Small boat

[jotruk]

I recently purchased a second boat, it is a 16 foot com pac. I was some what disappointed with it . I guess I am spoiled with a larger boat and found that this boat is just to small for what I had intended it to be used for which is to sail the coast and just gunkhole in different areas. I did not pay that much for the boat and it is in really good shape but I just don't fell comfortable on it. so I am going to sail this one and see it I can find a larger trailer sailor

[CaptMac]

Interesting, I to have been looking for a small easy to trailer sailboat, but what is too small and what is too big.
I want to be able to launch and retrieve the boat by myself including raising the mast, but I know the more difficult it becomes in doing so the less you are likely to use the boat.
I have looked at the compact 16 and 19 and like the 19 better although I think launching by myself is probably at the maximum end of the spectrum.
The compact 17 looks like a great boat but a little out of my price range for a second boat.
I would like to hear from other trailer sailors with their actual experience and suggestions.
Thanks
Jay

[CharlieJ]

All I can tell you is I rig, launch and de-rig Necessity by myself. She's 21 feet and I'm 71 years.

I've seen a 65 year old woman , sitting in the cockpit, raise the mast on  a Macgregor 26X by herself.

It isn't the boat length- it's how you have it rigged.

[tomwatt]

Funny this should come up, as there are numerous online illustrations demonstrating mast-stepping using some varieties of rigs... and last night I ran across this one from Pineapple Sails (have no connection with them at all, nor have I ever purchased from them) which seems to have a fairly clear instruction-set for mast stepping. Granted, this is for a 27 footer that appears to be a tall rig, but your own variations can be arrived at:
http://www.sailmaker.com/articles/step_rig/step_rig_tn.htm
Hopefully that is information useful to someone looking for some ideas... I'd seen several pole combinations before, but never the shrouds used as in this depiction.

[Captain Smollett]

It isn't the boat length- it's how you have it rigged.

Exactly!  And part of the 'rigging' is organization of the raising "system."  This is an important lesson I learned from Charles B. on TSBB.

I have tried many "systems" for raising the mast on my 18 footer.  My boat is a bit unusual with its 3 stay rig (the shrouds lead quite far aft compared to a conventional rig with a true back stay), so there is little side-to-side support until the mast is ALL the way up.

(1) Lifting by hand, starting at the aft end of the cockpit and walking forward as the mast is raised.

Works, but the step from cockpit to cabin top/side deck was scary and strenuous at best.  Didn't like doing this enough that I sought other techniques.

(2) For quite a while, I rigged a 4:1 tackle from the fore deck to the jib halyard (dead ended at it's mast cleat).  This was to give me some purchase on that last little bit, a way to "easily" hold the mast while I step onto the cabin top.  Still problematic was the side sway of the mast.

I realized at some point that the tackle was not really doing anything for me but taking time to rig and unrig.

(3) I did build an A-frame out of 2x2's at one point.  Don't recall ever using it in practice at the ramp.

(4) What I do now, and it works wonderfully on this boat (YMMV of course) follows:

(a) Cleat off jib halyard at mast; lead other end through fore deck cleat.  It lies loose for now.

(b) With mast pinned at step and laying on stern rail, I stand on cabin top facing aft, grip mast as far aft as comfortable and LEAN BACK.  It's more of a leaning lift than a brute strength lift...my elbows are usually locked or nearly so. 

It's really quite easy once I learned the motion involved.

This stands the mast right up into the shrouds/stays; all that's left is pinning the fore stay at the stem.

(c) Grab the tail of the jib halyard, tension and cleat if off on the bow cleat as a temporary forestay.  I can do this while holding the mast up with one hand (easy once it's up all the way, I actually have to PUSH it a bit while lowering).

(d) Pin the forestay; if I am "short," I simply lean against the jib halyard or push it with a foot so that I have two hands to get the pin in the stem fitting.

Now, back to Charles B.'s advice.  What I have noticed with trailer sailing is that it's not the actual raising, Steps 4a-4d above, that are the 'impediment' or barrier to me wanting to go sailing.  It's all the other preps...prep to get the mast raised, boom/mainsheet, etc, etc, etc.

Charles' advice was simple, yet HIGHLY effective and it changed my trailer sailing experience COMPLETELY: limit moving around.  Get organized so you don't climb up and down, go forward and aft, inside cabin and out more than once.

(1) Get everything done on the ground before you climb in the boat.

(2) Get everything done forward before you head back aft; mast raising may be a bit of an exception, but don't make a separate trip for forestay, fore dockline, jib halyard, jib, etc.

(3) Don't go below to get stuff more than once.  Go below, get EVERYTHING out (and out of the way til needed).

Build a system for your particular boat that fits within these guidelines and it streamlines the process.

