Whooooooopp... ...uh-oh... ...CLANG!!!

Woah, Johnny, are you saying that the spot in the mast base for the pin, has broken? Crap.

There's a whole other issue to worry about.

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'97 Hobie 16.

Skype: rob_arnolda

YES, things can and do break, including the mast base. Never assume a part can't fail.

This is why you should NEVER allow anyone to stand below the mast when you're lowering it. If the mast base breaks, if you slip, or if you simply forget to install the pin, the person catching the mast could easily be hit by the falling mast. Tell them to stand off to the side until you've got the mast down and under control. Then they can step over can grab the mast.

sm

Unless you're like me and would rather get hit by a mast, than see a mast hit the ground. Not paying attention could inflict some damage though.

I think everyone has dropped a mast before. Either from being dumb and forgetting the retainer, or a part failure. Its like anything, you do it enough times and Murphy will eventually hose you.

So True, I dropped the mast one time thinking I could change the hole it was in on the chain plate. I was holding on to the forstay with the mast up, and lost it. I ended up breaking the plastic single wheel in the top on my mast the day before a race.

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http://www.GetWetSailing.com It's A Great Day To Sail!

I seriously hope you're kidding. I've never seen anyone be hit by a falling mast, and sure as hell hope I never do because it won't be pretty. On the other hand, of all the Hobie masts I've seen hit the ground, I don't recall ever seeing one damaged as a result of it. Stand clear of the mast and let the thing smack the dirt if that's what's going to happen.

sm

Hey Captian...How did you repair the plastic single wheel?

Nope. I'm serious. There isn't much energy there, even if it fell from vertical, plus the guy standing on the tramp is taking some of it and slowing it down. Being blind sided by a mast would be all sorts of uncomfortable, standing at the ready with out stretched arms would be nothing. Just had a thought though, on masts with diamond wires you'd want to be above the tang. That could mangle some fingers.

You're also assuming the mast will fall in nice squishy dirt vs. not so squishy concrete/asphalt.

Good luck with that. 35 pound mast falling on your head from 15 or 20 feet up.

sm

The mast on the head thing happened to a close friend of mine.

His crew (read as ...his wife) was standing on the tramp trying to help raise the mast. The step link came undone mid process........

The mast rotated and smacked her on top of the head (the flatter part hit her). She went down and was out cold for about ten minutes. He sold the boat after that...he said it was bad karma.

The way I have stepped mine solo was to tie another length of line to the main halyard. Then I drilled a hole thru the mast support on my trailer about two inches below the cradle. I inserted an eye bolt and used that as a de facto pulley plus the extra length of line to step the mast. I used the eye bolt insead of an actual pulley or block, because I could get better friction from the eye bolt to control the ascent and descent. The extra line allowed me to stand on the tramp and lift the mast past horizontal and then with my hand that is not holding the mast pull on the extended halyard.

I have only done this once in the last five years.....I'm not 20 anymore and it took me fifteen minutes to recover from doing it this way.

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'77- H16(30804)

Yeah, Force = Mass x Acceleration.

There may not be THAT much weight in a mast, but anything at speed picks up energy. I would have to say that your friend's wife was incredibly lucky that the flat part hit her and not the edge as I'm sure that would, at the very least, open up a nice big flesh wound.

I for one can't understand how the mast pin can come undone mid-process; I can only see it breaking or failing due to incorrect preparation (like mine) but either way it creates an ugly scenario.

Kinda makes you wonder why there was never any real effort to create a safer method of doing this, as far as handling the weight, from Hobie. You'd think that a lot more people would get in to it if they knew it didn't have these difficult steps in the rigging.

I guess the only real option is to shorten the mast, and we DON'T want to do that!!

I'm 36 and I keep pretty fit, but I imagine that there's gonna be a day when I just can't be bothered stepping it on my own and may have to employ the winch method or similar in the future. Until then, I'll just be extra careful.

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'97 Hobie 16.

Skype: rob_arnolda

I dropped a mast early on, too. Scary, kids nearby, not good.

I step solo mostly so I studied the Hobie stepping systems and basically modeled my solution after the mast stepper II. There are two keys to it working.

1) Tie off two of your trap lines to the front corner castings (length of line will be trial and error depending on your trap line lengths. Leave it a little slack or it will over-tighten) to control the lateral movement as the mast goes up.

2) Tie off a third trap line with another length of line to raise the mast (leaving the forestay free) either with a winch or by lifting it yourself with the walk-up/leverage method as described above.

Once the mast is up the forestay is free for you to attach to the front chain plate and you are good to go.

One thing I've noticed while my cat is on the beach using a winch rigged overhead on a piece of tube steel is that the boat will creep forward at the beginning of the raise, because you're obviously simply pulling the horizontal mast that is pegged to the mast step toward the winch.

The solution is to either step on the bridles while I'm cranking away on the winch, or, ask one of my kids, beach comber, or neighbor to crank while I lift the mast to get it going.

I also rigged a winch for similar elevated use on my trailer mast support but haven't needed to use it yet as I don't trailer much, but in theory it should work.

For what it's worth....

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'81 H16

If it ain't a blowin', I ain't a goin'

HRT..
Great tip man!! I tried your suggestion last night and it worked like a charm! I don't step my mast solo very often, but on those occasions, you just saved me a ton of time. Thx!!

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KU
'79 H16
#64048
#58757