lowering the mast on the water to pass bridges

Mast, Boom, Standing and Running Rigging, Furler System, Reefing, Barberhauler, Lazyjack etc
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carpediem
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue 29 Jul 14, 9:21
Your Country: Germany,Warnemünde

lowering the mast on the water to pass bridges

Post by carpediem »

I´m thinking about changing from a mono to a tri. The DF800 has a "handy" size, since I would like to use it as a trailer boat at our lake in germany as well as at the Baltic Sea. On our lake ("Schweriner See") is a bridge to pass. Therefore easy lowering of the mast is nessessary.

Is it possible to lower the mast on a DF800 in the water? Can it be done by one or two people? Is ist easy and how long does it take?

Tanks in advance for answering!
Sebastian / Maybe-Owner
Christian
Posts: 182
Joined: Mon 13 Nov 06, 21:55
Your Country: Sweden, Nacka

Done it once

Post by Christian »

Lowering the mast without a crane is a process that takes time and have to be done carefully. If the mast rotates when it is past 45 degrees - it may drop. When I did it I did not realize that the last part has to be done with both sides in control and right tension to avoid rotation. It was close to to an accident. I would not try to do it again on water without support from shore.

And secondly - when the mast i low - it is unbalanced. Most of the mast is over the water! I think it is a bad idea.
gminkovsky
Posts: 210
Joined: Wed 01 Nov 06, 19:58
Your Country: USA, Long Island Sound

Post by gminkovsky »

I can't comment on the 800, but I did this on a friend's 920 to pass under a low bridge.

It was very easy, but you have to be careful and methodical. Took us (2 people) between 1 and 2 hours to lower it and about 1 hour to raise it after the bridge. We were using Quornign-supplied hardware that included all wires, blocks and shackles/links.

Last year I repeated this process on my 920 at the end of the season: lowered the mast and then moved it on top of the boat for trailering. Took about the same amount of time.

Once the mast is lowered, 2/3 of it is hanging forward of the bow with diamond stays resting on bow pulpit and foot of the mast held in place by the pin. The bulk of the load is still on the backstays and lowering hardware.

I don't think I would want to do this every time I go sailing... But once/twice per season is not a problem.
johp
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon 08 Oct 07, 19:18
Your Country: Netherlands, Friesland and waddenzee

Post by johp »

I had for 12 years a 800. About every year I lowered the mast myself ones or twice. Can be single handed. I fully applied the instruction from Quorning (mast goes forward, boom is the long lever arm, you block the mast rotation with the standard pin at the bottom of the mast). I did this for winter storage, but also for passing bridges in a canal in the Netherlands. The canal lowering is more easy, because I did not move the mast back onto the boat, it sticked out for about 8 m (on a boat of 8m). Funny view for others, no problem to sail further on motor with flat water, with higher waives you get the problem the mast is slower than the boat and you really have to tighten it strongly at the bow to prevent for hard hitting the bow hsupport. It cost me, after some practicing, about 1 hour to lower and 30 min to raise. The most important: double check and again double check everything. Just one time it went wrong a bit, when I used shorter ropes during lowering. One line was just 10 cm to short. That was no issue for the mast, because it rested already at the bow, but the boom slammed hard sideways on the ama deck when I released the last few cm, what needed a repair. So apply Dragonfly instruction and double check everything when lowering. Would not recommend this for every weekend, only twice or three times a year or so.
Johan Pragt
DF920#32
Flabbergast
NL
AMZ
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu 06 Mar 14, 6:24
Your Country: Bellingham, Washington, USA

Mast lowering/raising instructions from Quorning

Post by AMZ »

Does anybody have a copy of the factory instructions for raising and lowering the mast? I have an older DF 25 but from the sound of things it may be similar for most models.
Overall it seems fairly intuitive but the potential for undesirable consequences is pretty high if you miss something.
DF25 Radio Flyer
axon22
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri 19 Nov 10, 18:21
Your Country: Austria,Graz/Eggenberg

Owners Book

Post by axon22 »

You can find the instruction at the owners Handbook Page 11.
The Owner Handbook of DF800 for download thread DF800 general Topics.
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