Follow the Mast

I don't have a clue if what I have is original or unique so I thought I'd better post it! We will start with the mast in storage on the bow. Note the righting A-frame sitting on the deck below. I'll talk about that later!



The white wood assembly holds the mast to the forward railing. A couple of wing nuts and it comes off and is left in the car after the mast is rigged.

There is a bracket bolted to the deck that holds the mast in transit. That is fine when it is on the road but you can't get the hatch open with the mast in the travel position. Last winter I made a wood extender. In this configuration the mast is about 18 inches higher at the stern. Since the ship points into the prevailing wind in the driveway, this is ok. I can now open the hatch without undoing the tarp. I can easily pull the extender out and leave it at home. I'm not impressed with the bracket and have a couple of bungies on it at all time to provide lateral support.



I ran out of light tonight. I've got crew coming tomorrow so we will try to get some pictures of the mast righting process. We should get some good pictures on the water too!

Great Post! I love that bow attachment idea, I will copy that, if I may. Could be made with all wood, for someone with woodworking skills, and no aluminum bracket.

This is the rig that came with my CM26 when I bought her. I don't claim rights to it!

If I was making it from scratch, I'd use a three wooden triangles on each side of the mast instead of the aluminum bracket. The outer triangles would be made out of 2x4 and the inner one made of 3/4 wood. The inner one would be a bit narrower to leave a grove on the inside. Once the mast was down, I'd put the bolt back in at the base of the mast. When the bottom of the mast was placed in the support, the bolt head and nut would drop down into the groves to provide fore/aft stability. I'd then use a couple of bungies to keep the mast in the support.

I've been thinking of building a similar rig for the stern that would clamp onto the stern railing to hold the top of the mast.

Here is the reason you want your mast a bit higher during storage:



yep, even the top!



The tarp is supported by the mast so you can get into the hull without taking the tarp loose.

Triticum has an A frame righting rig. Screws go though the botton of the poles and into the forward stay brackets. They are held on with wing nuts. There is a rope that goes from the top to the bow chain plate. A big bungie goes from the middle to the middle stay bracket. A red rope goes around the mast and through a pully at the top of the A frame. I added a second loop to the fore stay. I run a rope through it , through a clip on the bow chain plate. The mast comes up with the red rope. I then grab the rope on the forestay and transfer the load to it. After it is tied to the bow cleat, I can put the forstay on to the chain plate. I did this by myself on Friday. The biggest challenge is making sure all of the stays don't catch on something. They are amazingly good at that.

I snapped the mast on my CM30 just above the spreader in a nasty encounter with a bridge. I would appreciate help finding a replacement.

Thanks Sailoring Portland for Follow the mast. I made a similiar bow piece today and it looks good to go.
Ken

Here is the mast raising video. It was shot from the camera mount on the stern rail so the angle isn't the greatest. It does show the process in real time... which means at least one cable gets caught.

https://youtu.be/firIa2irNFo

a whole bunch of questions if i may. sorry if this gets a bit long. those two poles, they are aluminum? 1 bolt goin thru both of them? and the pully tied between both poles?

ive seen videos and pics raising the mast both ways, from aft, and from forward. most being from forward with the boom attached, and in the right angle position. your way does not allow for that, you attach the boom afterwards?

the rope you pull on to raise the mast, where on the mast do you have that tied?

i have all wires, shrouds, and stays worked out. having someone help me with the rest of the lines and ropes on sunday. just think....my boat has not seen water in over 23 years.....gonna try to put her in on monday. hope all goes well. just need a few more things attached, and she should be ready to go. i'll try to get some pics up in the next couple of days, if i can ever get them off my phone.

thanks to all who have helped. either answering my questions, or others questions.
you have no idea how valuable your information has been, im sure not just to me.

oh yeah, i noticed you had pvc on your shrouds.....any great benefit for doing this?
i also noticed you had them already connected to the boat when you pullied the mast up. did you just leave them extra loose for doing this? and just tighten them later?

Poles are probably steel. They are pretty heavy. Someone thought they were the tubing used to protect wire runs in a commercial building. They have a wood plug in each end. There is a very long bolt that goes through the top and a bent metal figure 8 that goes around the cross bolt and through the pulley so that the pulley hangs maybe four inches below the cross bolt. The bottons have smaller bolts that go through each side then through the forward shroud straps.

I haven't taken anything other than the forestay and forward stays loose since I bought my ship almost a year ago. I really should tighten the back stay... The shrouds get tightened a bit in the late spring, as it gets warmer. I don't usually tweak them much but my desire is to go cruise, not to race.

The boom adds a lot of weight. I'd really rather not deal with that until that long mast is secure! Often, the boom stays in the hull until the ship in underway and clear of the launch area.

At the end of the video, you see me disconnecting the rope from the mast. When the mast is down, I tryto put the rope just aft of the hatch. The pvc was on the forward shrouds from the PO. It is not critical in any way. It does help to keep the shrouds from getting tangled in any thing and that is a major help!

