[Rhodes22-list] Mast hoist system

[brad haslett]

Bob,

I'm assuming you found "never, never, land", somewhere
around 45 to 60 degrees of mast angle where it is
somewhat unstable and wants to go to one side or the
other. Am I correct?  My boat (soon to be their boat)
has the later model mast raising system with the
forward mounting point for the hoist but if my high
school physics serve me correctly it shouldn't make
that much difference in the force required.  One of
the keys is speed.  Assuming you have the shrouds
connected correctly, there is still a period of
instalibility somewhere there in the middle.  After
several practices I found that speed through that
period of instability is the key.  (It reminded me of
rotation at takeoff on a DC-10 or manual gear
retraction on a Mooney but that doesn't help much does
it?)  The first time I raised the mast I did it very
slowly and nearly scared the dogs**t out of me.  After
a few attempts I did it at a high rate of speed and it
went a lot smoother.  Having someone on either side
holding a line attached to the mast would make it a
no-brainer but the system is well designed and does
work single-handed.  The forces change as the mast
goes up/down but speed hides it.  There are a lot of
folks on the list with a lot more experience than me
and hopefully at least one will point out where I'm
full of, well, let's hope they answer your question.

Brad  
--- Robert Dilk <Robert.Dilk at TRW.COM> wrote:
> I lowered my mast ( 1975 standard sail) for the
> first time this weekend. Let's just say no one was
> hurt.
> 
> I have looked at the pictures of the GB mast hoist
> system and have some questions.
> 
> I would have expected the lifting arm to be mounted
> directly to the mast base to form a triangle. By
> having the lifting arm mounted on the coach top
> separate from the mast is there a lot of force
> pulling on the mast base?
> 
> My standard mast has a simple support with a slotted
> hole for the mast bolt. Does the new system have
> something special in the mast base?
> 
> thanks
> 
> Bob
> S/V Knot Necessary
> 
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