Mast launcher for BC23

[Rod Shiers]

If anyone finds that raising the mast is precarious (or in my case disastrous when I slipped off the cockpit locker top and smashed the mast) I can seriously recommend the mast launcher Matt has designed. It's basically like a spinnaker pole which clips onto a D ring on the fore deck. A dyneema strop is affixed to the stem post and then the top of the pole. The Genoa halyard also attaches to the top of the pole. This gives the necessary angle of purchase to lift the mast until the natural support angle of the halyard takes over. It really is a dream to use.

Good sailing
Rod Shiers
BC 23  Gracenote

[mainecoast]

Hi Rod.

Any chance you could post a picture of the setup or a rudimentary drawing?

I've considered various approaches to a gin pole for Corvus, but would love to understand better what Matt has cooked up for you. 

Sounds like it is just the thing!

Thanks!

Pete
BC23 Hull 37  Corvus

[Rob Johnstone]

Another alternative is to fit an electric winch to the trailer. See the following links:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dkn3b651241262g/2%20front%20view.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ntv4p457b6sqpr/operation.mp4?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/us4re7u4cdq8nlh/Raising%20the%20mast.jpg?dl=0

The winch is powered by  12V car battery in a box on the V of the trailer Battery recharged by a solar panel. It is controlled by a "wireless" hand held unit, which means you can wander around and push the boat on either side to get it straight on the trailer and you can stand in the cockpit to guide the mast up and down. The winch "cable" is dyneema.

Simple and no effort but a few £££.

[plasticpaddy]

Hi
What make/ type of electric winch have you used? Looks far easier to use.
Sean

[Rob Johnstone]

I think it is the Warrior 25 SPA 12.  It looks a bit like this one and has dyneema rather than steel as it's rope:

https://www.electricwinchshop.co.uk/warrior-25sps12-steel.html


Rob J

[TimLM]

I followed Rob's advice and am very glad I did. Recovery has been revolutionized it is so easy. I've yet to sort out a mast lifting prod and would be very interested in Matt's solution.
Tim LM

[Rod Shiers]

Sorry for delay in replying. I've been off to see the Northern Lights - very exciting (but not in my boat). Here is a very rudimentary diagram of the mast lifting pole. The black rope is the dyneema strop which supports the pole. The red is the genoa halyard which runs through the usual block and down to the deck. The pole is like a spinnaker pole and hooks into the a hoop strap bolted to the foredeck. You use the halyard to raise the mast in the usual way but without the sail attached. The length of the pole is at just the right angle so that when the mast is upright the two ropes are in line. When the mast is down the pole makes a better angle for the initial lift. I'm sure Matt has a better diagram but hope this helps. I'm interested in the power winch idea as well, if only to assist with recovery. I suppose the car battery would not be strong enough to run it would it?
Regards
Rod
BC 23 Gracenote

[Rob Johnstone]

The battery used on the trailer winch is a 60Ah 540Ca car battery. I think the "CA" part of this specification is a measure of "grunt" it can give out when starting a car. There's no doubt your car battery would do the job BUT the current the winch takes is high and gets higher as the boat gets closer to the winch, because the cable builds up in the winch drum making it's effective diameter bigger and therefore requiring more torque to maintain the tension on the winch cable.

I've not measured the effective voltage at the winch. The winch slows down significantly towards the end of recovery, indicating that the current demand by the winch motor is increasing (as the torque required goes up) and this cause a voltage drop at the winch motor (V = IR and all that stuff). The battery is less than a metre from the battery and the wires are about 1/8th inch dia copper, permanently connected at each end (sorry about the mix of measurement units).

This is a long way round to say that, if your car battery is at the front of the car and the boat and trailer at the back and you're going to use croc clips for the connection, you'll need awfully fat cables between the battery and the winch.

Incidentally, I considered using the "fridge" wires on the "new style"13 way trailer connection to charge the winch battery on the trailer but didn't do so because the b*****s who fitted the 13 pin socket on Martina (the car) only wired up the usual 7 pins! Also, I would have needed to make sure they were disconnected before using the winch otherwise I'd probably burnt out the cables in the car harness! Judging by the state of my memory these days, this was just about guaranteed to happen!

[mainecoast]

Much thanks for the sketch, Rod!

Pete
BC23 Hull 37 Corvus