Pulling my deck-stepped mast

[Kevin]

I'm getting ready to pull the deck-stepped mast on my '83 P40 for the first time and am interested in any sage advice from owners who have done the same.  What do I need to be aware of, to avoid, to do, etc?  How are all the cables led to the mast from within the boat?  What prep do you recommend before the crane's clock starts ticking?  I appreciate the input.

Kevin Muilman

Casi Cielo

1983 P40, #45

[Bill Schmidt]

Piece of cake, but be sure that whoever disconnects all the electrical wiring (the junctions are all under the forward edge of the settee at the base of the mast post) carefully labels and tags all the individuals. Getting the wires out and then back is tiresome, but not tough. While out, carefully check the spreader tips for corrosion. I missed some God awful damage and, but for the grace of God, would have lost the mast.

Billy Manana

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[Craig Newton]

Take pictures of the terminal strips before disconnecting the mast wiring. When it comes time to hook everything back up you'll be glad you did. Mast-mounted radar?  Disconnect the cable and pull it back to the mast. Again with the pictures. SSB and insulated backstay? You know what to do.  Pull all of the turnbuckle cotter pins. Squirt some of your favorite penetrating oil on the t/b threads.  Putting any new stuff on your mast while it's down?  Have it in hand so you're not incurring lay days while waiting for it to arrive.

Good luck,

Craig

P40/Mujo

[P. Sherwood]

Have some lengths of cord or some sail ties or equivalents handy to tie
off the shrouds and stays and dangling cables and so forth, so they
won't fly about wildly as the mast is being moved around.

Phil
s/v Cynosure

On 4/2/2013 22:43, Craig Newton wrote:
> Take pictures of the terminal strips before disconnecting the mast
> wiring. When it comes time to hook everything back up you'll be glad you
> did. Mast-mounted radar? Disconnect the cable and pull it back to the
> mast. Again with the pictures. SSB and insulated backstay? You know what
> to do. Pull all of the turnbuckle cotter pins. Squirt some of your
> favorite penetrating oil on the t/b threads. Putting any new stuff on
> your mast while it's down? Have it in hand so you're not incurring lay
> days while waiting for it to arrive.
> Good luck,
> Craig
> P40/Mujo
>
> On Apr 2, 2013, at 21:43, "Bill Schmidt" <bi...@windwitch.com

> <mailto:bi...@windwitch.com>> wrote:
>
>> Piece of cake, but be sure that whoever disconnects all the electrical
>> wiring (the junctions are all under the forward edge of the settee at
>> the base of the mast post) carefully labels and tags all the
>> individuals. Getting the wires out and then back is tiresome, but not
>> tough. While out, carefully check the spreader tips for corrosion. I
>> missed some God awful damage and, but for the grace of God, would have
>> lost the mast.
>> Billy Manana
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----

>> *From:* Kevin <mailto:casic...@gmail.com>
>> *To:*
>> <mailto:Passpor...@googlegroups.com>Passpor...@googlegroups.com
>> <mailto:Passpor...@googlegroups.com>
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, April 02, 2013 4:28 PM
>> *Subject:* [Passport] Pulling my deck-stepped mast

[Brian Moloney]

Was it deck stepped in ’83?

 

Just had my mast pulled last week (keel stepped).  As has already been stated, just disconnect the wires after labeling them and where they were connected. Pull cotter pins just before the crane is scheduled.

 

Once your mast is down take a good look at it for corrosion. I pulled all the hardware off the mast and boom as I’m having them painted. There was corrosion where all of the screws and rivets entered the mast. There was early corrosion behind all of the stainless fittings on the mast. A number of us had a bent tab at the top of the mast where the fitting for the spinnaker halyard attaches – having a reinforcing plate welded on that.

