[Rhodes22-list]Mast Lowering Safety

[P&M Beals]

Thanks for asking...here goes...

Well we are making progress I think.  After being sure we had enough key
shrouds in place and the mast hoist system still with the shrouds attached
we called it quits last evening with the mast up.  MY husband who is pretty
good with physics and mechanical stuff assured me the mast would be fine
over night.  It was too dark and we were too tired to attempt another
process....the advice to not tackle things when too tired or stressed was
helpful also.  I just kept remembering what Stan wrote somewhere about how
many stays the Rhodes 22 has, and with all the stays connected which we did
have and the hoist (though the jib stay was not attached) it would be fine.

and indeed sleeping with our  bedroom window open and 20 feet away from our
Rhodes 22 all was quiet through the night.  I was awake enough to know.

so this afternoon after work my husband and I lowered the mast, jib and boom
with no problem whatsoever....the mast hoist system worked very well.

it appears (we hope) that the reason we could not get the jib stay to reach
the bow chain plate is because when the mast was up the jib stay extender at
the top of the mast was pointing to the port side not extending straight to
the bow and we couldn't move it to point toward the bow...this couple inches
difference may be what made the length too great....

this is our hope and theory on the problem...is this extender always
supposed to flop so side to side or should it be secured somehow?


If it turns out that the jib stay extender pointing to the bow does not
solve the problem,
can one adjust the backstays while mast is up?, that is lengthen them while
the mast hoist system with the shrouds attached to the bow remains in place
as an alternate to creating more ability to stretch the jib stay to the bow
chain plate/

Thanks for asking-  Now what do you think?
Learning by leaps and shrouds....

Phyllis 
> From: "ed kroposki" <ekroposki at charter.net>
> Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 19:44:31 -0400
> To: "'The Rhodes 22 mail list'" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Subject: RE: [Rhodes22-list]Mast Lowering Safety
> 
> Phyllis:
> 
> Did you ever solve your mast problem????
> 
> Ed K
> Greenville, SC, USA
> ~~~~ _/) ~~~~~
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
> [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of P&M Beals
> Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2004 9:43 PM
> To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list]Mast Lowering Safety
> 
> Thanks.  I will read and reread your email. The cautions are well taken. I
> save in my Rowdy Rhodies email file all the useful messages, and contact
> numbers!  Phyllis
> 
>> From: "Bill Effros" <bill at effros.com>
>> Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>> Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 21:03:50 -0400
>> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list]Mast Lowering Safety
>> 
>> We should talk about this for a while.  There are 2 different sets of
>> directions floating around.  One for raising the mast from the stern, the
>> other for raising from the bow.  In at least one of the sets, Stan's
>> instructions say something to the effect of "to lower the mast, just
> reverse
>> the steps."
>> 
>> However if you grab the wrong set of instructions to reverse, you can drop
> the
>> mast.  I speak from personal experience.
>> 
>> The number one rule for lowering the mast, and almost everything else is:
>> "Don't work tired."  This is more likely to happen at the end of the day;
> it
>> is more likely to happen when you are lowering the mast.
>> 
>> I did not follow this rule the first time I lowered the mast.  At that
> point I
>> had raised the mast 3 times, but had never lowered it.  I started
> following
>> the instructions backwards without realizing that while I wanted to lower
> the
>> mast to the stern, I was following the instructions for lowering the mast
> to
>> the bow.  I was on the wrong side of the mast when it started to come at
> me
>> and I had to make the decision of whether to try to catch it or get out of
> the
>> way.
>> 
>> I decided to get out of the way, a decision I have never regretted.  I put
> a
>> ding in the front of the mast where it hit the bow pulpit.  I found a big
> guy
>> to help me put the mast up again, and then I lowered it properly to the
> stern.
>> I have never made that mistake again, although I still don't have as good
> a
>> set of instructions for lowering the mast as I have for raising the mast.
>> 
>> Let me mention parenthetically that raising an IMF mast by hand is less
>> difficult than you may have been led to believe.  The trick is to do the
> job
>> with a tall partner who can get just slightly more leverage when the mast
> is
>> almost vertical than the average size person.  The mast is manageable by 2
>> from the bow where you have a high place to stand when moving it from
>> horizontal to vertical.  You can't "throw" this mast the last couple of
>> degrees up to vertical, you need someone over 6 feet tall at the end when
> no
>> matter how strong you are, you are pushing in the wrong place if you can't
>> reach to a certain height.
>> 
>> At least that was my experience in an emergency.  It is not something I
> would
>> recommend.  I am a strong advocate of Stan's mast raising gear which I can
>> operate single handed and safely under any conditions other than following
> the
>> wrong set of instructions.
>> 
>> Bill Effros
>> 
>> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: P&M Beals 
>> To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
>> Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2004 6:44 PM
>> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] help needed with raising the mast and
> connectinggenoa
>> 
>> 
>> Ok hold the politics and lend us a hand.
>> going through a dry run, good thing, raising the mast and stays in our
> back
>> yard...using the  GB mast hoist raising system.  got the mast up safely,
>> good....now 2 different sets of directions come into play....
>> 
>> 1.  we connected first the lower forward shrouds....an old version
> direction
>> said this makes mast secure etc....but should we  have connected genoa jib
>> stay first because now we can' t get the genoa jib stay to reach....Joe
>> Ware's personal version directions listed genoa first then shrouds etc.
>> 
>> what is the preferred order for connecting the stays?
>> 
>> the sooner the better we want to finish up before dark....forget taking it
>> down tonight.
>> 
>> Thanks Phyllis in NJ
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