Bill Ewing said:Yes, I think know, the answer is get some help, right?
First, I had to ignore the advice of a friend who had a Lido 14. On the Lido, he said he would put in the tack pin with his mast lying over the transom. After connecting both shrouds, he'd push up the mast and connect the forestay. Sounded easy, but I had to discover that this is impossible on a C14.2 due to the cross sectional shape of the mast, position of tack pin, etc. At least that's how it is on my boat.
So instead, with the boat in its trailer, I've rested the mast on the trailer's front end support post and inserted the tack pin. After connecting the forestay, I pull up the mast. Now the "fun" part: while holding the mast with one hand, I connect one shroud and then the other. The soon-to-be-replaced old shrouds on my boat are kinda tight, making this no easier.
And of course, dropping a retainer pin and doing this near power lines and trees doesn't make it any more fun either.
I'd sure appreciate any advice on an easier way.
When I bought the boat, that owner had it all rigged up and on the trailer and then they showed me a few things about the rigging that I did need to know. Then the owner's wife and daughter offered me a cold drink and said let them make it trailerable and hook it up to my truck/trailer hitch. After driving 11-1/2 hours, round trip to get the boat, I was able to park it right in front of my new house in Oak Park, Clearlake, CA and got on the computer, and through this website, I printed an owner's manual and the other and read all about the boat, particularly about stepping the mast by myself. Then, I had to eliminate the idea of stepping the mast while it was still on the trailer, due to various overhead wires, etc. So, while my daughter was visiting, we took the boat to the ramp facility, launched the boat, then she went and got our SeaDo Spark and rode it back and then towed me back to our dock at the new house which I couldn't get stable enough to raise the mast, so I towed it in the water to the cabin where there is a pier, dock, etc. and when we would step the mast on the Blu Jay, we would just lower the mast into the slot, attached the stays and be done. THEN, i was able to raise the mast put the pin on at the base of the mast, the side rigging was all attached and up, correctly and I asked her just to hold the mast up, from the pier, while I got in the water to attach the forestay. I'm thinking now that the previous owner did like you describe and temporarily attached a halyard to the forestay so you could take it forward to attach it to the plate, and then later tale the halyard off and you would still have the actual forestay line to be able to adjust the tension. The problem with this was, I wasn't sure they attached another line, but the forestay and pin would not reach the plate to attach it, so I lowered the mast and came back to your site. Also, when you take the forestay up to the bow, because of the 2nd temporarily halyard, it ends up with two pulleys (I think that's what you would call them) next to each other at the shroud, which is a reason the forestay won't reach. The only picture of the forestay looks like the forestay runs up through one pulley and back down the other side of the mast. Now, when I lowered the mast to the boat again, I did make sure all lines and stays were not tangled or crossed over, and it does look like the forestay may have been twisted a little, but still it looks like the main sail halyard was used to temporarily hold the forestay with attached line on while stepping the mast. I really wish I had stayed to watch the guys unstep it and I think I would have been fine once I got to the pier and was able to raise the mast with no balancing problems. Please help and/or guide me to a picture of the forestay halyard where it runs through an area on the shroud and then where the forestay halyard is tied. Due to my experience in sailing here and on SF Bay for most of my life, I don't think I'll have any other problems rigging the boat but am so glad I joined the forum. Hope you'll still respond to this post.Bill, do it the other way around:
Lay the mast back and, with it resting on your boat, connect the shrouds and put in the pin. Then walk the mast up. You will then have three points connecting the mast to the boat and it will be stable and safe. Then put in the forestay pin.
Now, the way I do it is I use a separate line that is tied to the halyard, (the halyard runs up to the top of the mast and back down and is secured to a cleat at the bottom of mast). I run this line through a block near the winch on the trailer and back into the cockpit. After I set the mast, I pull that line taught and secure it to an available cleat. This line, attached to the free end of the halyard and run through the block on the front of the trailer and then secured holds the mast upright so I can move forward to put the pin in the forestay.
Paul