Hobie cat mast stepping- solo with gin pole

I'm getting fed up with juggling my mast by myself when setting up my Hobie, solo.

When Googling, I've found several videos of people using gin poles cranked up by the recovery winch, but there are no useful poster comments and the video is always zoomed too far out and is of too low quality to figure out exactly what they've done. I can see in the videos that they are not all the same.

The best setup I can see, is an "L" shaped gin pole where the short leg of the "L" is uh...sistered to the mast (for lack of a better word) and long leg (pointing skyward) is attached to the winch and cranked down to the horizontal, raising the mast. Does anyone have any GOOD, close up photos of a setup like this? Did you use aluminum tubing or what? How did you secure the short let to the mast so it was solidly secure and didn't slip around?

I could be ripping around after work each day, if I could figure this out.

Thanks!

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Is it sailing time yet?!?!?

I have set up my mast solo for years and there are 3 things I needed. First was a tripod to set up behind the boat to support the mast, the second was a length of line to connect the jib halyard to the bridle (about 8' long) and finally, the special stepping link from Murrays that eliminates the hang up when the standard link wouldn't toggle to drop the mast into place. I would set the mast on the tripod and connect to the link. I then would connect a line from the bridle to the jib halyard. After raising the mast, I would lean into into it, loosen the jib halyard, pull it tight and cleat it. Then it was simple matter to get down and connect the forestay. Another trick I used was to pull the bungee for the hiking wires over the front crossbar to hold the wires taut. Then I would make sure the loose shrouds lay inside those wires which would keep them from hanging up on the rear crossbar while raising the mast.

I realize this is not what you asked but it might give you some ideas. The special stepping link isn't necessary but does make it easier. The last time I did this was about 3 years ago when I turned the boat over to my daughter. I was 80 years old at the time.

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Howard

To clarify- You're using the jib halyard connected to the bridle, to hold the mast up until you connect the forestay to the link plate?
I had been using the forestay, which made things very clumsy and difficult. Your way sounds better.

Do you step the mast while the boat is on a trailer, or is the boat on the ground? I find doing it while the boat is on the trailer to be very unstable and disconcerting. Unstepping is even worse. I don't feel very in control when lowering the mast.

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Is it sailing time yet?!?!?

Definitely either use the jib halyard, the main halyard, or one of the trap wires to temporarily support the mast when solo stepping. If you use the forestay, it will be very difficult to connect to the bridles unless everything is lined up nearly perfectly. Even then, it is still difficult since the temporary line on the forestay gets in the way of the clevis pin that you need to install.

Stepping the mast with the boat on the ground rather than up on the trailer is a little easier since the boat is more stable and it's easier to get onto the boat since it's lower. Also if you use a support to hold up the tip of the mast (a tripod or ladder), then the mast will be at a higher starting angle then it would be with the boat on the trailer, so the initial lift is easier. The downside is that taking the boat off the trailer without the mast up is difficult so you pretty much need to take the mast and boat off separately which means there are more steps involved (shrouds and traps need to be disconnected and re-installed each time).

sm

I'm not skilled enough to be trapping out yet, so I've removed the trap wires. They're in my garage somewhere.

Where I launch my boat, I have a choice-

1. Slide the boat and mast gently off the trailer and onto a grassy/sandy spot 20 feet from the water and step the rig on the ground. Drag boat to the water.
2. Step the rig on the trailer, attached to my car and back down a small boat ramp and float it off the trailer.

So, no trouble with additional steps.

My biggest mistake has obviously been using the forestay to hold up the mast instead of the jib halyard.
The initial lift isn't really my problem, it's keeping the mast stable while walking it up on a wobbly trailer, and juggling for the jib sheet to cleat it off.
I attribute this to being a 45 year old, deskbound cubicle farmer and being still fairly new to Hobie sailing.

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Is it sailing time yet?!?!?

Have you seen the EZ Step? I don't think they're made anymore, but you might find one used. I haven't personally used one, but I have been told by many that they work well. On first use, you have to fiddle with it to get the strap lengths, etc. just right, then after that you're good to go. If nothing else, a look at the instruction manual might be helpful to you:
https://static.hobiecat.com/item_attach ... 151z52.pdf

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

If you can do it on the ground, I find it really easy if I can get the bows down. Pointing down the beach works well if the ground is sloped, or using some boat bumpers also works under the rear of the hull. With the bows down, you can raise the mast up, and gravity holds it there against the shrouds until you can figure out what to do next. I often do it alone and it holds well enough to grab the forestay while climbing down forward and I can pin it alone.

I usually set the shrouds a little long (top hole) until I pin the forestay, then pull on each trap line while I unpin that side and move it down. Everything seems to work so much better with the bows down. The mast base also seems to slide better into the mast step even.

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Steve
1979 Hobie 16 "Orange Crusher"
2017 Hobie 16 "Cayman" sails 114795

Key point in raising the mast is to have the boat level or low in the bows, then the mast base drops right into place without binding. If you're doing it on a trailer use a short step ladder to get up on the boat, don't step on the hulls to climb up.

