dive4it wrote:Does anyone just disconnect the top of the forestay/furler toward the upper mast like I do for trailering? It makes the furler shorter than the mast and I just strap them together for trailering....when it comes time to raise the mast, I reconnect it with a bolt and locknut and away I go. Problem solved.
I do, but it takes time. And wrenches.
I need to trim that time back, and all those little bits add up, though I haven't come up with a super quick way to add an extension to the mast to support the furler other than bungies and a stick. Yet.
BOAT wrote:Sometimes I find it a hassle trying to get the spreaders under the lifelines when rolling back the mast. If your pretty strong it's not a big hassle I guess.
You may not have seen this thread (since you didn't post in it), but this discussion on pelican hooks for the cockpit lifelines expanded to include techniques for slackening or removing the forward lifelines to make it easier to horse the mast into position with the spreaders still attached.
Yeah, ditto on the furler Captain tkanzler, I really hate carrying around anymore gadgets than I have to. The Gin Pole (mast raiser) is the only big gizmo I carry right now but I guess I will need to create a stick from an aluminum whisker pole to pin into the anchor roller holes and the end of the furler. I also would like to figure out a way to use the gin pole to support the mast so that when I trailer on long trips it's not bouncing around so much.
(You think all that bouncing is bad for the mast??) I really don't know.