doesn't sound so fun for the amount of effort and expense it will take

[catamaran nadja]

I think that after all I will do what you suggest .seems to be the best way
Thks
Nikola