Tips for Quicker Rigging... Doc SPRINGS into action

Posted By: Gary "Doc" Hansen
Date: 6/12/00 3:56p.m.

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Ready to tow Tips for Quicker Rigging by Gary "Doc" Hansen I sail a 1972 Venture 222, which has a 24-foot aluminum mast. Normally, I set up the boat single-handed and have developed some tricks that have made my mast stepping easier. It all starts where you left it… That’s last time you took the mast down. You tied it up for transport, and if you are like most sailors you over tie… that is to say for trailering your mast, you may have too many lines and/or bungees on there. Let’s take a look at my last job a minute. When we are on the road, we like to camp in the boat. Therefore to get enough “height” to raise The brace at the tabernacle with wing nut the “pop-top”, I’ve built some 2 X 4 BRACES secure my mast. I have a forward mast brace that is on my bow pulpit, and because this brace is held with Velcro webbing, the mast brace is EASY to take off. In the middle of the boat at the tabernacle, I have another brace. Again, easy to remove with only the mast bolt holding it in place. (Good place for that bolt and wing nut, I might add) At the stern is the mast crutch, which not only holds the mast, but also will be a key device is the actual stepping. I can quickly remove the center brace and pop off the bungee cord holding the wire in place and I’m ready to hoist the spar. This is where I “SPRING INTO ACTION”… You see, I have a little SECRET DEVICE that I’ve been experimenting with, to ease the chore of “lifting the spar” totally by hand… and here they are. They are common springs that you can get at any “Home Store” or “Hardware Store”. I am using two in this case, as my personal experiments show that is right for MY SPAR. They are about the size of my hand and the center is about the size of a large quarter. "Handy Size" I now have to get the mast elevated enough to raise it. Using the aft brace, I walk the mast to the position shown, and pin it in place. Once I get the spar to this elevation, it will be at the height that I can easily pull it to the upright position. You will notice that I have left the pulpit brace attached, as this is a really important piece. I use webbing on the winch tower that fits thru this “groove” and keeps not only height and the angle correct, but also keeps the webbing secure while applying tension. I now will disconnect the bow snap hook from the Getting the spar into position boats “bow eye”, and place it thru this groove, and get up on the deck. From here I attach a “bungee” to the snap hook on one end, and to the other end of the bungee, I attach the forestay. This will keep the two held together, while I attach the “springs” in between. OK now… before you get to thinking… Doc is gonna raise his mast by cranking on this device… YOU’RE WRONG. Sure, I’m gonna crank on it, but NOT to RAISE the mast. I’m simply going to let some ENERGY COLLECT in the springs, so when I do lift up on it… I won’t be lifting AS MUCH. It’s kind of like the springs on a garage door. They don’t “Lift the Door”… You do that… they simply make it EASIER to do so. I lift my mast BY HAND, and I steady it all the way to the full upright position from atop the hatch. You can see that I have no clutter up there, and I simply reach down and pick it up… the springs merely take out most of the load. Place from which I "lift the spar" into position. With the springs and bungee in place, I get down off the boat and go to the bow winch and start to tension the strap. This is done by cranking on the winch, how much tension I will need, depends on the weight of the spar. In my case I’m finding that when I reach the “right amount”, the mast on the aft brace starts to show a tiny “bounce” to it. This indicates that most of the “energy” required to hoist the spar is being taken by the spring. The hardest part of lifting the mast… is from that beginning angle when it’s the heaviest. Now however, that weight is being “relieved” by the spring tension. As I lift it to a more vertical angle… the weight is reduced, so the tension on the spring is also relieved. The forestay being the “tensioned wire”, will just fall to the deck as I continue to lift the spar by hand. Cranking the winch expands the spring, which stores some energy With the spring properly “loaded” I am about ready to hoist the mast. The tension is at the point that I can EASILY pick the spar into the upright position. My mast I would guess weighs about 50-60 pounds normally, but as I go to the brace on the aft of the boat I find that I can lift the spar EASILY with two fingers. My guess is that it’s now only ounces. Now I just get aboard and hoist it, being sure to guide it carefully to the standing position. Once up, I use a halyard to walk forward, keeping the mast held in the up position, and tying off the halyard at the pulpit. Then, I pin the forestay and it’s done. I will reverse the process to take the mast down. Spring properly loaded This is a new system for me, and I don’t want anyone to think that it’s designed to work on ALL BOATS… It’s NOT. I make changes to my boat from time to time using common store bought items and some ingenuity. I can raise my mast WITHOUT the spring tensioning. I use about the same procedure, only more muscle. I have just found that I seem to have more “control” over the spar when I don’t have to lift quite so much weight. I think a “gin-pole” device is the way to go on heavier masts, but in my case, the springs give just the little help I’m looking for. Using these springs takes almost NO TIME and cost me only a few dollars. There are countless ways to do any job… this one just SPRINGS to mind… as a helping hand on this one. Two fingers now lifts the mast at the aft brace [docsig]