PROJECT SHEET No.4 RAISING ‘THE MAST USING AN A-FRAME David & Joan Jarman - ML64 MELINDA (Newsletter No.26, Jan '90) ‘The use of an 'A' frame for raising a mast is far from original. Our inspiration came from Peter Walker, an engineer who ran an 18-ft trail-sailer for many years, However, MELINDA required some minor modifications. We found that the pin which locks the mast foot into the tabernacle tended to bend under the strain and so we changed it for one of slightly larger diameter. Beware, because there isn't much space to drill a large hole in the heel fitting and we had to beef ours up with a stainless steel insert. We also drilled the bolt so that the wing nut could be secured on with a split ring. This was because on one voyage we vaguely wondered for a week where the extra wing nut had come from! As trail-sailors we found it a pain to link up and readjust the forestay bottlescrew every time we launched. Having investigated the breaking strains we substituted a Gibbs pelican hook with a couple of lock-nuts threaded onto the hook to give us more confidence. We also put a ring bolt through the forepeak fitting to give us a forward attachment for the raising tackle. At other times it also serves as a good parking place for the spinnaker uphaul. After some bad experiences with the hooks on the top ends of the shrouds and the forestay (they fell out as the mast was on its way up!) we obtained from Gibb some special rubber bungs which lock the errant hooks into the hounds. To avoid undue stresses you need to start with the top of the mast propped up as far as is reasonable. We have never thought that the standard mast crutch was very useful and made our own adjustable one out of two crossed pieces of 3” x 1" softwood held together with large (25") fibreglass washers and a bolt. The basic idea of the 'A' frame is simplified because the tubes never take any other than a direct downward thrust. We used basic Jack Holt anodised marine aluminium tubing, partly because we could also obtain spinnaker pole end fittings which matched the tube and which could locate by clipping onto the 'U' bolt on the deck. The top ends of the tube we joined with a heavy s/s plate which slotted into the tubes and enabled them to stow flat against each other. From the middle of this plate we hung a long shackle on to which we could clip the jib halliard and the three-part raising tackle. With this rig we could perfectly control the vertical lift of the mast. Unfortunately, we found that while it was being raised the mast very easily developed a sideways swing which put awful twisting strains on the tabernacle and the heel casting. This is especially so on the water when you are subject to wayward wakes. The worst postion for sway seemed to be when the mast was about half way up, Our answer to this problem was to adapt the inner shrouds as sway controllers, We found that they have to remain just slack during the whole raising process, If they were both to tighten at any point it would put impossible stresses on the whole rig. We started off by adding temporary rigging adjusters on the lower ends as shown in the diagram. We found that they need to be lengthened by about a couple of inches, and we now use a pair of twisted shackles to do the job. Y By experiment we found a position for a pair of 'U' bolts just on the turn of the coachroof forward from and lower than the tabernacle which would take the inner shrouds during mast-raising. This position, which had to be accurate within half an inch, allowed the shrouds to be least slack when the mast was about half-way up. It also was suitable to take the attachments on the feet of the 'A' frame, The outer shrouds went straight to their proper chain plate positons. They start controlling sway as the mast approached the vertical.Once the positions of the 'U' bolts are fixed then, at last, you can cut the 'A' frame legs to length. As the mast is raised, the 'A' frame sinks forward describing a quarter circle. It needs to be just short enough to clear, on its way down, the rear curve of the spinnaker ring. For raising the mast we Link the jib halliard to the 'A' frame so that it stands vertical, and take up the slack on the port winch. Then we snap-shackle the three-part tackle to the forepeak and the 'A' frame and thread the tail to the starboard winch. Then Joan winds away slowly while skipper checks that nothing - not even the back-stay - fouls as the mast goes up. If the going gets heavy stop to check before something breaks. Just before the shrouds tighten we swap the immer ones to their chain plate positions, THEN wind the gear tight and snap on the forestay, and that's it - except that you now notice that you've forgotten to mount the VHF aerial.! Good Sailing. GENERAL VEW OF TACKLE LAYOUT DETAIL AT JOINT OF FRAME, ce = & - © 5 3 El Y in 48 au z GR 8k § o © fj z \ 3 es E §3 a we DETAIL_OF ‘A’ INNER SHROUD On'U' Bour