 

Brian

1984 P40, Toloa

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[Jim Melton]

Kevin,

On my deck-stepped P40, all of the wiring heads up the mast by first
entering a hole cut into the compression post down in the bilge under
the aft-most, "inside" corner of my pullman berth. It's difficult to
get to and even more difficult to actually see without using
mirrors. From there, they go up the interior of the compression post
to the deck step, where they exit a tube about 3" off of the deck,
then down a little bit so they can enter a half-tube inside the
mast. The "half-tube" is attached to the interior of the mast by two
lips that fit into two slots cast into the mast. The "half-tube" is
made of plastic, but it tends to slide down until it presses on the
deck, thus making the wiring feel "trapped". I was unable to remove
*or* add wiring in the mast without unstepping it entirely.

Be VERY certain that all of your wiring in the mast is disconnected
before you start unstepping, because you'll rip something expensive
apart if you don't ;^) In my case, all of the electrical wires were
terminated at a barrier strip that then connected them to the
relevant circuits inside the boat. The two VHF cables were a
different story -- unbroken from radios to antennas -- so I had to
cut them and then put fittings onto the new bare ends that would
screw back together to make a good connection. If you're careful,
you can do this without significantly increasing the SWR (standing
wave ration) of the cable/antenna.

I chose to replace all of the electrical wiring as long as the mast
was off the boat, as well as all of the running rigging in the
mast. It's money well spent, especially if you've never pulled the
stick since the boat's manufacture/commissioning.

Be prepared to have to clean up a TON (almost) of bird crap, dirt,
sticks, leaves, and all sorts of other things that sneak into the
masthead fitting and fall to the bottom. It took me over an hour to
get it all cleaned up!

Hope this helps,
Jim

================
Jim Melton & Barbara Edelberg
"Dream SeQueL"
1982 Passport 40, hull# 18
http://DreamSeQueL.com
"BOAT: Break Out Another Thousand"

[David Smith]

Kevin,

I just did my pulled my mast in Peru. Since I did it myself I researched a lot, and talked to varuous riggers in the states If you are at a boat yard, they will know, but if you are doing it yourself, here are some tips:

1) Hire a crane. Looked at using a travel lift, and at using a crane that they had on the docks to lift small boats. Glad I went with the crane because the mast was frozen to the step.

2) Center of Moment. Make sure your attatactment point to the mast is above the center point on the mast. Regardless, if you use sling, or a line, you will need to have a down haul on the bridle around the mast. This is where the real lifting takes place. I attached two down hauls for safety. Tie below the wench on the mast which is used for the reefing lines. 

3) Shrouds & running rigging. Use halyards fore and aft. IF your roler furler can be detached from the masthead. Remove it first, using a halyard to support the mast at the bow. You can easily damage your furler. My furler was a solid unit at the masthead, so it was a pain. Remove all cotter pins, straighten them out, reinsert. The idea is to be able to quickly remove the pins, so the pins holding the turnbuckles can easily pulled out. Of course all turnbukles should be loosened. Use electrical tape to mark the position of the studs into the turnbuckles before you loosen everything.

4) Feeder lines. Inside the boat, attach feeder lines to one or all cables so when you replace the mast you can use the lines to pull the cables back to thier orginal position. Don't forget the SSB antenna.

5) Attach weight to the bottom of the mast. THIS WAS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT HELPED ME! I read about it on line, and it was recommended to me by a rigger. Thing about what the mast is. It is a big lever arm, Any movement at the head of the mast is going to be multiplied at the bottom, depending on where your attachement point is, will tell you how much it will be mutltiplied. A higher attachment point, more movement multiplied. So weight keeps the mast vertical, and make it easier to control the bottom of the mast. You will not be able to manually hold down the bottom of the mast by hand. I saw the workers here lose a mast trying to hold it down by hand. I attached TWO 50 lb blocks (I was only going to use one, and the rigger talked me into two) of concrete to the bottom of the cleats on the mast. I attached them by lines that allowed the blocks to swing BELOW the bottom of the mast as it was lifted. This allowed the weight to be concentrated in line with the mast, and added additional length the the mast. When you bring the mast to ground, you will need to hold down the end of the mast while the center point is lowered. This is the dangerous part, because the end of the mast will move up as it is lowered. I also used another line, (which I had previously used to help manuver the mast of the boat) tied to the bottom of the boat, to help hold down the mast end from  kicking up, when the mast was lowered. AS you lower the mast, place the end of the mast against the weight you have attached and use it to hold the end of the mast from moving up or along the ground. The line i had attached to the bottom of the mast was lead around a leg of the crane, to also help keep the end down. 

