"Baby Stays" permanently installed?

[Maraquita]

Have just purchased Mac 26D. I sailed a Venture 25 years ago and always manhandled the mast up with no problem, but either the mast is heavier, or I am older, and would like to use a Gin Pole nowadays. A previous owner of my new boat appears to have removed the cleats from the mast and replaced them with spreader attach fittings (no spreaders installed, though), then installed wire rigging to the attachments on the deck (in line with the mast base, about 3 feet out from the mast). These are tensioned just like the standing rigging with vernier adjusters.
My assumption is that he did not use the mast raising system and decided that this would be a good place to add support to the mast. I know that he was a racer and sometimes flew a Spinnaker, but I am not and probably won't.

Does any body see a real advantage to having these "baby stays" permanently installed?

I would prefer to remove them and use these points to install rope baby stays for mast raising as Mac Gregor says to do in the manual, but if this is a good modification to solve a known weak point I will leave them as is go another route to raise the mast.

Thanks, HH

[Sumner]

I've read where some owners who trailer sail often and go on and off the trailer the same day often leave the mast raising baby stays attached while day sailing. I only use them to put the mast up and down, otherwise they are removed but don't day sail. I'd consider it if I did,

Sumner

============================
1300 miles to the Bahamas and back -- 2015

The MacGregor 26-S

The Endeavour 37

Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[dlandersson]

I leave mine on all the time - they make a nice handhold and I don't have to worry abut losing them (see the thread on doing stuuupid things) .

[Herschel]

I leave mine on all the time, and I keep my boat in a marina slip. On the X, once the mast is raised, it is a little hard to get them down, so I just use them for hand holds and redundancy on mast support. They are always there when I do trailer it so no need to go looking for them. You can see where they attach to the deck on the X in this picture.

[Tomfoolery]

I leave mine on all the time, too. I'm just used to them being there, I guess.

I do have to pop them out of their pockets to roll the mast forward to the bow rail for trailering, though, as they're not long enough to make that trip.

[budgates]

The baby stays are only useful while raising and lowering the mast. I took mine off and kept them stored away when I was raising the mast by hand. Now that I use a mast raising system I leave them on all the time.

[grady]

I would agree with everyone. When I had my boat on a trailer and went out for day or weekend sailing baby stays were on all the time. Now that my boat is on a lift in a marina baby stays are off and only put on for the couple of times a year that I drop the mast.

[dlandersson]

Interesting side note, your boat hooks are exactly where mine are - great minds must think alike.

I leave mine on all the time, and I keep my boat in a marina slip. On the X, once the mast is raised, it is a little hard to get them down, so I just use them for hand holds and redundancy on mast support. They are always there when I do trailer it so no need to go looking for them. You can see where they attach to the deck on the X in this picture.

[tlgibson97]

I trailer mine everywhere. It only takes 30 seconds to remove them and it clears the walkway. For me, it's less of a hassle to remove them than to have to duck under or step around them when I am going forward to raise sail or deal with the anchor.

[Herschel]

your boat hooks are exactly where mine are - great minds must think alike

Roger that! One of the aspects of this picture that I enjoy is that the boat hook and the port gunwale both point to the setting sun. Makes for nice perspective in the shot.

[sailboatmike]

I find the mast raising stays make great hand holds, on the top of an X there isnt much to hang on too when your doing the roof top traverse to the bow, Im lucky the crew do that trip most of the time except when we need to adjust something with the sails

[Cougar]

I tie them down along the mast when not in use. Don't want to have myself or the admiral trip over them when one of us has to get to the foredeck quickly.

[FlyboyTR]

I remove mine as soon as we step the mast. It is one less thing to trip over. This step adds another 2 minutes to the process (removal and rolling them up). Which is a lot less time than what the recovery would be if I tripped over one of those...which in my opinion serve no purpose once the mast is up.

[Wind Chime]

We always leave ours installed. Although they hang a little loose loose once the mast is up, I feel it adds piece of mind if we were ever to blow a shroud.

We have covers on them for better visibility so once you used to where they are, I find they act as an additional handhold, not a trip hazard. You can zoom in on this photo and see the white plastic wire covers and larger ladder-plate tube covers and caps.

[FlyboyTR]

I remove mine as soon as we step the mast. It is one less thing to trip over. This step adds another 2 minutes to the process (removal and rolling them up). Which is a lot less time than what the recovery would be if I tripped over one of those...which in my opinion serve no purpose once the mast is up.

I just noticed where the baby stays mount on an X & M model. they are a lot less in the way than they are on the D & S (classic) models.