Mast weight on Catalina 22?

[ilikerust]

Does anyone know the weight of the mast on a Catalina 22?

I'm going to look at a 1975 Catalina 22 on Sunday, and in all likelihood will end up coming home with it - it looks like a very good deal.

One thing I talked to the seller about was lowering the mast. He's done it only once in the years he's owned it, because he doesn't trailer it anywhere (although it comes with a trailer). I'm going to have to lower it to get the boat home - I'm sure he'll help me - but I'm just wondering for future use how much of a hassle it's going to be to raise and lower the mast. I plan on trailering the boat for use, not leaving it in a marina.

I've been reading various opinions, ideas and techniques for raising and lower the mast, and some make it sounds like the most hideous and scary torture; others make it sound like no big deal. I'm wondering how much the mast actually weighs, so I can get a better idea of what it's like. Also, it's pretty much going to be my wife and me, and she's very leery of having to help me do it. She's already not totally in love with the idea of even buying a boat.

Thanks!

[NotQuiteCapnRon]

Bill,

Cal 22 owner here...Can't supply any specifics as to weight of my mast, but my experience is that you need 3 people to raise mine, which I suspect is similar in size and weight.

I do not own this system Catalina Direct: Mastup Mast Stepper
but I am considering for the future.

Ron

[poopdeckpappy]

Well, I think they're 25' and at 1.05 -1.11 lbs/ft it's somewhere between 26 and 28 lbs add head, step and misc hdwr maybe 40lbs tops

[ilikerust]

I've seen estimates of 75 to 150 lbs. I would think it would be closer to the bottom end of that range.

[BarryL]

Hello,

My first boat was a Catalina 22 and I trailer sailed it for the first season. The mast weighs over 100 lbs. That doesn't matter because it's not the weight that makes raising and lowering it difficult, it's the length.

You can raise and lower the mast by yourself, but it helps to have another person. The nice thing about the Catalina 22 mast system is that the shrouds and backstay stay connected. So that as you raise or lower the mast you don't need to worry about it falling over the side. The bad thing about the Catalina 22 is that when the mast base is in the mast step, the mast cannot lie flat on the cabin top, the top of the mast must be elevated a few feet. I made a mast crutch that I mounted in the cockpit to hold the end of the mast up at the proper angle.

Most people use the trailer winch to help raise and lower the mast. Tie a line from the forestay to the trailer winch and use that to pull the mast up. I would lift the mast a few feet while the helper cranked the winch. I could get the mast to about a 45 angle. Cranking the winch did the rest. With the mast vertical, pin the fore stay and you are done.

To lower the mast is the opposite. Tie a line from the trailer winch to the forestay, then unpin it. Push the mast backwards and stay paying out line. The shrouds will keep the mast centered as you lower. If you don't have a crutch in the cockpit, be prepared to hold the mast while someone pulls the pin in the mast step. Then you can lift the mast and position it on the bow and stern pulpits.

As I wrote before, I trailer sailed my boat for the first season. After practice, it took about and hour to launch the boat and an hour to recover it. To be honest, that was a real drag. My kids were real young at the time (2, 6, 9) and that hour at the end of the day, when everyone was tired, was awful. The next year I kept the boat on a mooring, and it was 15 minutes from arrival at the marina until we were motoring away.

I bought a bigger boat the second year and sold the Catalina for what I paid for it.

If you could find a place at the water where you could leave the boat rigged, and only float it off the trailer and recover it to the trailer, that would be fine.

Lastly, before you go ANYWHERE with the trailer, be sure you check the bearings and tires real careful. Water (especially salt water) and wheel bearings don't get along real well.