6) Attach the sling/rope to the crane, and prep mast. Someone will have to go aloft to do this. To make it easy, before the crane came, I measured for the correct attachment point and sent someone aloft with duct tape and the sling. We measured where the sling should be, and then attached the slings with a little duct tape, just enough to hold the sling in place.. We also attached the downhaul for the sling. Doing this saves crane time, and makes it easier/faster to attach the crane's hook. As the crane lifts, the duct tape will be pulled free, and the sling can then slide up/down the mast, with regards to how you adjust the down hauls. Also,before the crane came, remove fragile stuff at the head, e.g tricolor, windvane, etc.

7) Pulling the mast. So crane hook is attached, there is a little tension, remove all pins, and move shrouds inward to the mast. The guys in the yard insisted the had control of the mast head by using halyards at the front and rear of the mast, e.g. spin/jib halyard, and main halyard. I was hesitant because I was worried about them moving the head, and then changing the angle of the mast. ANOTHER IMPORTANT THING IS TO KEEP THE MAST VERTICAL AT ALL TIMES ! I let them use the lines at the masthead, but I relied on the lines at the bottom of the mast to override any movement imposed by them. I use two lines, one on the boat, and the other to the ground. Use apprioate blocks and attachpoing points to help with the force of mast moving. If the mast is kept vertical, you will not have a problem, it is if the mast starts losing it's column.  There should be one person inside to watch the feeder lines for your various cables. Another to watch the mast coming up on deck.

8) Lifting the mast. Someone must be in command of the signals to give the crane operator. There are signal established that you can access on line. That person, should take commands from the person on deck,  positioned at the base of the mast. Watch for flexing of the cabin top, as the base of the mast maybe held down by corrision. I have an isomat mast, which has a shoe that the mast sets into. The shoe has an edge that goes up into the mast, and there was corrosion there. I last had my mast down in 1998, and the the mast would not budge. So crane time was eaten up as I figured out what to do. Lots of WD40, and a quick call to a rigger in the states, had me using the spin halyard, and main sail halyard to rock the mast to break the corrosion.  I ran the jib halyard to the windless an applied pressure, the quickly released it. Did the same using the main halyard and a wench in the cockpit. At first I could not see it move, then after several attempts I could see the mast moving on it's step. Performing this rocking movement, might be a good thing to do before you call the crane. I used another hour of crane time dealing with it. My passport is the same year as yours, so I would assume you have an isomat spar and step like mine.

9) Lift away, I saw my deck flex before the mast came off. So expect some. Stand back because the mast can kick up when it is released. Use the lines attached at the bottom to control how much. Raise the mast enough to pull you wires and feed lines out. Untie the feed lines, attach them to mast pulpit so they do not fall back, and lift away.Remember to take everything to the mast, as before you lift it off the boat. Think about there location as when you put the mast in the cradles, you do not want the lines, shourds, etc to be under the mast.

10) Set mast base first. As mentioned above, use the weight as a base to stop the mast as the mast is lowered. Watch where the lines, shrouds are, and put the mast down into the cradles. I had two people, plus the weight, plus a line to hold the base of the mast down. It amazed me how much force was on the base as it tried to come up. Remember the mast weighs around 800 lbs. 

Other considerations:

1) Because of space in the yard, and becuase I could not take the furler off, I lifted from the back of the mast instead of the front. I did this so as not to damage the furler. Doing this i had to rotate the mast so that it would not have the furler on underneath..... it was a pain. I ended up cutting the forstay off with the furler intact. Hopefully you have a toggle on your forestay.

2) The rigger really emphisized to take it slow and carfull, people are killed each year doing this....

Got to run, the natives are getting restless, please forgive the editing, I have to go

[Bill Schmidt]

David: DEAR GOD! I knew, I just knew there was some reason I always let the yard do this job. Great details. May I never have to refer to them.

Billy Manana

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