Solo Mast Stepping - again

Had I seen this setup ahead of time I'd probably have a 14 or a Wave rather than the Bravo. I just could not see myself getting the 14 rigged (attempted it solo on a couple used ones) and still having enough energy left to sail her.

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Bob Reeves
Lake Livingston, Texas

My home page

Wave masts are easy to set up solo, no power winch needed.

But enjoy the boat you have! If you keep looking at what "might have been a better choice", you'll suffer from buyer's remorse and never be satisfied. You've got a great, FUN boat. Go for it!

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What - Me Worry?


2006 Hobie Wave 7358
"Ish Kabibble"

It is really perfect for my typical use - solo. No remorse - although if I could convince mama I'd be living aboard a 50 footer.

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Bob Reeves
Lake Livingston, Texas

My home page

Recently found out that the plastic mast step ball has threads -- that are also plastic -- and they give out. Luckily while boosting "the mast fairly close to the trampoline", off popped the mast ball, threads stripped out. The mast wasn't elevated too high, thankfully.

This is still a good starting point for the lift, but the mast ball needs checking regularly.

@ bobreeves

The drawing of the winch is nice. However, it doesn't take into account mast's side sway. This is the prob with two dimensional drawings. They don't show that pesky third dimension.

Anyone remember me saying that I tie off a safety line to the dolphin striker instead of using the pin? Its for that very reason, ball slips off the threads, you're still dropping the mast.

Wish I had caught that. (Couldn't find the thread after doing a search.) A new mast ball would probably handle the load for a while, but a safety rope sounds better. How do you tie it though?

Looked like a combination of UV and stress did mine in.

Nope, its from not being screwed down completely tight, unless yours cracked then it might be UV damage. When the load of the mast is resting on the threads and not where it bottoms out at they aren't long for this world. I dropped my mast from fortunetly not very high and didn't hurt anyone, or more importantly damage the mast.

I just tie it off right at the dolphin striker on the boat, then to the mast rotator where it connects to the mast base. You need to be able to rotate the mast straight back while its still up, or you won't have enough slack in the safety line to untie it. If the ball fails it still hangs on. I started doing it mostly because I'm not smart enough to drop the mast on the correct side to get the pin out, and I'd have to lift and lower it again.

Well, yeah, that would equal grinding type stress.

The threads inside the ball were mostly there but opened up and broken in several places. Maybe the mast ball unthreads itself some during rotation and needs tightening down periodically. As you say, it's worth checking regularly...

However, the problem still is that those threads probably aren't made to withstand the big upward leverage that putting a mast support up close to the rear crossbar puts on them. You got 7' of mast between the mast ball and crutch and 22' between the crutch and the top of the mast. For this reason, I moved the mast support back about to midway. I got this vision of mast balls popping into the air now...


Gotta ask -- Doesn't mess up the mast rotation?

It does if you don't remove it while sailing. I've been thinking about splicing a loop on one end of line, then a hook on the other to do away with having to tie 4 knots every setup/teardown.

The only reason I asked that was that when you remove the rope -- and you have left out the pin to begin with -- the mast is completely unpinned! And...that's probably not a problem.

But, as advice sometimes goes on forums, I vaguely recall reading something about the mast needing to stay pinned after stepping, but no memory of what it was or whether it was correct or mistaken.

With the FX, the mast pin is not a pin but a bolt and nut. And the directions don't say to remove it once the mast is stepped. As apparently does the H16 instructions(?).

Whatever.

Number of years back, while replacing a large part on some HVAC equipment, it was necessary to remove a large number of shipping brackets and straps before installing it. There was one support bracket that looked just like a shipping bracket, so it got removed too. After figuring out that wasn't right, we rooted around in the dumpster for it...