Some other tips:

I found the untying of rig and tying after sailing particularly unpleasant (after a day sailing, I was already tired, family ready to go home, etc), until another of Charles' ideas helped me out.  Velcro.

I now use velcro straps to lash things to the mast.  It's plenty strong and in over 5 years of using them, I've not had any trouble.  My 5 year old ones are just wearing out this year.  I make my own by buying that long strapping with sticky on one side, cutting off what I need and simply sticking the two velcro pieces together to make a single hook and loop strap.

Unlashing and lashing rig to mast takes SECONDS.

I also have gone to bungees to lash the mast itself to the boat.  It's quicker than tying knotted lashing, though I confess that I often to back it up with a traditional lashing.

I leave my outboard attached, and while some SCREAM that this is a no-no, I've done it for over ten years of trailer sailing and never noticed a problem.  I do, however, lash the outboard tightly to the stern rail so that it cannot bounce around on the bracket.

My trailer does not have goal posts, but I have fantasized many times about adding them.

Combining all this...minimizing trips in and around the boat, hook and loop straps (vice a bunch of knots) and a mast raising "system" that is minimal but effective, I can, completely alone, be in the water within 30-35 minutes of pulling into the ramp, and unrigging is just as quick (from out of the water to road in a half hour).

[CharlieJ]

On your point #3-

On Necessity I have a canvas bag, labeled "mast raising kit" that contains a four part tackle with snap shackles at each end, baby stays, tools- everything but the gin pole, which lives in the quarter berth. I just haul it out of the locker, and set it up.

Set up is identical to the mast raising setup supplied by MacGregor for the 26X. In fact, that's where the gin pole came from.

Edited to add-

Since the pics are still there, here's a link to a post I made on TSBB, showing the mast raising system I use on Necessity-
And yeah John, I  SHOULD move them to the gallery here ;)

http://bbs.trailersailor.com/forums/trailersailor/index.cgi/read/839757

[CaptMac]

Thanks for the great response, in my younger days I always muscled the mast up, but it looks like the mast raising system works good (brains over brawn).

[Captain Smollett]

Thanks for the great response, in my younger days I always muscled the mast up, but it looks like the mast raising system works good (brains over brawn).

Entirely depends on the boat.

If the "system" takes too long to set up, it might be easy, but you'll still likely never use it for daysailing.  I knew a fellow that had a Hunter trailer boat, and he said it took over an hour to rig and unrig - he NEVER wanted to go, just because of how much time/work it was to set everything up.  He did not specifically complain about the work of raising the mast itself.

Of the several "systems" I tried for my little boat, I abandoned them all in favor of "quick and easy" prep.  My procedure would not work on a larger boat with a much heavier mast. 

But also, keep in mind that it STILL is more about technique than brute force, or "brawn" as you put it.  There's a trick to the lifting step that makes it so even I can do it.

[Bill W]

Now, back to Charles B.'s advice.  What I have noticed with trailer sailing is that it's not the actual raising, Steps 4a-4d above, that are the 'impediment' or barrier to me wanting to go sailing.  It's all the other preps...prep to get the mast raised, boom/mainsheet, etc, etc, etc.

All those other steps take up launch prep time for sure.

We leave the mainsail flaked on the boom and the mainsheet attached to the boom. Our sail ties are a single length of shock cord along stb side of the boom, anchored at each end and at 2 points in between. So 3 sections. On the port side are 3 stainless hammock hooks. So lashing sail when dropped and flaked/rolled is very fast. Just pull the shock cord to the other side 3 times. Nothing to hold, drop, or loose.

Mainsheet connects to the cockpit traveller with a snap shackle. This is released and the main sheet block/cam ass'y is reshackled to the forward end of the boom. Actually to the first section of shock cord. The bitter end of the mainsheet has been coiled and slipped under a section of the sail tie shock cord.

We take the gooseneck out of the mast slot, with the topping lift still attached at the aft end of the boom. Then one person can step into the cabin to stow it in the berth, without having to support the full weight of the boom and sail and mainsheet. Unshackle the topping lift and as you step back out of the companionway hook it onto a mast cleat that is used for the boom downhaul.

CJ's comment about 1 rigging bag is important. Ours holds ratchet with 9/16" socket for the mast pivot bolt and a small adjustable set to the nut size. Also receives and dispenses ball bungees and velcro strips for holding running and standing rigging to the mast for travel and quick cam straps for fore and aft fastening to the extended winch post and aft crutch.

Our forestay overlaps the front end of the mast when in travel position by about 2 feet. We keep a releasable/reuseable zip tie on the winch post and it just goes through the forestay turnbuckle to hold it to the winch post.

I will 2nd the previously voiced opinions on just going somewhere once if at all possible and when you climb up onto the boat plan not to go down until done and vice versa.