Lowering the mast on an HT26

All Forums › Boat Talk › Lowering the mast on an HT26

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • 19th February 2010 at 3:28 pm #11097

      Hello All,
      One reason I love our HT is the light weight. Things that need winches or cranes on larger boats can be handled with “norwegian steam”! One item that has intrigued me is the possibility of lowering the mast without outside help. I’ve lowered 20ft(approx 6m) and smaller masts by hand and see that some of the smaller Tom Lack Catalacs, about our size, have a nice tabernacle. My mast has a base plate held to the cabin top with two large bolts fore and aft. By removing the aft bolt and using the boom as an “A frame(?)” I did lower the mast a good bit last year but wasn’t ready to lower all the way. Does anyone lower this way? Is the mast section strong enough to be only supported at top and bottom while lowering? Did I just get lucky?
      Thanks for any input
      Ed
      S/V Rubicon
      [link=hyperlink url]www/3ddev.com/tschuss[/link]

      24th February 2010 at 9:25 am #11868

        Hi Ed,

        I would be concerned that the aft edge of the base plate would put a very high point load onto the cabin top and possible crush the fiberglass. Also the load into the gooseneck would be high and probably in the opposite direction that it was designed to take.
        I would think that the mast is strong enough to support it' own weight just at the top and bottom.

        Steve

        24th February 2010 at 3:55 pm #11869

          Hi Ed,

          We've done it many times and I think we have the same step. We always take it slow and steady.

          Rob Ht Cool Change

          25th February 2010 at 6:39 pm #11870

            Hi Steve, Rob
            Thanks for the cautions, I've check the math and all looks good. Then comes CoolChange and verifies! Thanks Rob!

            As to this time I let the yard pull the mast and put it in the yard since I've got lots of work to do. When the yard crane had the mast hanging with the upper 2/3 hanging free I gained confidence in the strength of the mast section.But I plan to work out a smooth system so that when we get south on the ICW we don't have to wait for all those damn bridges:)
            Ed
            S/V Rubicon

          • Author
            Posts
          Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
          • The forum ‘Boat Talk’ is closed to new topics and replies.

          Comments are closed.