Good luck,
Barry

[saildork]

The mast weighs about 75 lbs. without the rigging attached. Raising and lowering the mast is a two-person job unless you have mast raising system with a gin-pole forward, a mast crutch aft, and a 4:1 block and tackle system (eg. the boom vang or the mainsheet tackle). With such a system, it's easy to do the job singlehanded unless the wind is blowing hard. You MUST detach the forward lower shrouds at the deck before lowering and raising the mast, and I recommend using the jib halyard instead of the forestay to attach your gin-pole and tackle to. This way, the mast will be somewhat stable while you work on the forestay attachment and the forward lowers.

Check out the many C22 Blog sites for info on the various ways to fashion the hardware you need. Lots of pictures and short videos out there.

[Barquito]

As said before, the mast is light enough to lift, however if something goes wrong as you are raising that thing will cause a lot of damage and maybe injury (I squished my wifes toe... just a little). I have a home-made A-frame that connects to the two front-lower shroud chainplates.

Here is my procedure: (don't do this on the water, trailer only)

1)Secure the mast base at the bow to keep it from slipping forward (I just hook the mast base on a cleat).

2)Raise the mast at the stern on a lift with a roller about 10' off the transom. (just a 2X4 with a roller on top and a bolt that jams into the rudder gudgeon should work)

3)Walk the base of the mast to the mast step. The other end of the mast rolls on the transom mast lift. Get the pin through the mast step plate and mast (takes a bit of wiggling)

If the boat is not all of the way to the front of the trailer and you have too much weight at the stern (like your wife), the boat could actually tip the nose of the trailer up (don't ask how I know).

4)Connect forestay to A-frame with block and tackle. This line goes from the A-frame to the stem fitting. It is a lot easier to take the genoa off the roller furler. The rolled up genoa makes the thing heavier, and makes the forestay sag, making a difficult angle to pull mast up.

4)So, at this point all standing rigging is connected to something except the lower-forward shrouds. Make sure all rigging runs true.

5)Start raising. By pulling on the block and tackle the A-frame with the forestay attached slowly pulls toward the stem fitting. As the A-frame lowers the mast rises. Make sure an adjustable backstay is as loose as possible.

Now here is the bit that is a little scary. From the point where the mast comes off the transom roller until it is nearly raised, there is little lateral control. The mast step will limit movement some. Higher up, the sidestays start to kick in.

6) Once up, I have an axtra line to tie the forestay down, just in case. Pin the forestay to stem fitting.

7) Take A-frame off forward tangs and re-attach forward shrouds (may help to pull on the forestay to bring mast forward).

Lowering is just the opposite. The only part that I might have trouble with singlehanded is getting the mast to rest on the transom roller. Would have to lower the mast while standing in the cockpit.

With all that said, I have helped a couple raise their mast on a C22 without any equipment at all. Just stepped it and walked it up. I think he may have had a step ladder in the cockpit (yikes). That scared the crap out of me. If we lost control halfway up, there is nothing connected to the mast to keep it up.

[Barquito]

Also, it's pretty much going to be my wife and me, and she's very leery of having to help me do it. She's already not totally in love with the idea of even buying a boat.

Realize that there will be a steep learning curve. Our first year, I think my wife just barely put-up with the whole sailing experience (troubles rigging the boat, troubles sailing the boat...). Now, she isn't really into learning to sail, but, she does enjoy going out on the boat because the ratio of fun:holly-sh*t moments has increased. Maybe get a friend to go out on some of the initial experiences.

[cspaniel]

Bill,
I owned a Catalina 22 (1979) until last summer and can assure you that two people is more than enough to raise and lower the mast (one been the wife, not wanting to do it!). Many good suggestions already here, so all I am going to say is that after you do it once and you find the way that works best for you, you will see that it is not a big deal at all.
-Abraham

[Justapersona]

I just weighed my mast:

EXACTLY 57 POUNDS.

(Well, bathroom scale, balanced awkwardly, standing & running rigging draping off it.)

Just put the boat into storage for the (Denver) winter, and opted to keep the mast on the back deck so I can work on it.

I found the thread and realized - rare to have the opportunity to weight it. Voila