mast support

[Ken Heyman]

My boat is on the hard for the winter. I store the boat at the Great Lakes Naval Center north of Chicago with my mast up.They lift boats using a  crane as they have no travel lift. The procedure requires removing the back stay and topping lift so they can get the straps under the boat from the rear.

It has been a bit of a chore loosening and removing the backstay and topping lift for haulout only to reattach it after haul out and then to reverse the procedure in the spring for launch. I was considering this year allowing the main halyard and topping lift to support the mast for the winter thereby avoiding the aggravation of reattachment etc. I have the main halyard winched back to a rear starboard cleat and the topping lift winched back to a port cleat. I have a fair lead as they go thru the jib track blocks first. The mast is thru hull stepped.

thanks in advance,

Ken

[Mark Wey]

Ken, my boat is on the hard for the winter as well. I am lifted out with the mast up too. I have to remove the forstay and furling temporarily in order for the travel lift to pick the boat up. I first loosen the back stay and it is not a bit deal. I did take the time to lubricate the turn buckles and they are loosened by hand. I then take two Jib halyards to bend the mast forward and take the load off of the forestay.  The halyards are connected back far enough on the second stantion so as not to interfere with the travel lift.  The whold operation takles less than 15 minutes and is done by hand by one person.  I am not sure if it would matter to you but try and remove the forestay and not the back stays. That way you only have to loosen the back stays and not totally remove them.

As for considering this year allowing the main halyard and topping lift to support the mast for the winter thereby avoiding the aggravation of reattachment. I wouldn't do it. Your boat is going to experience way stronger winds this winter than it will ever experience in the summer. Also the boat is not on the water and doesn't have the forgiving heeling effect. There is no give in the cradle. Also if the halyard and topping lift were sized to take the full effect of the stress put on your shrouds and stays,  the shrouds and stays would be made of the same size line and not stainless wire.

A few thoughts.


Mark

[Ron Bukowski]

Ken,
I just had my boat hauled out today. The yard that hauled it had a smaller travel lift than where I had been hauled before and the operator told me that I would have to disconnect either the head stay or the two back stays. This is the first time I ran into this situation. I opted to disconnect the two back stays since I didn't want to tackle the furler. It was no big deal. I backed off the turn buckles until I had enough slack to pull the clevis pins. I used my main halyard as a temporary stay until I was blocked up, then I reconnected the stays and clevis pins but I didn't tighten the turnbuckles. This will take some of the load off of the rigging for the storage season and will allow me to reverse the process without too much trouble in the Spring.
I do agree with Mark that you shouldn't let the forestay off for the Winter. There will be a lot of wind load and possibly ice too. The use of the halyard and/or the topping lift wouldn't let me sleep all Winter long.