tpdavis473 wrote:
Dorenc, OK, I got my stepper III. Gotta say the system for stabilizing side to side is cool. BUT, I have a few questions. 1) Do you attach the forestay to the furler before you raise the mast (seems like you could do so but the instructions aren't clear). 2) Since the mast is held pinned sideways, do you have to retension the shrouds each time after you've raised? 3) Does the system really just "pry" the mast up from the bottom? Seems to me to be hard on the mast and scary since it seems to rely on bungies to keep it attached. 4) Letting the mast go back down seems fraught with stuff you might have forgotten to do; turn it in the same direction you had it before, loosening shrouds...
Hopefully, I'm missing something since this boat should take 20 minutes or less to go from trailer to water but dealing with all these clevis pins and their wire retainers might take an hour or more. Seems stupid, so I hope I'm missing something.
Sorry for the late answer, I just saw this post!
1) Yes, and I shackle the bottom of the furler to the eye on the pole. I leave the furler attached at all times to the forestay. I disconnect it from the 2 short bridles. I did replace the shackle pin with a 2" long bolt so I don't have to try to fiddle my fat fingers in that tiny little space under the furler.
2) No, I bring up the mast, hook up one of the bridles to the top of the furler, take off the pole (which then allows the mast to rotate straight), and pull down hard to hook up the other bridle. I actually use the winch to pull it down enough to hook up the bridle.
3) It seems like it's prying the mast up, but it really isn't. The force is on the forestay. With everything hooked up correctly, all the force on the pole is downward into the mast.
4) Yep. Scares the hell out of me each time I lower the mast. I triple check everything before I unhook the 2nd bridle wire, and think through the lowering process. I have my wife stand off to the side, check no car or people are in the fall zone in case I effed up, take a deep breath and lower the mast.
Note that I don't loosen the side shrouds. I replaced the shackles for the guide ropes on the stepper with stainless carabiner type links which saves a couple of minutes. And yeah, if I have a second strong person with me, I don't use the mast stepper and I save 20 minutes on setup. The most problem I have is with the stupid tiny ring dings on the clevis pins for the bridles. Matt Miller must have tiny nimble fingers. I have thought about using quick release pins, but as Matt says, think about it: quick release pins on the stay that keeps the mast from falling on your head?