Mast height, how to tell?

[Blue Stocking]

See if you can find a copy of Bruce Bingham's book, Sailors Sketchbook. A wealth of info on this issue, and much more.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by messias

THANKS Pete!

I´ll look into it right away, because when I was searching for "pivotting", I only had some kind of Race-setup...

And if it´s not too much to ask, is it possible to transform a non-tabernacle into a tabernacle keeping the same mast/sails, or it has to be a fully redesigned one? No races, no best-performances, no nothing... just fooling arround in the bay learning how to sail...


Thanks again!

Short answer is YES. There are some important details to consider but I have had it done and it wasn't hard.

FWIW, there are hundreds of boats on the Swan Rviver (West Oz) that have similar setups.

[messias]

Once again, Thank you all for the "enlightment"

Now back to finding the appropriate boat to "de-mast"

[Capt Phil]

Our esteemed Moderator has the quick, easy and practical answer in Post #5. If the masurement has to be precise, ie., for race boat measurements, use Adelie's method. Phil

[belizesailor]

...Motor under some bridges, and when you hit one, you will know that you are taller than that clearance height. ...[/QUOTE]


Ah yes, the "empirical" method:

[sww914]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

...Motor under some bridges, and when you hit one, you will know that you are taller than that clearance height. ...

Ah yes, the "empirical" method:[/QUOTE]
Most folks probably won't let you do that on a sea trial. LMAO!

[Me-and-Boo]

I was the rocket scientist, or rather the computer engineer who made the computer the rocket scientist used. I found the math hard too.

The boat sizes mentioned are trailerable, so the mast can be dropped for that; even if it isn't you should be able to find a couple people around willing to help unstep your mast for a beer or two.

Originally Posted by Adelie

It's not rocket science, it's high school geometry and math plus a bit of experience. I know this because I tried to be a rocket scientist when I was in college and I couldn't hack the math.

[Matt sachs]

Once again the simple method is the best. I was going to have you measure from the base of the mast to the tip of the pulpit, measure the angle from the pulpit to the top of the mast use the cosign (or sin, or inverse tangent or something like that) to calculate how tall it is. Post #5 I think is better.

[messias]

Originally Posted by Me-and-Boo

even if it isn't you should be able to find a couple people around willing to help unstep your mast for a beer or two.

I really like your approach, because i´d be willing to help out a guy with a boat to de-mast ... but when I´ll be the guy WITH the boat and thinking in the number of bridges with a 5mt clearence in the Vltava river... That´s a whole lot of beer! (and they only start in 1/2lt here ).

By the way... they have a few pretty neat solutions in some parts here, take a look a the pic.

[Wotname]

Convert mast to have a hinge point near tabernacle. Raise pivot point of cap shrouds to be in line with the mast hinge pin. This is important as doing this keeps the tension on the cap shrouds as mast is lowered.

Use two spinnaker poles to form an A frame with apex of A attaching via a camp or similar to forestay near stem head fitting. Rig multipart block and tackle between the apex and the stem head. Release forestay and forward lower shrouds and allow mast to pivot backwards and thus raising the A frame upwards. Of course the aft end of the spinnaker poles have to be clipped to the deck on suitable hard points. Normally some permeant or temporary stay is needed to hold the extended cap shroud chainplate in position so it doesn't move aft.

Hard to describe and maybe I can work out how to post a suitable drawing if it helps.

This method is used every weekend by dozens and dozens of boats locally in Perth for boats from 20' to 40+'.

[messias]

Thank you all for explaining this things to me.