raising mast

[psych54]

I purchased a 2001 26X in the fall and finally got it in the water yesterday. Feels great. I purchased the Speedy Rigger DVDS over the winter to get some ideas. The first one has the guy, tall and very thin, lifting the mast of his 1998 26X by himself as if it is a PVC pipe. Is this guy for real??? Two of us tried this yesterday on mine a we almost killed ourselves. No way is the mast light enough for one person to lift by themself. We put the mast assist system on and it was still a strenuous job. Anyone know if the masts have been made heavier over the years because mine is no light weight....Ron

[tangentair]

the mast for my M, my son (14 yrs) and I carried from where it was stored from the winter over to the boat without any strain, but as soon as I tried to hand it up to him it got real heavy - must have been the arm (angle) shifted the burden of the weight, could be your issue as well.

[Kelly Hanson East]

If you dont have the mast raising system (MRS) you need to lift from the very edge of the companionway top - with one foot on the edge. This makes the heaviest part of the lifting at hip to chest height where you are strongest. If you loop a dock line through the spreader crotch, a person can pull from the bow pulpit and start helping you with the weight at this point. My 10 year old knows how to do this - keep tension on the line while I lift. If the mast drops she knows to throw the line clear. Hasnt happened yet.

You have to carefully clear all the shrouds and halyards from fouling all the wonderful things on the boat too.

[bscott]

Yeah Jeff is quite the stud. I have the mast raising system but have changed out the jib halyard and use a line running to the baby stay mounting point using boom bail (bale?). This changes the lift angle to a more direct lift up than the jib halyard.

My wife operates the cabin winch. She wraps the line 3Xs around the winch and a second hand to pull on the tail. I have a 2 step plastic step ladder on the deck in front of the companion way hatch that I climb with the mast on my shoulder. As soon as I reach my max height on the ladder, I raise the mast over my head and cleet the line. Then move to the cabin top to continue the lift.

I wonder if a 6:1 vang would work better than the 4:1 provided by Roger?

Ron, the masts are getting heavier as you add roller furlers and up grade you halyards. The masts are even heavier.

Bob

[K9Kampers]

Personally, I don't think that my '01 X mast is terribly heavy, and I'm just a mid 40's tall, skinny guy. Whenever I need to work on the mast, I disconnect the furler and leave that on deck. Then I shoulder the mast and carefully move from the cabin top, down thru the cockpit and off the transom via two wooden steps. Repeat in opposite to reinstall. The key is finding the balance point of the load.

As for singlehanded mast raising without the mast-raising-system, getting it to shoulder height is the hardest part, true. Lift slow & smart. My first time doing this, I thought I might bust a nut or blow out a knee & came close to doing both! Second time, it got easier. I don't do it that way much anyhow, but can if I need to.

[Kelly Hanson East]

I think its a height thing. Im 6'1" but not overly powerful, but the critical place where you have the mast a few feet off the crutch happens right when my arms and back are at their strongest leverage points, so I can push it up with about 70% effort or so. I think if I were a few inches shorter this would suck.

[psych54]

Thanks guys...appreciate the feedback...Ron

[SailDog]

Hey Ron,
Which mast raiser do you have? We picked up our '01 X last week, but since it didn't come with a mast raiser we purchased the one for the M from dealer stock. Stan did the simple mod for us to make it X compatible. It rocks! I can raise and lower the mast by myself, with the furling jib attached. The difference is that the winch is on the mast raising (jig?) bar. So, you can stand there crank, and steer the mast right into the cradle. Very nice!
-Pat

[psych54]

hey Pat...glad to hear yours worked out. I can't say specifically which kind mine is. It came with the boat when I purchased it from the previous owner. I can say it looks exactly like the one in the manual...Pole that bolts to mast mount with block and tackle mounted to bow and line to winch. I still say the mast is heavier then it is made out to be. I'm a pretty strong guy with a lot of upper body strength and have also been train how to lift as I used to work with severely mentally challeged teens who were confined to bed. If you see the video of speedyrigger Jeff just lifts the mast likes it's a plastic tube and then holds it with one hand...this is just hard to believe...if that was so why did Macgregor come out with a mast raising addition... Good Luck and Enjoy...Ron

[Kelly Hanson East]

Thats the raising system you describe.

Do you have a genny on your furler? That makes a huge difference.

[Québec 1]

Hey Ron,
Which mast raiser do you have? We picked up our '01 X last week, but since it didn't come with a mast raiser we purchased the one for the M from dealer stock. Stan did the simple mod for us to make it X compatible. It rocks! I can raise and lower the mast by myself, with the furling jib attached. The difference is that the winch is on the mast raising (jig?) bar. So, you can stand there crank, and steer the mast right into the cradle. Very nice!
-Pat

I got my 03M with the old mast raiser and had difficulty especially when lowering the mast in strong winds. I bought the new mast raiser and I can solo raise and lower my mast on the water in strong winds with no effort or worry. It was worth the 200$...REALLY!
Q1

ps check the thread here:

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... &sk=t&sd=a