Mississauga Sailing Club - Raising the Mast 2010-06-10

After dealing with a broken mast step for two years which was a death defying feat requiring several people, we designed a new mast step. In combination with an A-frame, the task was reduced to an easy one person operation. The new mast step consists of a ball and socket. While the mast is raised or lowered the ball and socket are locked together by a pin through the center of the ball that is removed once the operation is completed. The pin prevents the mast from swaying from side to side and popping out of the socket. The A-frame consists of 2 - 2x3s and 3 gate hinges. The hinges are screwed and glued with epoxy to the 2x3s. The 2 hinges at the base are clamped to the main cross bar and the 3rd hinge holds the 2 - 2x3s together at the top. There are also 2 small brackets at the top to prevent the cable from slipping off.
Make sure that the ball and socket are a loose fit and place a teflon disc in the bottom of the socket. This will allow the mast to rotate much more easily. If everything is tight fitting the mast will jam under load and not rotate properly.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Chrysler
• Musketeer
• Catamaran
• mast
• step
• raising
• Mississauga
• Sailing
• Club
• Lakefront
• Promenade
• Park
• Ontario
• canada