Jacking up the mast is doable. Pulling the mast is safer and offers other benefits I'll explain later. I know someone who had to replace the deck plate for his deck stepped mast and jacked the mast up using a car jack under the boom gooseneck fitting. He managed to loosen the shrouds, headstay and backstay evenly as he jacked up the entire mast, remove the old plate, install the new and lower it back down.
You'll have to carefully plan this out. Here's how I'd approach it. If your mast is keel stepped, you'll want to raise it several inches and keep it steady, while you get at the old step. You should have two inches of travel with your existing turnbuckles, so check them first, lube them with T-9. I would add a 2" toggle to each shroud and stay, so 8) 2" toggles or shackles that go between the turnbuckle and the deck fitting. The mast probably weighs 300 to 400 pounds with spreaders and rigging so good quality come-along or car jack can be used to lift it, however, you'll want something more reliable to secure it before working underneath it. Solid steel channel or something similar will be needed to secure it. And this rig will need to be so secure you can kick it and it won't move. Place heavy wood pieces to spread the load on deck behind the mast collar and a good jack under the gooseneck, jack up slowly a little at a time loosening the turnbuckles evenly around the boat. You may need to tie the jack to the mast to keep it aligned. You may need to tie or bolt the jack to the gooseneck fitting. Once you get the whole rig raised 4" or so, you need to replace the jack with a piece of solid steel channel and lower the rig onto it, that's your safety. Snug up all the shrouds and stays and it should be safe to work under. Not with my hands. Can you make a rig like that? Safer to hire the sign crane or the travelift crane and pull the mast. Should cost $200 out and $200 to put back in. Once out, you can easily check the whole rig, all the swages, all the fittings, halyard sheaves, replace the electrical wiring, (<10 wires, so do it using marine grade stuff), new bulbs, windex, soak all your halyards in Tide with Downy Fabric Softener, lube the sheeves, etc. And build a solid mast step with the cabin clear of obstructions. Chuck Resolute 1990 C&C 34R Atlantic City, NJ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe at Zialater" <j...@zialater.com> To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Sent: Monday, December 17, 2012 6:24:25 PM Subject: Stus-List 30 Mk1 Mast step repair Howdy Listers, I am new to the list and the new owner of a 1975 30 Mk 1. Overall she is in decent shape with a fwc A4 that runs well. Aside from needing major cleaning/polishing and lots of minor fixit stuff, she has one big ugly problem, the mast step is sagging and needs to be rebuilt. I have read up on the repair at cncphotoalbum and it looks doable for a winter project. I wonder, has anyone tried this repair without removing the mast completely? Perhaps jacking the mast up a few inches with some kind of rig from inside the cabin or from on deck? Any idea what the mast with rigging would weigh? It would save me the hassle of removing the mast and rigging, not to mention the crane fee. She is on the hard now. Cheers, Joe 1975 30 Mk 1 Mayo, MD _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
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