Conference unifix::sailing

    A few years ago I stepped my mast on either or my 24 or 22 at the Coast
    Guard station in Portsmouth N.H.  I pulled along side the dock at low
    tide and had a couple of people lower it while I moved the base.  The
    weight would determine if you could do it.
    Also there was a small winch on the dock accross from the Coast Guard
    station; its in Kittery Maine at the ?? marina. You can see easily
    see it from the station or as you enter the river.
     

    I once stepped the mast on a CAL 25' using an overhead bridge. My
    winter storage yard required me to travel under a non-drawbridge before
    I could raise the mast. I purcahased a bunch of extra line and
    converted my boom vang into a block and tackle. We had someone
    stationed up on the bridge to secure one end of the tackle. We then
    positioned the boat under the bridge so that the step was directly
    below the tackle. When we finally raised the mast, my wife was the one
    hauling on the block and tackle. (It worked quite well).
    
    -John

re .0:

Stepping and unstepping your mast yourself, depending of the mast's 
length and weight, on whether it is keel or deck stepped, and on the 
equipment available is more or less difficult and more or less 
dangerous. My personal preference would be to have a boatyard step 
and unstep any mast I couldn't easily lift by myself (such as yours). I
don't consider the cost saving worth the risk. 

re .2: 

I have heard of this being done, but I can think of all too many ways 
for a really nasty accident to happen while doing it. 

    I guess I have to concur with Allan in .3;  I'm as cheap as the next
    person, but dropping the mast is enough to spoil your whole day. 
    Marblehead Trading Co. in Marblehead harbor (easily recognizable by
    the humongous yellow crane) charges me about $150 to haul a 26' boat,
    remove the mast and place it on deck, pressure wash the hull and place
    the boat on my trailer.  Considering the overall cost of the
    sport/hobby that doesn't seem too bad.  They take hauling and launching
    reservatons for a given day and then go first-come, first served.  They
    do work Saturdays.
    
    I've stepped my own mast once or twice over the years, but it was
    always sort of a semi-controlled happening and I'm now glad to watch
    someone else do it while I drink a soda.
    
    -Jean/Larry

...but if you really do want to do it, here's an idea.  It may be late for 
this year, but something to think about for next.

Join the Sandy Bay Yacht Club in Rockport - $90/year senior membership.  
Not too bad for launch and haul each year, plus visits when you wish.
It's close to Gloucester, and there's a good paved ramp only a mile 
distant where you can haul it out on your trailer afterwards.  The other 
advantage is that if you can figure the right time to schedule use of the 
crane (there are two, one hauls Star class boats, the other anything up to 
a ton or two), there are quite a few people around who do this sort of 
thing all the time, so there can be a bit less amateurism. 

John.

    The Sandy Bay Yacht Club sounds like a good idea and one which would 
    save me a bunch of money.  Gloucester is charging me $100 to unstep and
    $125 to step.  That's a lot of money for a 26 foot boat!  What are the
    other benefits for joining SBYC?
    
    The idea of using a bridge (.1 ? or .2?) is a little frightening as I
    tried doing something similar in Warwick Cove this spring - putting the 
    bow below the dock and slipping the mast over the side - this was not
    a good experience!  - plus the tide was rising and we had to rock the
    boat to get it out from under!  If we had waited another 15 minutes we
    would have done a volcano act on the dock!
    
    The reference in (.4) about placing his 26 boat on a trailer - hmmmmm.
    What kind of a keel do you have and what kind and how many $ for the
    trailer?  I have a fin keel and draw 4 feet.  If I could buy/rent a 
    trailer and didn't need a Mack truck to haul then I could maybe get
    away from the $800 to bring by boat home and return to the ocean in
    the early spring.  If I could buy/rent a trailer and could rent, say, a
    Hertz truck - great!  Of course, if I rent - how am I going to get
    the boat off the trailer at home???
    
    BTW, we sailed in the midst of a pod, three whales - a mother and her
    two "babies" last Saturday - and only 13.5 miles off Gloucester!  What
    a treat!  They swam with us for 2 to 3 hours and often were 5 to 10
    feet away.  We sailed in front of, next to, and behind them as they
    swam in very, very close formation.  What a neat day!
    
    Thanks for your suggestions and I'm interested in your responses to
    this reply.
    
    	Regards,
    
    	Ron
    
    ps: Also on Saturday, we spun our prop (Merc 9.8 - has a rubber hub
    rather than a shear pin); we were sailing into Gloucester Harbor around
    6:30pm with a light tailwind w/o motor power available.  After awhile,
    two search lights hit our bow and the Coast Guard asked if we were 
    having any difficulty.  We said we had lost our motor and were limping
    on in to the Harbor.  They asked if we would like a tow!  They were
    great.  They rafted with us and brought us right to the dock.  They
    seemed pleased at the way our boat was equipped (safety wise) and were
    very cordial.  They could have placed us an inch of wherever they
    wished to place us and did so in the slip which is ours until haulout
    or for the winter if we stay in the water.
    
