Cr@p dropped the mast

[kadet]

What can I say

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HNuUEGc3v7C3LNEM2

I have managed to bend the MRS and mast base plate back into shape so I can re-rig the boat. I have ordered a new base plate to be safe as the stainless seems a bit soft now having been worked back and forth.

My own fault did not tighten baby stays enough and off she went, live and learn, at least no major damage apart from base plate, few chips in gelcoat and a ding in my nice new wood trim.

[BOAT]

Yeah, bummer kadet - that's exactly the same deal that happened to mastreb. He forgot to attach one of the baby stays and the mast tipped sideways and bent the mast base bracket and the bottom mast plate. (He blamed his wife and that put him in the doghouse for about a month I bet! )

That sucks - we all bite our nails as the mast goes up. It always makes me nervous - my big fear is that the forward line to the bow cleat or the bow cleat itself will break and the line will snap back at me and rope whip me or worse throw a cleat right through my back - so far I have not read of anyone getting killed by the MRS thing. I'm always fearful of it.

Looks like it's a good time to go into the electronics cabinet above the dinette and clean up your wires and rearrange the foam blocks - (I had to do that a couple weeks ago to add some battery meters). You can get to the bolts that hold the mast base brackets from there.

BWY has all the parts you need - I just got a brand new base plate for my mast because it was a bit bent and the bolt was moving messing up the calibration on my wind sensor compensator (seems like no one makes anything these days that we don't have to mod ) I re did the bolt arrangement - bearings, and plate so I could better control the bolt from spinning - yet another PITA! The weak link on those in mast wind compensators is the bolt they attach to - if the bolt moves - your whole system is out of wack so I had to make modifications to the wind sensor compensator to accommodate such things (a manual adjuster at the base of the mast I created) EVERYTHING you buy these days needs to me modified to really work well.



Always good to have spare parts! If I were there I would help you fix it!

[kurz]

Hi Kadet
Thanks for sharing!

Helps to survive my own stupidity

I Still hate me as I forgott to get the daggerboard up befor the intrance of a small port...

Well, did some 699km twice by car to get a new one, they are rare now in EU, still the is not build anymore.

So the two weeks trip endet in a one week daggeboard horrortripp and a following great sailing again---

[BOAT]

You guys think I should order a new daggerboard as a back up spare?? I have always worried about that.

[Tomfoolery]

You guys think I should order a new daggerboard as a back up spare?? I have always worried about that.

One reason why I don't want a boat with a DB - swing CB, or fixed keel, only. If it's moveable and can't swing up, I'll go into shallow water or try to load it onto the trailer and forget it's down. I know me. I'll do that.

[kurz]

You guys think I should order a new daggerboard as a back up spare?? I have always worried about that.

One reason why I don't want a boat with a DB - swing CB, or fixed keel, only. If it's moveable and can't swing up, I'll go into shallow water or try to load it onto the trailer and forget it's down. I know me. I'll do that.

Well interesting. The dealer that brought me de daggerboard to Prosecco (one of the biggest in EU) told me that he sold far more swing CB than daggerboard for the

And: The daggerboard does not break normally becouse you hit the ground. But when you stuck in the sand, then have wind or stream (like I had) it turns your boat and the by by boards...
So also a swing cb that stucks in sand and gets turned by the boat/wind breaks.

So be happy with your swing CB, but don't feel to save anyway...

[BOAT]

Swing keel has it's advantages - I had a swing keel on my Aquarius - but I can tell you if you use the swing keel properly the advantages quickly fade away:

If you know your shallow or going to beach your going to pull the pin on your swing keel so it can fold - so, same deal on the DB just pull up the DB - I don't see a difference unless your sailing around without lock pinning the swing keel in place (not too smart because in a knockdown the swing keel will fold back into the boat). I would rather ram the DB than my rudders - the rudders are not strong enough. If you go aground with a swing keel the keel fold out of the way and lets your rudder ram the bottom so you destroy the very thing you need to steer the boat (bent the rudder shaft on the A23 doing that once).

The metal parts on a swing keel are not worth it - corroding metal parts - hate them - eliminate as much metal as possible for best maintenance - I prefer to have a keel that has no metal parts to corrode.

Sailing performance is much better on a DB because you can adjust it without messing up the balance of the boat - pulling up a swing keel is like moving the keel aft 3 feet - the boat starts to get all squirrely and tries to turn whatever way the wind pushes the bow to go.

Replacing the DB is also completely painless - when the mast is down when the boat is on the trailer I just untie 2 knots and pull it right out of the top of the boat - I remove and inspect my DB every 4 or 5 months - it's so easy, that's why I think a spare would be nice. If I smash up one I can throw the backup in in like 4 minutes and put the damaged one in the garage to be fixed. I could rotate two daggerboards forever.

