Hi everyone-
I recently (last summer) purchased a Hutton 24 sail boat, i live on the water in Sydney, up the Woronora river. the problem i've found is that the mast is too tall to fit under one of the bridges before my house, i'm just wondering if anyone on here might be able to give me an estimate on how much it may cost (labour, parts) to have the mast fitted with a hinge similar to that of a trailer sailer in order for me to get to my house.
Cheers

MarkJacobsen said...

Hi everyone-
I recently (last summer) purchased a Hutton 24 sail boat, i live on the water in Sydney, up the Woronora river. the problem i've found is that the mast is too tall to fit under one of the bridges before my house, i'm just wondering if anyone on here might be able to give me an estimate on how much it may cost (labour, parts) to have the mast fitted with a hinge similar to that of a trailer sailer in order for me to get to my house.
Cheers

Gday Mark, haven,t seen to many hinged masts on TS,s, majority have a pin so the foot of the mast can be moved forward. Maybe a pic of the mast step will give people a better idea of what you,re up against.
Also not real easy lowering a mast on your own on the water. There are plenty of good ideas on mast raising and lowering on www.trailersailerplace.com.au/
Cheers
Ken

Hi,
From perth here and though i could give you some advice,
the standard procedure for boats getting under bridges in perth is using two spinnaker poles, attached at the toerail on the same line as the mast tabernacle (the hinge base)
the two spin poles go forward and meet at the forestay, so at this point you have an A frame, without the cross-bar
Attach the forestay to the two spinnaker poles, and then attach a block and tackle to the underside of the poles and the forestay deck fitting.
you can now ease off the mainsheet block, allowing the spinnaker poles to pivot back, lowering your whole rig.
this is the most stable way to lower your rig, although some wiggle will occur from the tabernacle, just put a bloke there and he can reduce it as much as possible
also check out this site, basically gives you images for what i've just said: http://www.skymaze.com.au/Mast%20Lowering%20Systems.html
here's a picture of a tabernacle which would probable cost about $500-$800 to make/install

Hi there guys-
Overwhelming response, your replies have given me a great insight.
In reply to SandS, she is about 2 metres too tall for the bridge.
Thanks for the links and thanks to Ozza925. You're pics are great.
Thanks again guys for all the advice, i'll hopefully get started on it and will post updates of how i've gone.
Cheers
Mark