New Vanguard 15 issues

[mudskipper]

I'm a 5'4" 140lb 40-something woman living on an 80 acre pond in New England. I took a sailing class in college and can remember a few things. Mostly I remember the rush that comes from going fast near the water.

So I went to the boat shop last weekend and told the dealer I wanted a boat I could use on the pond and also trailer to a nearby ocean bay. I told him I had to be able to launch the boat by myself. Sometimes my husband would be with me, and sometimes maybe a third person. The dealer recommended a Vanguard 15.

Well, it's a lovely boat. It's sitting on my driveway. I'm dying to put it on the water, but I don't want to do that until I'm confident I can raise the mast solo.

My current method:
- put folding chair beside trailered boat for getting in and out of cockpit
- stand up 16' ladder about 3' behind the boat
- remove bungie cords holding mast to trailer crutches
- set top of mast on top of ladder and base of mast on the mast step
- tie a line to the end of the forestay and run it through the bow shackle to the port side bull's eye and clam cleat, then through the ratchet block in the middle of the cockpit
- attach side shrouds to shroud plates
- make sure all lines are where the should be
- standing to port of mast, grab forestay line in left hand
- put right foot on stern deck
- lift mast overhead with hands about 3' apart
- walk forward tightening the forestay line

Sometimes the base of the mast slips as I'm moving forward. This is very scary.

Sometimes the mast goes up fine but the base isn't over the step pin. My husband is strong enough to simply lift the mast straight up and drop it over the pin, but I'm not so strong.

I called the dealer and told him I might need a smaller boat. He encouraged me to ask the guys at the marina near where I might launch the boat for help. But I've got like an hour or two after work to sail. Every minute I spend trying to get some guy to help me cuts into that limited time.

I need some way of stabilizing the base of the mast as I walk forward so that it can only rotate over the pin and will fall exactly on the pin every time.

Any ideas?

[jldooley]

Mudskipper
you need a Gin pole
like
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/rwahlfel/www/BobConway01.htm
how your going to set it up; I don't know. best of luck

[tschmidty]

Hmm, I am wrestling a little with that now since my old boat came with a mast but not a step or base for it.

What you need is a taberknacle with a pin and a boat yard should be able to set something up for you. I'll rough out a drawing here.

If you look the taberknacle is a plate that runs on either side of the step with an upside down L slot to hold a pin through the mast. So you follow your procedure except you put the pin through at the top front of the slot through the mast. You raise the mast, secure it, then all you need to do is slid it back in the slot and it will drop onto the step and then simply tighten the rigging (which you have to set a little loose to account for the extra inch or so the mast sits higher in the slot).

There are other ways to do this, but I figured that would be the safest way of raising the mast myself, holds the mast in place while raising it and then lets it drop onto the base.

Other options are hinged plates with two pins that hold the mast base. Dwyer mast makes a nice hinged base, but i haven't quite understood why their taberknacle is open on the front since it doesn't really help when raising the mast in that case.



Her is a link to dwyer mast company who have these sorts of things.

Dwyer Aluminum Mast Company- Manufacturers of Quality Sailboat Masts, Booms, Hardware and Rigging Since 1963.

Hope that helps.

[merc2dogs]

My last trailerable had a hinge that one of the P's fabricated, worked very nicely, so I'd agree withtschmidty, pick up a hinge or tabernacle. I'm 5'6/145, and the hinge made it real easy to lift the 25ft mast alone.

Also, watch those folding chairs, they have a habit of folding up on you

Ken

[tenuki]

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