ok so the folkboat is still sitting in its berth at newhaven yacht squadron. Too much on the winch snapped the jib halyard it was brittle through lack of use. Dropping the mast for just one rope seems a bit much but then might as well replace all ropes. Is there anyone who could do this work locally? I am in portland and hesitant on tackling this job of dropping mast....too many unknowns. Still of the opinion that buying a yacht is hugely stressful and have not had it out yet after four months. The club boatyard does not have a crane.
Folkboat, is it a 10m deck stepped aluminium mast?
Does the mast foot pivot?
Personally I'd have a crack at doing it myself, but I'm optimistic, inexperienced and thrifty : p
edit: and cautious so "think twice" is my motto before I do things...
If you need a crane/travel lift to replace one rope, then the others, you can also think about all the wire rigging.
But the more you do, the more expensive everything is for a yacht you haven't sailed much yet.
Heavy wooden mast or hollow aluminium? How long? Sometimes people climb their masts. Otherwise can you substitute a spare halyard for the jib, or 'mouse' another rope.
Even if you are too scared to go up the mast yourself I would think it would be a lot cheaper to find someone to do that and drop another line down with a weight on it and then fish it out the bottom rather than pay for a crane and de rig. You might have to drill the rivets out of the lower halliard exit from the mast to fish it out but easy to rivet back in.
Sure to be some YouTube videos on this and don't need to be folkboat specific.
As has already been said are you sure there is not another halyard exiting from the adjacent the top of the forestay that you can use? If it is a spinnaker halyard it might exit above the forestay so you might have to thread it through an external guide just below the forestay which should have been used by the broken halliard if you have a furler. Make sure it doesn't rub on the forestay.
Make friends in the club and someone will surely help you.
There is also a Folkboat owners page on Facebook with well over 550 members and also a Mariholm Folkboat page on Facebook. I'm sure you will be able to find knowledgeable owners near you on that page if you ask.
The folkboat mast would be easy to lower by yourself with a tripod. But the easiest way to solve your problem would be to use a barrel sinker and lower it down to the base with a fishing line etc. If you can tie up alongside a fishing boat or a bridge etc you can pull the mast toward you using another halyard. Because yachts heel fairly easily the first few degrees I've pulled my mast over to a fishing boats boom [one that's easy to climb] and done exactly what your contemplating. Lowering the mast is the easiest though. Check out Youtube.
the mast has a single pin at the bottom and can be laid back so will rig up a system to drop it 3/4 down according to marieholm facebook. Anyway will give it a try using bungee cord to take the weight off while lowering with ropes. thanks for the input men...
Only a little mast, so go to Bunnings buy 6 x 2 m lengthsof timber dowel (10mm) and 500 mm pvc tube to go over the dowel and cut to make joiners with some small self tappers although tape will do.
Join the dowels to correct length and mark correct distance from base
insert into mast with a mouse attached.
Used coat hanger hook to extract mouse from exit block
Pull new halyard through using mouse.
This method largely prevents twist of halyards inside the mast.
Lots of Etchells will carry the dowel etc in the trailer box for this eventuality where you need to repair very quickly.