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JKK
83 yellow/ white decks Hobie 14 Corando turbo
82 yellow hulls Hobie 16 Cat Fever
84 yellow hulls hobie 16 Yellow Nationals
plus a few extras that I'm restoring

I always stepped the mast with the boat on the trailer. There are some launch areas where it is a necessity. By tying the temporary line to the bridle shackle, it doesn't interfere with attaching the pin. The special link from Murrays doesn't allow the mast to rotate and must be removed completely for sailing. One thing to remember is to check for overhead wires (and trees) in the area, especially on the path you take to get to the launch ramp. That is the reason for the comptip mast. I guess there were incidents where the mast shorted out on overhead wires. If you don't have the hiking wires, you can't hook the bungee cords as I suggested so you need to be sure the shrouds can't get caught on the rear crossbar as you raise the mast. The hiking wires are handy even if you don't hike out. The handles give you something to hang onto so you can lean back.

It would take me about 20 minutes to rig on the trailer, including connecting main sheet blocks. I tried to connect everything I could while on dry ground. It is hard to find a ring or pin dropped in the water.

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Howard

Holy Smokes! This all sounds so complex and difficult when it's written down. What is this Murrays mast stepping link? Is it something fancy that helps with stepping more than the ordinary, run of the mill, everyday Hobie link? I use to use the 8 foot extension to my jib halyard, until one day I discovered that it could twist and lock the mast in the raised position. So now I install the jib when it is down and linked. It works much better than the line and I don't have to replace the line with the jib after the mast is up.

mdgann,

The Murray link will cause the mast link to toggle as you raise the mast. When I was younger, the standard link would toggle when I bounced the mast a little about half way up. I lost enough upper body strength and couldn't do it so I got the Murray link. The downside is that it must be completely removed for sailing. I don't understand how the temporary extension line could twist and lock the mast upright (?). I used this method for about 20 years with no problem. I never thought of using the jib in place of the temporary line. I would think that the jib would be flapping around if there were any wind and could make it more difficult to raise mast. You still need to connect the forestay.

It is not as complicated as it sounds. Describing the process in words is a lot more difficult than seeing it done.

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Howard

I got the Hobie out this past Sunday and applied some of the advice provided here with good success-

Putting the Hobie bow-down on the beach incline helped greatly with stepping and lowering the mast.
Using the jib halyard as my stepping safety line (vs. the forestay) totally reduced the clusterfsck when attaching the forestay to the bridle link plate.
This was all done solo, which is the point.

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Is it sailing time yet?!?!?

hrtsailor,
what was happening is that the dyneema line of the aussie halyard had a couple of turns in it and when I lifted up the mast and tightened the halyard to keep it up, the twist would spin to reach an equilibrium and lock the extension line into the halyard. No matter how hard I would pull on the down line it would just spin the halyard and extension the other way and remain locked in place. Eventually I needed to get some help and hold up the mast while disconnecting the jib at the lower end and untangling the lot. No fun.
With the jib in place it will not spin around. So far (6 years) I have had no problems with the jib flapping around. I sail in a mostly light wind area, but have some crazy days too.

mdgann,

I never used the Aussie halyard so I don't enough about it. One thing I have done when there were problems with the sails was to get a little help and lay the boat on its side on the beach. Obviously it is easy to fix the problem that way.

I have raised the jib on the beach when the breeze would make it whip around and the plate at the leach was dangerous. That is why I would worry about having jib in place while raising the mast.

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Howard

It's been a long time since I owned a 16, but it seems to me this was pretty straightforward (before I was 30, anyway) if you:

1 - Trap wires. You NEED one set of these. Undo them from their cross-tramp bungee and feed the rope tails into your jib cleats. Move the cleats to the far outboard end of the tracks, and 'sheet in' hard on the trap wires and cleat them. What this does is triangulate support for the mast and essentially prevent it from going (very far) to either side. Now all you need is up / down.

2 - I tied a length of thin (halyard-size) line to effectively extend the forestay, then threaded that thru a small block that I'd shackled (or tied, or clipped) to the bridle, and led the line back onto the tramp where it's easily picked up.

3 - with the step pinned and shrouds in place (and laid carefully on the tramp so they won't snag the aft corners as you raise the mast), you grab the mast just aft of the rear crossbar and pick it up. (I think I used to do this starting from standing on the back of the tramp, but maybe i was on the ground and then stepped up, not sure.)

Anyway, once you start picking it up, you'll notice you dont have to worry about side-to-side movement because the trap wires handle that, and you can now pick up that line from the bow and begin pulling on the forestay as you push the mast up. Since you only have 2 hands, what really happens is you push it 90% of the way and then use the line to help once its almost vertical and not so heavy. Now, standing at the mast and leaning with one hand, you can tighten the line and cleat it to the halyard cleat on the mast. Now it's holding itself up.

Now go the to bow and pull the forestay end into position and shackle to the bridle. Voila.

Then undo the extra line, take the trap lines out of the jib cleats and run them back under the tramp with their bungee. I'm pretty sure I used to just leave that little block on the bridle, but suit yourself. A purpose-rigged line with a clip for the forestay and a clip on the block (and a stopper on the end) would be ideal for easy and quick.

Hope this all made some sense. It seems fairly easy in retrospect, and from the comfort of the kitchen table almost 20 yrs later. Good luck, you can do it even without a gin pole.