mast raising system for older macgregor

[littlebylittle2]

Hi.,
a while back I had viewed a you tube video of a gentleman using a mast raising system he created. It was very simple. One ginpole up front. Light weight and one person can raise and lower it. This was an older gentleman. This is on the boat itself. I can find it now . Has anyone seen this video?
Thank you for your help!
little by little 2

[frank_f]

I'm not too much of an older gentleman but I use a gin pole to raise and lower the mast on my 25' Mac.

What is it that you need?

[boatman61]

Well.... he'll need some form of Tabernacle for starters...
if he wants to do it solo...

[sartorst]

my oday 25 used only a bridle from the main boom to the shrouds and the main sheet was used to raise the mast,very simple but it was difficult to get the mast in position forward to be raised

[frank_f]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Well.... he'll need some form of Tabernacle for starters...
if he wants to do it solo...

I think all Mac's have deck mounted masts. What's missing is a little "U" channel piece of metal mounted just in front of the mast pivot.

What I do is connect the mast to the mast plate and run the jib halyard down to the mast plate as well. I put the gin pole into the "U" bracket (with a bolt through the bracket and pole), stand it straight up and attach the jib halyard to it. Now I have a right angle triangle with the mast as the base, the gin pole as the side and the halyard as the hypotenuse.

On Mac masts, there are two fairleads mounted about 2m from the base. I connect baby stays from those to the side of the boat to stop lateral movement.

Then I connect a handy billy from the gin pole down to the bow. Heave on the handy billy line and mast walks right up into place. Once it's up connect the forestay and unclip the halyard from the gin pole ( lock off the halyard so you don't have to redo all of this to retrieve your halyard at the top of the mast. Ask me how I learned this and learned NOT to try and climb up a Mac mast).

The gin pole can be attached to the mast and the baby stays can be left in position if you want. Neither the pole or the stays interfere with the jib tacking but I take mine down.

There you go, Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by frank_f

I think all Mac's have deck mounted masts. What's missing is a little "U" channel piece of metal mounted just in front of the mast pivot.

What I do is connect the mast to the mast plate and run the jib halyard down to the mast plate as well. I put the gin pole into the "U" bracket (with a bolt through the bracket and pole), stand it straight up and attach the jib halyard to it. Now I have a right angle triangle with the mast as the base, the gin pole as the side and the halyard as the hypotenuse.

On Mac masts, there are two fairleads mounted about 2m from the base. I connect baby stays from those to the side of the boat to stop lateral movement.

Then I connect a handy billy from the gin pole down to the bow. Heave on the handy billy line and mast walks right up into place. Once it's up connect the forestay and unclip the halyard from the gin pole ( lock off the halyard so you don't have to redo all of this to retrieve your halyard at the top of the mast. Ask me how I learned this and learned NOT to try and climb up a Mac mast).

The gin pole can be attached to the mast and the baby stays can be left in position if you want. Neither the pole or the stays interfere with the jib tacking but I take mine down.

There you go, Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt.

I think you just said what I did... you need a fixed pivot point at the mast plate/foot to stop it kicking out...

[frank_f]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I think you just said what I did... you need a fixed pivot point at the mast plate/foot to stop it kicking out...

See? That's what makes you a great sailor! You can explain something in one sentence that takes me a couple of paragraphs.

[littlebylittle2]

Thank you for all the info. I had seen a design of a mast raising system that I really liked and couldn't find it again until this past weekend. It's called best potter 19 mast raising system on you tube.
There are 2 parts one to show you how it works then the other to show you the parts.
I emailed him directly and he has been beyond helpful! Very nice gentleman.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by frank_f

See? That's what makes you a great sailor! You can explain something in one sentence that takes me a couple of paragraphs.

LOL... Thanks for the compliment mate.. but I'm far from a 'great sailor'... just lucky and get something right in a 'Blue Moon'...