[brianontheroad]

I'm thinking about getting Illusion hauled and put in a yard for the winter so I can get cracking on some of the projects that have been stuck in dream mode for the last few months while she's been at anchor.

First question is what prep do I need to before the yard desteps the mast? They charge by the hour for any of that work and recommended I take care of as much as I can myself.

So far I've come up with this:

1. Remove sails
2. Remove boom
3. Undo lower stays
4. Remove cotter pins from upper stays but leave them attached
5. remove bimini

So what about the halyards and wiring? Is all of that going to get messed up when they pull the mast? Anything I'm missing that's going to cost me?

More extraneous info for all you financial planners out there dying to chip in also up for discussion but I'm happy just getting answers to the first question:

I've found a yard that I'm happy with, the owner is friendly and sympathetic to a do-it-yourself wanna be young cruiser like me and the cost is good ($200 per month, including electric, and some free advice which is worth its weight in gold) only downside is I have to taken there by truck. I talked to the marine transport guy and his fee to do it is $300 plus 50/hour.....not too bad I felt, I'm estimating 6 hours so another $300 on top of that.

To have the boat hauled is $200, crane fee is $175 + hourly fee to to get the mast down (80/hour) I'm guessing 4 hours on that so an extra $320 -- so my estimate is $1275 to get the boat pulled and delivered plus $600 for 3 months time in the yard, do that number again when I get put back in and we're looking at $3150 for 3 months in a boat yard, the big benefit here being that the mast is destepped and I can double check all my rigging etc., and have the ease of working on the boat on land (I'm replacing all 8 sea cocks, painting the deck and fixing some cracks etc. around the rigging that make me nervous) .......or is that a colossal waste of money and I should just pay the $400/month or so of marina fees + $70 month for bottom cleaning and figure out a different way to do the sea cocks. My dad is a member of a yacht club a days sail south that has a yard for members to use but I'd have to pay to get hauled out and make a 75 mile sail to get there, I could probably take a week off from work to do the sea cocks, the question is would I have to de-step the mast there too.

So many possibilities all of which require me to pay a lot of money and go through a lot of hassle! Anyway, thanks as always sailnetters on your input, you've been a great resource so far!

Brian

 

[TSOJOURNER]

If your not going to paint the mast - leave it up. Things tend to get broken when they are not in there intended position. Your money will be better spent hiring a rigger to check the rig while it's up. Yardmen are not the brightest bunch (at least in Florida) and damage everyting they touch. I have seen in the yard - bent spreaders, broke off wind vains, way to many scratches on the mast paint, stolen items such as winches, dropping the mast through the deck of the boat etc. etc. Leave it up unless you are planning to really go through it and repaint.

 

[xort]

If the yacht club will let you work on the boat on the hard, that sounds like a good way to go. you shouldn't need to pull the mast

 

[knothead]

I'm thinking about getting Illusion hauled and put in a yard for the winter so I can get cracking on some of the projects that have been stuck in dream mode for the last few months while she's been at anchor.

First question is what prep do I need to before the yard desteps the mast? They charge by the hour for any of that work and recommended I take care of as much as I can myself.

So far I've come up with this:

1. Remove sails
2. Remove boom
3. Undo lower stays
4. Remove cotter pins from upper stays but leave them attached
5. remove bimini

So what about the halyards and wiring? Is all of that going to get messed up when they pull the mast? Anything I'm missing that's going to cost me?

More extraneous info for all you financial planners out there dying to chip in also up for discussion but I'm happy just getting answers to the first question:

I've found a yard that I'm happy with, the owner is friendly and sympathetic to a do-it-yourself wanna be young cruiser like me and the cost is good ($200 per month, including electric, and some free advice which is worth its weight in gold) only downside is I have to taken there by truck. I talked to the marine transport guy and his fee to do it is $300 plus 50/hour.....not too bad I felt, I'm estimating 6 hours so another $300 on top of that.

To have the boat hauled is $200, crane fee is $175 + hourly fee to to get the mast down (80/hour) I'm guessing 4 hours on that so an extra $320 -- so my estimate is $1275 to get the boat pulled and delivered plus $600 for 3 months time in the yard, do that number again when I get put back in and we're looking at $3150 for 3 months in a boat yard, the big benefit here being that the mast is destepped and I can double check all my rigging etc., and have the ease of working on the boat on land (I'm replacing all 8 sea cocks, painting the deck and fixing some cracks etc. around the rigging that make me nervous) .......or is that a colossal waste of money and I should just pay the $400/month or so of marina fees + $70 month for bottom cleaning and figure out a different way to do the sea cocks. My dad is a member of a yacht club a days sail south that has a yard for members to use but I'd have to pay to get hauled out and make a 75 mile sail to get there, I could probably take a week off from work to do the sea cocks, the question is would I have to de-step the mast there too.

So many possibilities all of which require me to pay a lot of money and go through a lot of hassle! Anyway, thanks as always sailnetters on your input, you've been a great resource so far!

Brian

If you are planning to do everything that you outlined, you are on your way to saving a lot of money.
I would add that you could lube and loosen the turnbuckles, if for no other reason than to make sure that they are not frozen. Label and disconnect or cut any electrical wiring and antenna cables, remove the mast boot and mark and remove the mast wedges, if you are keel stepped. Secure the halyards and flag halyards to the mast. In other words, do as much as you can.
If a boat shows up at my shop as prepared as that, we could have the mast on horses in less than an hour easily. That's one guy operating the crane one on deck and the owner standing by.
That's assuming a few things of course. Like you are not a Ketch or Schooner and are 50' feet or less.

As to Binky's point about things getting screwed up while the spar is down. that depends on how much responsibility you take. If you leave it up to the yard to do it all then you are taking your chances. If you make sure you are on top of the project from start to finish there is no reason that anything has to go bad or go missing.
Take the opportunity to do all those things that you thought about but didn't want to climb the mast to do.
It's a good thing to do once in a while.