[Rhodes22-list] Checklist

[Steve Alm]

Bill,

Point taken on how our checklists evolve, but not the hoisting procedure.
It's going to be the same every time.  I still think a pocket-size laminated
card just for this procedure would be the handiest.  There's no need to put
the hoisting procedure on your ever-changing daily list since it's not a
daily task.

Here's an idea:  Affix the hoisting checklist right on the mast or the
crane.  Just a thought.

Slim

On 4/16/04 12:29 PM, "Bill Effros" <bill at effros.com> wrote:

> David,
> 
> I do not laminate my checklists, because they are never final.  I print out a
> new checklist every time I go to the boat.  Even the simplest things are on
> the checklists because I always forget from one year to the next.  For
> example, my go to the boat checklist includes the item -- "put in contact
> lenses before applying suntan lotion."  Simple.  Obvious.  Forgotten 1/2 the
> time before making serious checklists about everything.
> 
> I carry the checklists on a clipboard, with a pen velcroed to the clipboard.
> I take notes about everything as I go.  It works for me.
> 
> Bill Effros
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: David Keyes
> To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
> Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 11:28 AM
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Checklist
> 
> 
> Bill and Slim,
> 
> I will put together my checklist in several days when I get back from a
> trip.  It is a composite of Stan's booklet of instructions for the
> mast-hoist system that lowers the mast towards the stern, plus some
> additional email instructions and recommendations from Stan, plus a few
> things from my experience lowering and raising the mast twice on Wednesday.
> The first time, I carefully followed all instructions, and everything worked
> fine--although there were a few things I would like to improve on next time.
> The second time I did things from memory, when, as Bill suggested, most of
> the procedures are done when tired or rushed, and there was minor damage as
> I described last night from a few forgotten details.
> 
> I like Bill and Slim's recommendation that everyone have a list of details,
> sequence and safety items.  I proceeded the first time from Stan's booklet
> and several emails, photos, and prior list postings, most of which I had on
> board and consulted on my first time.  A laminated checklist succinctly
> written but catching all the necessary details would be even better.  The
> second time was in my head and mostly okay, but not a grade of A.
> 
> One of my future projects is to figure out how to take down the 175 genoa on
> the CDI furler and maybe do that, depending on the effort as compared to
> leaving it up while lowering the mast, to reduce bulk when I am not going to
> put the boat on a trailor, but just want to lower the mast to do some
> repairs in place. I did find that keeping the genoa reasonably free of sharp
> bends and stresses and corded or strapped to the mast at the worst spots
> while keeping the furling mechanism from scratching the deck or windows was
> somewhat of a nuisance, although definitely manageable.
> 
> David
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bill Effros" <bill at effros.com>
> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 8:22 AM
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Checklist
> 
> 
> Slim,
> 
> I don't have time for this right now, but let's nail this issue.  Stan's
> instructions are wrong and dangerous in some instances.  Some of his
> instructions are for lowering the mast to the stern, and others are for
> lowering it to the bow.  If you happen to have the wrong set for the
> direction you are lowering toward, you and your rig can get hurt.
> 
> Checklists are the only way to do repetitive things on the boat.  Most of
> these procedures are performed when we are tired or rushed or both.  Elton
> can do them in his head.  We can't.
> 
> I have checklists for most procedures for my boat.  I still haven't nailed
> the procedures for raising and lowering the mast because I do it so
> infrequently.
> 
> Checklists "off the top of our heads" generally miss things that others
> don't catch.  When I have more time I will help.  For example, your number 5
> is my number 1.  This is a critical, often missed, simple step that does a
> lot of damage if overlooked, so I put it first, in all caps, to ensure I
> won't miss it--this time around.
> 
> I hope you and others will develop a good checklist for this procedure, but
> if you don't, I'll bring it up again when I have more time to participate.
> 
> Bill Effros
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Steve Alm
> To: Rhodes
> Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 5:31 AM
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] IMF Furling Repair; Mainsail replacement;mast
> lowered and raised twice out on the lake yesterday
> 
> 
> David,
> 
> Glad your rig is back up and running.  As for raising and lowering the mast,
> it sounds like you could use a little checklist to refer to as you go.  Take
> Stan's directions, paraphrase a bit and laminate it and keep it handy.  With
> a little more practice, you'll get it down, but some of those little details
> like disconnecting the pop top slider, or the radio and light connections
> are easy to forget.  A checklist might be helpful.  Most important of all:
> when raising or lowering the mast, make sure nobody is in the cockpit or
> anywhere else where the mast could fall on them if something breaks.  Don't
> be in a hurry.  Take your time, follow the checklist, be methodical and it's
> easy as pie!
> 
> How about this--  Kind of off the top of my head--anybody chime in if I've
> missed something:
> 
> LOWERING THE MAST:
> 
> 1.  Disconnect the back stay tensioning line
> 2.  Disconnect the boom from the traveler
> 3.  Remove the traveler bar
> 4.  Hoist the boom up with the topping lift and cleat it off on the mast
> 5.  Disconnect the pop top slider and close the hatch
> 6.  Disconnect the radio and steaming light
> 7.  Wrap up jib sheets and jib reefing line
> 8.  Disconnect forward lower shrouds and add extensions
> 9.  Loosen all other shroud turnbuckles
> 10. Deploy and secure mast crutch
> 11. Deploy and secure hoist crane
> 12. Attach aft lower shrouds to crane
> 12a Alternate: Attach line from crane to mast bail if you're thus equipped
> 13. Tie hoist winch line to bow cleat with a bowline
> 14. Snug the hoist to slack the bow stay
> 15. Disconnect bow stay and drop clevis pin and cotter ring overboard  8-)
> 16. Crank the hoist "down" giving the mast a little shove to get it started
> 17. Check the shroud extensions as you lower to avoid entanglement.
> 18. Tend the jib as you lower
> 19. Lower the mast to the crutch
> 20. Crack open a cold beer
> 
> Do the reverse to raise the mast, but while raising, watch to see if any
> shrouds get tangled on anything as it goes up.  REMEMBER:  Nobody in the
> cockpit or anywhere else under the mast during these procedures.
> 
> I'm leaving out some important details, like when a passing power boat hits
> you with its wake and your screwdriver rolls off the deck and falls in the
> drink.  Or that same power boat passes just as you disconnect the boom from
> the traveler and it swings around and whacks you in the noggin.  I'll leave
> the trouble shooting up to you!
> 
> Note:  Some boats utilize a method of lowering the mast forward instead of
> aft.  If that's the case with Arrowhead, then...um...ignore this.  8-)
> 
> Hope this helps.
> 
> Slim
> S/V Fandango
> 
> On 4/16/04 12:08 AM, "David Keyes" <dkeyes at houston.rr.com> wrote:
> 
>> Stan's mast-hoist system is great.  I am 64, worked single-handed
>> yesterday--no one around to help.  I spent all day today taking down the
> mast
>> (twice) at the dock, in howling winds, replacing the mainsail, and fixing
> the
>> IMF.  No serious problems and nothing dropped overboard.
>> 
>> Last fall, my mainsail jammed in the out position for a week.  The sheet
> metal
>> screw holding the upper bearing had backed out, jamming against the inside
> of
>> the mast at the top.  I used cords to tie the sail against the mast while
> I
>> was away for a week, but they came loose in windy weather, causing the
> sail to
>> beat against the spreaders and sustain sail damage.  The slapping around
> also
>> caused the screw to fall out, thus again permitting the sail to be furled
> back
>> in and out.  After a few months of raising and lowering the boom
> slider/IMF
>> tube, the upper bearing (now missing its set screw) came off the top of
> the
>> tube and fell part way down the mast just inside the slot, preventing the
> sail
>> from being unfurled past that point.  Time to fix everything and replace
> the
>> sail--all with great help by email from Stan, as well as earlier helpful
> input
>> from the R22 list.  I had never taken the mast down before, since my boat
>> stays in the water full time and I don't own a trailor.  Based on advice
> from
>> the R22 list, I decided to do the work without taking the boat out of the
>> water.
>> 
>> Following Stan's advice, I removed the boom prior to lowering the
> mast--this
>> removed some of the bulk from the IMF repair job that I had to do (which
>> involved sliding the IMF tube out the bottom of the mast), although boom
>> removal wasn't necessary.  The IMF upper bearing did have a hole, but no
> screw
>> was in sight.  I drilled a new hole in the tube off to the side of the old
>> one, and countersunk a 1-inch stainless #6 sheet metal screw.  I replaced
> the
>> mainsail with the one that Stan sent me--the new style with the vertical
>> battens.
>> 
>> All is working fine now, but I will need to replace the 4" carriage bolt
> at
>> the mast step (the last half inch and the wing nut were stripped and
> sheared
>> off).  Temporarily, the mast is sitting OK for the time being with no wing
>> nut.  Also, I bent the spring pin in the pop-top block slider.  I tried to
>> straighten it out, but it does't work as well as it should.  Stan will
> send me
>> the bolt and a replacement pop-top slider pin which can be replaced on the
>> next mast-lowering.  I made a not very important gouge in the pop top
> cover
>> with the now-bent pin.  This happened because the second time I lowered
> the
>> past I had forgotten to slide up the pop-top block (but the slider was
>> detached from the pop top cover).
>> 
>> Brief diary of the day:  I worked at the dock, in about 20 feet of water.
> I
>> used the sailboat on the opposite side of the dock, to my bow, as a
> "table" to
>> hold the IMF tube as it came out.  I was pleasantly surprised that the IMF
>> tube is so rigid that I was able to carry it off the dock and up on the
> grass