If you guys are breaking your daggerboards a lot just make one out of steel - it would be an easy thing to make.

I like swing keels and centerboards just fine - always have, but now that I have had the DB for a while I much prefer it for ease of use and maintenance free operation.

[KootsChewt]

Seeing your post I am now worried about dropping my mast in a similar fashion... I say this because my mast raising system (MRS) doesn't seem to be "stock" anymore. When I bought the boat, the PO had removed the side stays of the MRS (that per the manual were tied through the bowline at the MRS end, and clip onto the stanchions on the boat end) from the bowline and instead tied on some kind of quick clip. I found this had too much slack in it such that the MRS would try to wobble around, which usually meant me holding the MRS while cranking to try and stay straight while my wife guided the mast up at the back of the boat (while trying not to be under it!) I then had a look through the manual and realized the PO had modified the MRS, so I changed it back to what the manual shows.... however the side stays are STILL really loose and don't do anything to keep the MRS or mast straight while raising.

I'm wondering if the PO changed something else about the set-up... so if someone could provide the measurements of the rope that goes from the MRS to the mast, and the measurement of the stays, maybe I can check that against mine to see what is wrong.

[Tomfoolery]

Different strokes and all that rot.

(Edited because it was non-responsive to the OP)

[Tomfoolery]

What can I say

Fortunately, you didn't damage the mast.

[kadet]

What can I say

Fortunately, you didn't damage the mast.

Yep as it was going that was all I could think of or hitting the new 200W solar panel. All in all got off pretty lightly the only serious harm was the mast base plate which is easily replaced. The deck plate was undamaged. I was solo at the time but the wife and my son came running when I phoned with a ladder and took us about one and half hours to sort the mess out. The ramp carpark was pretty empty being a Friday so no one was parked next to me to cop a whack with the falling mast.

Lesson learned always check baby stays are tight and clipped in securely. I have purchased another dinghy vang so I will use them on both sides instead of just one side with a fixed wire on the other that way tension is easy applied to both as I leave the MRS attached after tear down to speed setup. Well unless you drop the mast then setup takes way longer and you then don't fell like going out

[eodjedi]

Yeah first time I dropped my mast, I also bent the base plate. Deifinitley a good idea to have extras. My mistake was thinking I could lift the mast all by myself without the MRS. Was working fine till the wind picked up and I lost my balance

[KootsChewt]

What can I say

Fortunately, you didn't damage the mast.

Yep as it was going that was all I could think of or hitting the new 200W solar panel. All in all got off pretty lightly the only serious harm was the mast base plate which is easily replaced. The deck plate was undamaged. I was solo at the time but the wife and my son came running when I phoned with a ladder and took us about one and half hours to sort the mess out. The ramp carpark was pretty empty being a Friday so no one was parked next to me to cop a whack with the falling mast.

Lesson learned always check baby stays are tight and clipped in securely. I have purchased another dinghy vang so I will use them on both sides instead of just one side with a fixed wire on the other that way tension is easy applied to both as I leave the MRS attached after tear down to speed setup. Well unless you drop the mast then setup takes way longer and you then don't fell like going out

How long are your baby stays? As noted a few posts above, I'm trying to figure out why mine are always slack when raising/lowering the mast...

[BOAT]

How long are your baby stays? As noted a few posts above, I'm trying to figure out why mine are always slack when raising/lowering the mast...

They should be sort of floppy when the mast is in the down position but fairly tight by the time the mast is fully upright - the adjustment is accomplished by the length of the bowline you tie at the end of the line where the baby stays and winch rope connect to the mast bale.

[KootsChewt]

How long are your baby stays? As noted a few posts above, I'm trying to figure out why mine are always slack when raising/lowering the mast...

They should be sort of floppy when the mast is in the down position but fairly tight by the time the mast is fully upright - the adjustment is accomplished by the length of the bowline you tie at the end of the line where the baby stays and winch rope connect to the mast bale.

Hmm, I thought I retied my bowline to the dimensions shown in the manual, I guess I must have made it too large. I'll check again tonight (so I don't forget!), but won't need to test it until I pull the boat out this fall.

Edit: just looked in the manual again, and now I'm wondering if the line going from the top of the MRS to the bow cleat needs to have a specific length? My MRS has something like this "swivel eye snap" https://www.westmarine.com/buy/whitecap ... ecordNum=6 attached to it; so I loop the line through the 'eye' part of the cleat and attach the snap back on the line. The manual doesn't show this end of the MRS set-up, so I've never quite been sure what it is supposed to look like.

I looked a bit online, and found this video from Tatoo... my line from MRS to mast never gets a "droop" in it like that, and my stays never get tight! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg_X0QVTZWA