Mast stepping questions.

[Bill Vining]

I recently got my Jav and WF moved the step hinge so that the mast is stepped from the front. The issue with this is that in the "down" position, none of the shrouds are pinned or tied. This makes for a rather scary mast stepping procedure, especially if you are alone or with inexperienced crew.

With the mast step hinge in the "back" position, the bottom part of the mast and the lower cleat and screw hit the front cross beam unless you have the mast at about a 30% or greater angle to the ground. From the back position the back shrouds could be pinned and the ties for the fronts just reach.

Any assistance would be helpful. I dont want to drop my new mast before I go sailing.

I have a trailex trailer and I dont think a winch attachement would work with the aluminum mast stands. I called trailex and they also though the mast stands were not strong enough to step a mast of this legnth.

Thanks in advance.

[Tim Bohan]

Bill, are you trying to do this with the boat still on the trailer or on the ground? I think it would be impossible to do on the trailer, mast forward. I always take my boat off the trailer first, lay the mast out foreward of the beam and then tie the two forward shrouds loosly. Before I try to connect the mast step, I attach the forward shrouds, then lift the mast over my head as my wife attaches the mast step to beam. I have a gentle slope to my backyard and if you lay the mast uphill, it is very easy to lift and put in place, I only need my wife (or kid) to sit on the boat to keep it from slipping while I lift the mast. Once the mast is up, past verticle, with the help of the downhill slope and gravity and the two forward shrouds supporting it, you can just leave it and connect the rear shrouds. Then, you go back and tighten down the forward shrouds to the setting you like. I have never had a problem with the butt of the mast hitting the beam but I could see that might be a problem if you have the mast tip too low as you try to pin it to the beam. If you take the boat off the trailer first, it shouldn't be a problem to get the tip up while your crew pins it. Tie the forward shrouds first and just keep it going on up, it is much lighter/easier than my old Nacra 5.5 mast! Good luck. Tim Bohan, USA 5