Thinking about the bolt that goes through to top of the A frame. It is actually an eye bolt. The eye goes forward and is where the rope to the bow chain is attached.

Howdy!! I made it to Lake Tahoe from Mission Bay and hope to get into water today. I'll try to add comments on rigging later. When I dropped the mast I only released the forward stay and front mast stay on both sides. I used the jib hawlered(sp) and wench to help lower the mast. I had help with this. But I was able to walk the mast forward with no problem and attach to bracket I made from this site. It traveled fine and I rigged the rear with a red dolly with no wheels that was discarded at the marina. Worked beautifully and high enough to open hatch.
Off to raise mast and launch --see ya later.
Ken

triticum, does your a frame aid you in taking down the mast? walked my mast today, all lines in place. i'll post pics as soon as i figure out how to get them off of my phone. raised the main sail too, but i think im missing a part. is there something that slides in the boom to hold the sail to it? i'll be running down to the "candy store" tomorrow. one of my turnbuckles also isnt tightening the way i want it to. had 4 other guys help me walk the mast. was an interesting experience. also.....i still dont know what holds the boom up while sail is down. dont think i have those parts either

The mast goes down exactly the same way it goes up

There are a couple of possibilities depending on the sail. If the sail has a rope sewn onto the bottom, it may slide into a slot in the top of the boom. Mine has a set of plastic slugs that ride in the slot on the top of the boom which are then hooked to the sail with plastic pieces that screw through the cleats. I don't think my main sail is original and I don't think it was made for a clipper but I may be wrong. The CM logo was done with spray paint...

My boom doesn't stay up when the sail is down. I do have a clamp on the back stay that holds a light wire with a clip to hold up the back of the boom. When I am on the water for several days, I put one of the rubber "bungies" around the mast just above the wide place in the slot on the mast.

thanks triticum. but dont you have to raise the mast upward, before being able to let it fall?

my main sail is the original, 39 years old. a bit discolored, but in 1 great peice.
yes, there is a rope sewn into it, will look into putting that in there somehow.
also, guess i go buy a few bungie cords lol

allright, as far as the roller furling.....anyone know a cost for putting one on?
seems like having one of them will take quite a few problems out of the situation.
i do have extra plastic slugs as well.....same slugs as being used on the vertical axis of the sail. none were on the bottom tho. think it wise to use those? or just put the sewn rope part into the boom?

sorry, i did get the pics off the phone, just cant quite figure out how to get them on here now.
will have to read up on that, when and if i get more time.

ok, here's the update for today. splashed the cm26 about noon. all went well. even outboard motor started up on first pull. took her up and down fox river a ways. come to find out, you really need a pretty good wind in order to move this boat!!!
had my outboard on, for the most part, on a very quiet idle, made everyone think i was really goin lol
only a couple of snags that i came accross, really simple ones. hope one of yall can answer this. and oh, yesterday i mentioned the main sail was original. come to find out, the genoa is 110%, and is also original, and in much better shape than the main. still 39 years old

the snags i had......the "working" jib lines.....do they go outside the shrouds?
also, connecting the genoa/jib to the front chain plate.....i have a coupling there, looks original, but the i's from the coupling i could not get into the first hole of the genoa, is there some other peice i should use? if anything, i know i can figure something out.

thanks to everyones posts and answers, i had a great day today, sailing on the fox river. next weekend, i'll try to be a lil bit bolder, and head on out into green bay. im sure the wind there will be more favorable, and dont have to tack every 2 minutes.

and oh, dont worry about my sunburn

Jib lines go outside the shrouds and through the pulleys. The downwind one then goes around the winch to help pull it in.

I don't do river sailing so I'd imagine you would need wind to push against the current.

The original Genoa was 150%. I think the original jib was 110%. On mine there is no question. The Genoa is much heavier built with something like 17 brass hanks on the forestay vs 7 nylon ones on the regular Jib.

Here's a link for pvc shroud covers:

http://sbo.sailboatowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151053&mode=linear

I am a new CM26 owner/new sailor  have a couple questions.
-is there a way to hold to goose neck at a height when the sail comes down?  THe boom will fall out of it's track sometimes.  
-There is an loop under the boom that I am not sure what the function is.  Is this used to hold the mast up?
-ALso many boats have a line that secures the back of the boom to the top of the mast.  Am I supposed to have this?
Thanks for help

Nice idea to safe the lines for chaffing, might add some class the to Miss Gracie.

I have a short piece of wire with a clip on the end that is bolted to the back stay.  It holds up the back of the boom when the sail is rolled up.  It is actually possible to unclip the foot of the main sail and roll it up around the boom.  This works nicely.  Recently, I tried puting the main halyard around the sail and then pulled it up out of the way. This gave us more space in the cockpit because the boom was above head height.

I've used one of the rubber bungies to hold the boom above the wide space in the track.  The rubber holds to the mast but I really need to do something other that the metal S hooks to hold it together.  I think a bit more work and I'll have something that is pretty slick.

Part of the hold up is I am trying to develop something my 10 year old and manage easily.

Great photos.  Thanks. Can't wait to see the rest.