Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast Retrofit 3rd Iteration -- Works Well

Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast Retrofit 3rd Iteration -- Works Well (no drama)  -- March 1, 2015.  With the help of crew, Tony, I have been working on this system to raise the mast for nearly a year.  After the third major revision, it seems to work well.  The only thing that remains is to try it out in 15+ knots with a little too much sail.  Today went well.  The big change for this iteration was to move the pivot point for the A-frame forward and so that we could  keep the shrouds attached the whole time, it went better than I hoped for.  Here is the procedure step by step.

The boat trailer must be secured to a vehicle.  Then look up to make sure there are no power lines.  I once snagged my windvane on a tree branch.

Pull out a goodly amount of winch rope say eight or nine feet.  It is important to use rope and not cable on the winch.

Attach the A-frame to the fairleads (pivot points) that are forward of the chainplates.

Place the mast crutch into the gudgeons.

Set the mast into place on the crutch and secure the aft hinge pin.  Make sure you keep the forward pin in a place that is convenient--and where it won't roll away when you go to reach for it.

Attach the shrouds to the chain plates.  I like to cover all the hardware with plastic tubes.

Attach forestay to A-frame (just to make it easier to find when the mast is up).  In this picture the on the right with a turnbuckle.   Attach the jib halyard to the A-frame.  It is the one on the left attached to the braided line.Tighten up and secure the jib halyard.

Attach the temporary guys to the main halyard (actually I leave them in place when I lower the mast).  The main halyard should hold these about halfway up the mast.  Secure the main halyard Secure the guys through the fairleads that are on the same centerline as the mast.  Make them tight.

Hook the trailer winch to the A-frame.  In this picture that is the line running in front of the canopy's rear window.

Time for final check.  Make sure all the lines, guys, halyards, shrouds, etc are not tangled.  Make sure the halyards holding the temporary guys and forestay are secured.

Gently start to raise the mast.  Oh yeah! Things are going well.

Finish raising the mast.  Secure the forward hinge pin.  You may need to tighten or loose the winch just a tad to get in in.  I need to tap mine with a soft block of wood.

Attach the forestay to the stem fitting.  If it is a little too tight, gently pull the mast forward with the winch.

Congratulations the mast is up with no strain and no drama. I did it completely alone.  With practice this takes about 10 minutes.  It took me 14 minutes today, but I had to untangle all the bad stuff that happened when I dropped the mast last week.

Lower and stow the temporary guys.  Stow the A-frame.  Take down is just the reverse, but you may need gentle pressure on the mast to get it to start its journey down.  I just put  a little pressure on the boom topping lift.

NEXT: Now we can get the boat rigged without heroics, it is time to  focus on making the boat go fast.  When we get that right we will start making it look pretty (handsome).  My friend Michael says he will shoot a video of the raising process sometime this spring or summer.