Preview: Stepping a Mast with a Gin Pole

8 Responses So Far to “Stepping a Mast with a Gin Pole”

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  Thomas Cadwalader says:

  What are the weight considerations with a wood vs. an aluminum mast? I am interested in setting up this system on a 23′ stone horse with a 33′ hollow spruce mast.

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  Tom OKeeffe says:

  Very helpful idea. Maybe 5-10 lbs of ankle weights wrapped around the lower mast could lower the center of balance down for single-handing?

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  John Svenningsen says:

  What kind of weight limit do you estimate for this procedure ? I have an approx. 32′ solid spruce mast for my Folkboat, not sure of the weight. Thanks.

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    Svend Erik Sokkelund says:

    Folkboats in Denmark use an A frame, standing on the foredeck. Three people raise a folkboatmast in less than five minutes, whether the boat is on land or in the water.

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      Nick Robinson says:

      The A-frame idea sounds more robust than my bendy laser mast. It sounds a bit simpler to rig, as well. Nice.

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  John Hughes says:

  I do something pretty similar to rig the mast on my Tornado (which also worked pretty well on a friend’s Sea Sprite). If the loop around the mast goes around TWICE, then when you load it up, it ends up (via friction) taking a good deal of the weight, and the “pull-down-at-the-end” line just helps set the position where that happens. For the tornado, the gin-pole is actually an A-frame made of 12-foot 2x4s, i.e., it’s more like sheer-legs. The legs sit in the sand on the beach and press against the main beam for stability, and the mast-base has a built-in pivot. On the Sea Sprite, the legs sit at the toerail (with a thin line between them to keep them from spreading), and we rig a “forestay” to the bow cleat and a backstay to a cleat on the port quarter. The “crossbar” of the A-frame has to be high enough for the mast to clear it during hoisting; that turns out to be about 6 feet off the deck for the Sea Sprite. We use the end of the crossbar (which sticks out) as a place to tie off the halyard once the hoisting’s done. Probably installing a small cleat would make sense. Once, in a rush, we brought these sheer-legs to the boat, stepped them, stepped the mast, and dropped the sheer legs, and it was only about 8 minutes from the time the car arrived with the legs until the time it was driving away. Other times it’s taken longer. :)

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  Beniy Waisanen says:

  Thanks! It’s working now.

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  David Tew says:

  Excellent walk-through. Nick sounds like he’s “gotten his wires crossed” a few times. Getting the shrouds, stays and halyards in the right orientations is, as he points out, the primary task to get figured out right on deck. It’s pretty humorous when you get the mast aloft only to notice you’ve got the forestay behind a spreader and wrapped around an upper shroud. Not a job for the dyslexic. ;)