Increasing mast height from the bottom

[ketchcrew]

Hi All - new to this forum.

I have a Northern 37K (ketch).

My main mast is keel stepped and I would like to add a 2-3 ft to the bottom to increase the overall height and adjust the current main boom height. There is no rigging connecting my two masts.

Right now the main boom is exactly at head height with everyone so raising it 2-3 ft would be safer and I could reconfigure the center cockpit setup and not make changes to my sails.

Wondering if anyone has any experience or tried doing this.

Thanks!

[Cheechako]

I dont see why not. Find a piece of extrusion to match and weld it on. I guess you could build some kind of separate extension for down there even out of wood, part of which you could slide into the mast extrusion. It's pretty much all in compression. A nice piece of clear fir, totem pole carving on the outside! :>)
Your CG will go up a bit. I wouldn't go any more than you need to.
You will have to extend your rigging which could be a lot of work and some money.

[Bowdrie]

Do you "need" 2>3'?
How high does the boom need to be to clear people's heads?
How will that affect your ability to put "hands on" to any part of the boom or its gooseneck?
How will it affect winch/cleat placement/usage/access on mast?
Will the winches now be at eye level instead of waist level?
Will the clearance between boom and backstay be affected if the boom "kites"?

[thomm225]

Might be better to just raise the boom and get new sails rather than messing around with jury rigging the mast.

I had a similar problem, but since I have a floating goose neck it was no problem to raise the boom then replace the main as the one that came with the boat was ancient anyway.

[gonesail]

I would look into raising the boom especially since you have a ketch.

[s/v Jedi]

You only need to raise the back of the boom, not even the gooseneck. Just recut the foot of the sail and add new reef cringles to bring the back up to clear heads.

[Giro]

The last time I responded to a similar post I received all kinds of negative responses from other responders. But, here goes.

I would check with a marine engineer before attempting to modify your ketch in the manner you have described. I cannot imagine going forward without gaining professional advise first. Whatever input you receive from a professional, will be well worth the cost.

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by Giro

The last time I responded to a similar post I received all kinds of negative responses from other responders. But, here goes.

I would check with a marine engineer before attempting to modify your ketch in the manner you have described. I cannot imagine going forward without gaining professional advise first. Whatever input you receive from a professional, will be well worth the cost.

Agreed, you have to wonder if this isn't the reason why some unsuspecting future owner spends time and money wrestling with why the boat has awful weather helm, or can't point, or becomes tender in gusts, or some other unaccounted for mystery behavior.

(Just random examples before some arm chair physicist tears apart the examples with a pedantic science lecture.)

[SailingHarmonie]

Originally Posted by Giro

The last time I responded to a similar post I received all kinds of negative responses from other responders. But, here goes.

I would check with a marine engineer before attempting to modify your ketch in the manner you have described. I cannot imagine going forward without gaining professional advise first. Whatever input you receive from a professional, will be well worth the cost.

What Giro says, pretty much.

Simply raising the center of effort of the main sail will have a huge impact on the performance of the boat. I am not familiar with the sailing performance of your boat, but it if it is good this will not improve it. Like really not. You end up with a gelding, not a stallion. If it is a a poorly balanced boat now, it’s hard to say what the outcome will be.

Things that will happen: More heel (a lot!), more weather helm (a lot!). Earlier reefing. More stress. Poorer performance to weather. Nothing positive. Nothing.

If you are the kind of sailor who wouldn’t notice such things, well… it’s your boat. But if you are asking if it will adversely affect your boat’s sailing ability, the answer is unequivocally, YES.

You are not paying me enough to run the calculations for you, but those will be the quantitative results if you have someone do that.

[NorthCoastJoe]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

You only need to raise the back of the boom, not even the gooseneck. Just recut the foot of the sail and add new reef cringles to bring the back up to clear heads.

Exactly what I did on my Pearson 30. The original boom level would take off your head if you were over 5'6". I got a new mainsail and had it made to give me the clearance for a 6'4" person. Easiest way to solve the problem.

[NorthCoastJoe]

I forgot to say, the boat still sails itself no issues. Many a time out when nobody needs to have a hand on the wheel. Balance the sails and it's fine. No weird behaviors since doing the sail cut change.

[pbmaise]

Yes to recutting the mainsail. This is a common change made at a sail loft and will be far be the cheapest and least impactful route.

This is largely a labor task and you might find it cheapest to incur the shipping expense to send it to the sail loft in Cebu. Google search Hyde Sails

They can do other general work on the main at the same time like new batten pockets or a new head.

[Schapera]

I have a 45ft cutter rig. I want to raise the boom by 4 inchrs. As I am getting a new mast, I asked the designer for his advice. His response: 4inches won’t change the handling noticeably. I understood his detailed reply to mean that 2-3 feet would MEANINGFULLY change the handling.

[SailingHarmonie]

Originally Posted by NorthCoastJoe

Exactly what I did on my Pearson 30. The original boom level would take off your head if you were over 5'6". I got a new mainsail and had it made to give me the clearance for a 6'4" person. Easiest way to solve the problem.

This is vastly different than raising the mast as the OP was asking about.. When you remove the bottom of the sail, you are not making a huge change in the COE, rather you reduce the sail area. The biggest impact will be on light air performance, not balance.

[Iron E]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

You only need to raise the back of the boom, not even the gooseneck. Just recut the foot of the sail and add new reef cringles to bring the back up to clear heads.

Yep, this is exactly what a couple we met did to their Union Polaris.