end of season questions

[northstarjim]

I know it's not the end of the season yet - but I just found out my yacht club requires unstepping the mast - and I have not done this yet. Could someone describe the details of unstepping. I have a keel stepped mast, and roller furling - which seems like it might make things a little more complicated.

My second question is about winterizing my mooring. For those of you in northern latitiudes - what is the best way to be sure my mooring is still there next spring? There is a good chance of some ice forming in the area. Should I leave the ball on -or attach something else to the mooring chain so I don't lose it??

thnks

[SanderO]

Why the unstepping rule? Are all boats stored on the hard? If so many yards insist on no long term stepped rigs in storage.

I like to store wet and do a short haul and block for spring work. I still like to get up the mast for an inspection each Spring. Since I do make regular visits to the boat and have "winter" projects... being dockside is a lot easier and warmer than climbing up a ladder to a blocked boat. Also.. boats are meant and designed to be floating and supported by their hull with the keel loading DOWN not the weight of the boat pushing UP at the keel. Boats are fine in the water in the winter... and ice is rarely if ever a problem as the bilges are round and the damage might be a bit of scraping of the crude on the water line. Anyway that is MY experience. Oh and it's cheaper too.

The problems are the time associated with connecting up all the wiring.. so take a photo and do a diagram. And then there's the rig tensioning which needs to be redone. Be sure to identify and label all your standing rigging and know how to tune your rig and messenger your halyards.

Moorings are serviced in the NE usually and a multi year cycle which involved renewing the chain, shackles and painter. Most replace the painter and the pick up buoy with a 2x4 winter stake labeled, leaving all the chain.

jef
sv shiva

[SEMIJim]

SanderO, perhaps, wherever you are, the water doesn't freeze hard? Here in the Great Lakes, where the ice can freeze up to feet thick, the only way you can leave a boat in the water is to "bubble" it--install an air diffusion or "dock bubbler" system that emits a constant stream of air bubbles around the boats waterline. And even that might not be fool-proof if there's an extended, unusual cold snap.

I'm certainly not looking forward to the haul out and putting her on the hard this fall, but it's really the most practical thing to do.

Jim

[sailortjk1]

Originally Posted by SEMIJim

SanderO, perhaps, wherever you are, the water doesn't freeze hard? Here in the Great Lakes, where the ice can freeze up to feet thick, the only way you can leave a boat in the water is to "bubble" it--install an air diffusion or "dock bubbler" system that emits a constant stream of air bubbles around the boats waterline. And even that might not be fool-proof if there's an extended, unusual cold snap.

I'm certainly not looking forward to the haul out and putting her on the hard this fall, but it's really the most practical thing to do.

Jim

Marinas on the Great Lakes that follow the pratice of bubbling are few and far between. Its a regional thing. Most boats in the midwest are high and dry by Nov. 1. The 15th if you really want to push it.

Northstar,
Do you have overhead power cables in the area?
Is there some other overhead objest that prevents boats from being stored mast up?
It might be that simple, after they haul you, maybe there is an obstacle to clear before sitting you on the hard.

We don't hvae that problem here. We store outside on our cradle with the mast up.
I am comptemplating dropping it this year as it has been up for a while.

[northstarjim]

I think the reason for the unstepping rule is to avoid noise in the area from halyards/etc banging against the masts (lot of housing close-by). Anyway, no way around it - mast has to come down.

What does the crane grab on the mast to lift it out? - the spreaders??

Is it enough to mark on the turnbuckles the current location or do I have to hire someone in the Spring to tune them?

[danjarch]

I usually hook my main halyard to the crane, but I don't know if thats recomended. Marking your turnbuckles is a good place to start, but you might want to read a book on tuning your rig before you put her back in.

[SanderO]

Most cranes have a harness made of rope which grabs the mast slightly above the center of gravity and permits the yard mechanics to easily lay it down into a mast cart.

In the NE we have salt water which freezes at lower temps too... and it is very rare to get ice so thick and the yards that do in water store... bubble or keep the water moving with props.

jef
sv shiva

[sailingdog]

Jim-

Mark the rigging as clearly and accurately for position and where the turnbuckles are located. On a friend's boat, we also marked each terminal with two pieces of rigging tape that said where it went. The reason for two pieces was in case one got damaged in storage. We also tagged the wiring with color-coded tags to speed re-connecting it in the spring.

One reason that many yards insist on unstepping the mast for boats in storage is that boats in storage on the hard don't have the stability they do in the water and in a bad storm, the mast can often provide enough windage to topple them. This gets worse if the mast is covered with a fair amount of snow and ice.

When you re-step the mast in the spring you will probably want to have some one check the rig's tension with a Loos tension gauge. You can do this yourself. I recently had to do this and the two gauges I needed were about $300 for the good ones. They make three different gauges, based on the rigging diameter. I got the medium and large one, which cover 3/16"–1/4" and 1/4"–3/8".

Come to think of it... it might be worth getting the gauges now and then recording the tension on the rigging before you disassemble it. Then you'd have ballpark numbers for the spring re-rigging.