>> to work on it, without any excess bending.  The weather was bright
> sunshine,
>> with low winds increasing to howling winds during the mast lowering and
>> raising.  Drinking lots of water still left me six pounds lighter at the
> end
>> of the day--194 down to 188.
>> 
>> I spent the morning carefully going through instructions and lowering the
> mast
>> and removing the IMF tube.  In early afternoon I wasted 45 minutes looking
> for
>> a 1-1/4" #6 sheet metal screw, but it turned out that the 1" I already had
>> worked.  It is necessary to countersink the screw head into the bearing so
>> that it does not bind inside the mast.  By 4 p.m., I had the mast back up,
> the
>> IMF repaired, no damage or incidents, and everything perfect.  My 7/64
> drill
>> bit (used to drill the hole in the IMF tube for the self-tapping sheet
> metal
>> screw) was too dull, and it took several attempted holes and lots of elbow
>> grease.   Next time I will start out with a high-quality new drill bit for
>> hard metal.   The only other glitch on my lowering of the mast had been to
>> forget to unplug the radio and light plugs at the foot of the mast--the
> wires
>> certainly got a tugging before I noticed it when the mast was almost all
> the
>> way down.  Amazing that the wires didn't pull out of their plugs.
>> 
>> So, at 4 p.m. I had removed the mast hoist and was finished except to
> restore
>> the boom and for trying the IMF.  The IMF was jammed.  I seemed to have
> lost
>> an extra wrap that I needed and also the sail seemed wedged, with the new
>> vertical battens taking extra space in the wrapped sail.  (Stan
> subsequently
>> advised me not to retract the self-cover area, containing the battens.)  I
> was
>> no longer confident that I had wrapped the sail and the IMF furling line
>> correctly.
>> 
>> So . . . from 4 to 6:30 I repeated the job except for the now-fixed
> bearing--I
>> lowered the mast and removed the IMF tube again and took the tube and sail
>> back up on the grass and started again.  I lowered the mast from memory
> and
>> while tired--no instructions--a mistake since I forgot this time to slide
> the
>> boom block and pop-top block to the high positions, so that I heard a
> crunch
>> of the pop-top block into the pop-top cover.  I also seemed to have
> stripped
>> some of the threads on the mast-step bolt, because the wing nut could not
> be
>> removed, and I finally sheared off the end.
>> 
>> However, by 6:15, when I got back to where I had been at 4 p.m.,
> everything
>> worked.  I don't know if I had done anything wrong on the first IMF
> furling
>> installation or not.  So I replaced the boom.  I had to pull and work
>> carefully to get the sail out of the slot the first time, past the
> vertical
>> battens, but then it expanded and retracted easily.
>> 
>> I noted that the luff line of the new sail, in the IMF tube slot, is about
>> 1-1/2" longer than the old one.  I was going to drill new holes for the
> upper
>> and lower brackets where the sail loops attach, so as to extend them to
> their
>> full length.  But it was so difficult to drill the one hole for the IMF
>> bearing that I did not do this.
>> 
>> Stan's mast-hoist instructions talk about walking the genoa back to the
> mast.
>> By email he told me not to do this if it is a CDI or other third-party
>> installation--I have the 175% genoa with the CDI furler.  I will remember
> next
>> time the importance of sliding up the boom and pop-top blocks to their
> high
>> set points; I had focused on the most important step of removing the pin
>> connecting the pop-top cover to the mast.  I will also remember the
> obvious
>> point, if one notices or thinks about it, that the electrical lines should
> be
>> unplugged.
>> 
>> One safety point that almost caught me.  At one point I got my thumb up
> into
>> the rope coil around the crane winch.  Not a good idea.  The beginnings of
>> what in a split second more would have been torture chamber time prompted
> me
>> to remove my thumb faster than the speed of light.  It didn't even hurt or
>> cause a mark on my thumb--the story would have been different if I hadn't
>> stopped winding and got my hand out of the way in the nick of time.  As
> Stan
>> warns in his instructions, keep clear and realize that there are a lot of
>> mechanical forces, and protect the boat by stoppiong instantly if anything
> is
>> going wrong.  I found Stan's instructions very helpful to watch all the
> stays
>> and keep everything clear and free from binding and be ready to stop
>> immediately.  At one point a found a lower shroud caught between the edge
> of a
>> porthole and the cabin--I saw this before ever starting to raise the mast.
>> 
>> Two times does not make me an expert, and obviously no where near the
>> experience of those who trailer their boats.  But if anyone on the list
> thinks
>> that my day of doing all this might have given me some useful experience
>> relating to tasks that someone else on the list maybe hasn't done before,
> I
>> will be glad to try to answer questions about how I did some of this work,
>> what I thought was hard and what was easy, and what I might do differently
>> next time.  Overall, the day was a success.
>> 
>> David Keyes
>> S/V Arrowhead
>> Lake Travis
>> Austin, Texas
>> __________________________________________________
>> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> 
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