Javier,

How to unstep and step the mast? Carefully :-)

Since this my first boat and first time of doing this ourselves, take my opinons with a large dose of salt.

While I think it's possible to do it with two people (with an intelligent arrangement and use of supporting lines), having done the whole thing now, I think it's best to have 3 to 4 people to work together.

Before you attempt to unstep/step the mast, make sure there is plenty of slack in the shrouds. At the risk of embarrassing myself in public, i actually damaged the mast butt when I tried to unstep/tilt the mast w/o creating enough slack in the shrouds -- that oversight translates into a $250 welding repair job at Anderson's to fix the cracked mast butt. BTW, a new mast will probably run $3k to $4k according to Seal. Certainly worth more than our boat.

The mast step is nothing but a short extrusion that the mast fits over -- the image at this link is a pretty good representation:

http://www.apsltd.com/images/gallery/10064-1.jpg

The fit between the mast over the mast step is not super-tight. That is why you can unstep the mast by tilting it down. Had it been super-tight, I guess you need to pull the mast up straight to get it off the mast step first lest you damage it when tilting the mast.

We tilted the mast forward when we unstepped it. As the mast tilts, you actually need more slack in the shrouds. I think if I were to do it again, I would detach one of the shrouds and have one person use a spare halyard to keep enough tension from the detached shroud side to keep the mast from falling towards the other side where the shroud is slackened but still attached.

The turnbuckles on our old shrouds were rusted frozen, so we actually had to detach the shrouds from the chainplates and uses a short line to tie the bottom of each shroud back to the chainplate temporarily (remember, there were only two of us). I wanted the shrouds still attached to prevent the mast from falling sideways to either side as we lowered it. Again, in hind sight, more hands could've helped (and possibly prevented the aforementioned mast butt damage).

We led the main halyard to the stern and my partner kept a tension on it and gradually let it out as we tilted the mast forward. Now Lesson #2: I was on the bow to 'receive' the mast as it is lowered down; when I finally got a hold on it, my partner slacken her tension on the main halyard even more to lower it completely. At that point the base of mast pops up , because the place I was holding on the mast is to aft of the pivot point of the mast. Fortunately I quickly lowered the mast down and laid it on top of the deck, so it wasn't too much a problem

I talked to Steve Seal later (I got the new mast step and mast plate from him). He recommended that the mast should be tilted towards the stern. The reason is that the distance between the mast step to the stern is slightly longer than that between the bow and the mast step. You can get to the 'correct' side of the pivot pt of the mast easier from the stern.

We were going to raise the mast by ourselves, but on that day another S22 owner a few slips from us was around. He helped us stepped the mast. We did it from the stern this time.

We got the new standing rigging and new spreaders from Svendsen's. My boat partner heard good things about Svendsen's from one of her S22 friends. I got the mast plate and mast step from Seal. Seal definitely is very knowledgable and willing to share info with you (when you buy stuff from him). It's hard to get a hold of him sometimes since he is a one-man shop.

good luck

Pei

:: Pei,

:: I plan on swapping out the standing rigging soon also.
:: Did you unstep and restep the mast yourself? If so, can
:: you tell me how you did it? Also, where did you get your
:: rigging made up?

:: Thanks

:: Javier
::
:: :: Just finished replacing the standing rigging on our Tuna
:: :: (1970, #523). Now it's time to get a new set of sails.
:: ::
:: :: I did a bit of research -- it appears a new sail
:: :: (doesn't matter it's a main, jib, or genoa) will cost
:: :: about $600-$700. Ka-ching!
:: ::
:: :: Any thoughts on acquiring new (or used) sails for S22?
:: ::
:: :: thx
:: ::
:: :: Pei