    When I replaced my hub at Haskell and Hall in Salem - a great place and
    one recommended by Marine Exchange - and when I told them the story of
    the Coast Guard episode, they wondered how much it cost.  They were
    really surprised to find that it was FREE!
    
    The whales, the Coast Guard, a day of sailing with my wife - not too
    shabby!!!
    

>>>    The Sandy Bay Yacht Club sounds like a good idea and one which would 
>>>    save me a bunch of money.  Gloucester is charging me $100 to unstep and
>>>    $125 to step.  That's a lot of money for a 26 foot boat!  What are the
>>>    other benefits for joining SBYC?
    
Not mooring in the harbor, no parking space, not much at all.  Except a 
rocker on the porch and use of the facilities whenever you want.  Any 
member who owns a boat pays for each service he/she requires (launch, 
dinghy storage, locker, dry-sailing) on a per-service added-fee basis.  
The membership cost is so low because A) the club facilities are small, 
B) few activities are subsidized by the membership at large, C) the town
charges peanuts for renting the wharf it's built on, and D) hundreds of
non-sailers join so they can rock on the porch and come to the potlucks,
happy hours and party after the Christmas Pageant.  Since all my current
boats live on trailers or roofracks, the two cranes are currently the
biggest tangible benefit. 

Another thought:

Probably the two least expensive boatyards on Cape Ann are in Gloucester 
on the Annisquam River -- Wheelers Point Boatyard and River Boatworks.  
Both are tidal, RBW more than Wheelers, and are run on a lean mixture. 
If you could meet their tide schedules, or leave your boat on their 
mooring at your own convenience, my guess is they'd be a good option. 
I think RBW has a Brownell-type over-road hauler, too.

J.

    re .6
    
    I have a 24' boat, displaces 3,000 lbs, and draws 4'.
    I launch and haul the boat myself w/ the Sail Newport crane. 
    I wouldn't trust a boatyard to do it. With my bad
    luck, it's been raining and windy almost every time I've used the
    crane - I've never had a problem.
    
    You can probably have a trailer made for $3-4K. It
    won't take very long to get full return on your money.
    If you're in pretty good shape, can get 3 friends to help,
    and have some mechanical sense - then hauling your own 26'
    is very possible. Just find someone w/ experience to help
    you the first time. 
    

    re (.8):
    
    Are you referring to the crane at Fort Adams in Newport?  If so, would
    that support 4500 pounds?
    
    Do you have any contacts regarding someone who could make a boat
    trailer?  Would poppets be ok on the trailer?  What size truck would
    I need to rent or could I do it with a 8 cyl van?
    
    	Regards,
    
    	Ron
    

re .last:

See VICKI::BOATS for many discussions of trailering. You may find the 
costs of having a trailer built, insurance, license, taxes, and
buying/renting a tow vehicle such that having a professional boat hauler
do the work is preferable to doing it yourself. Trailering a 4500 lb
boat is not going to be inexpensive. 

    RE .9
    
    I think Ft Adams has a 2 ton and a 3 ton crane. You can call Sail
    Newport to find out. To use these cranes, you must have a keel strap
    to accomodate the hook. 
    
    I've seen Shields and E22's hauled by full size vans successfully. The 
    towing package is very important, you'll need a load distribution
    hitch. Maybe Gene Ho can comment on the weight of his boat and how well
    his van performs.
    
    There are many custom trailer builders around. I'd try Triad in CT,
    they sell alot of trailers but are really nothing more than a welding
    shop. They could advise you on bolsters and poppets.
    
    If you want to save money, you're going to have to learn and take on 
    some risk and responsibility. 
    

    Towing will be the least of your problems.  The gross weight of the
    boat and trailer will be about 7000 lbs.  A class 3 hitch and full size
    Van or pickup will handle that.  Just go slow if you decide to go that
    route.
    
    A trailer is a bit of white elephant when the boat's not on it.  If you
    don't have a large yard in which to hide it, you'll have to pay some
    one to store it for you.  
    
    The real savings with a trailer is in the cost of having a pro haul
    your boat home for you.  But the payback period is from 5 to 10 years
    depending on how far from the haul out point you live.  The only reason
    I do it is because my boat came that way and I do some remote regatta's
    from time to time.  If I had a large cruising boat, I wouldn't bother.
    
    A trailer still doesn't address your original question on cheap mast
    removal.  The Marblehead Trading Company referred to in a previous
    reply charged $45/hr for pulling the stick.  The few times I had them
    do it, I did all the busy work and just had the crane operator lift the
    rig out and set it down on deck.  They charged another $20 for the crane
    operator's time over the base hauling fee.
    
    The most economical way to save the annual $40 to step and unstep your
    mast may be to work 1 hr of overtime.
    
    - gene

    
    	$40 an hour!! I'd have to leave engineering to see such numbers.
    
    	Seriously, one unmentioned benefit of trailering (or at least
    	ability to do your own launching/pulling) is the flexibility
    	of time. You can pull when YOU want. For low dough. This was
    	great for me, since I frequently visited rock gardens. One 
    	evening out to do the polyestering, the next morning to grind
    	and paint. These days, either I shell out > $300 or wait till
    	fall.
    
    	Scott