Tonic 23, Mast lowering

[ecl]

I need to lower the mast on my Tonic 23. It looks as if the mast will lower to the aft but it looks like it will hit the doghouse before it is lowered enough to manage by hand. Are there any instructions, tips, or hints available. There are none in my manual and I can't find any info. in the forum. Since it is a trailable boat is should be pretty easy to do. Any help would be welcomed.

Thanks ecl  

[so36idavid]

My friend has a 27 foot boat that he occasionally puts on a trailer. He uses a gin pole to lower and raise the mast. Search online and you'll find videos and instructions on how to build and use one. 

[ecl]

I looked at the videos and the gin pole works great when the base of the mast is on the doghouse but the Tonic mast base is on the rear of the foredeck. The mast is at about a 30 deg. angle when it hits the front of the doghouse when leaned back. I built 2 A frames out of 2x4's and that got me about a foot above the spreader. My plan is to lift the mast and swing the base fwd. and lower the mast flat to the deck. I am at my dock so I can take my time but I would hate to do it this way on a trailer at a boat ramp. As soon as I can find a helper the mast is comming down.

ecl

  

[smm]

ECL,

I too have a 1986 Tonic. It is a great looking boat, but challenging to find a lot of info on. My instructions are in french. I would love to hear how you got the mast down as I need to get mine down as well. Would like to exchange contact info so we can trade tips/tricks.

Steve

[ecl]

After several hours of searches I found two threads on lowering it. The issue is the mast base below the dog house. The best solution seens to set up an extension ladder in the cockpit to catch the mast. Then let the extension ladder down step by step to lower the mast. Going down to the boat now to try it. Will let you know how it turns out. FYI the mast should weigh about 75 lb.

ECL   

[ecl]

The mast is down and back up and no one got hurt. The key is using an extension ladder set up vertically in the cockpit. Used a halyard to pull the mast forward to disconnect the forestay and to attach a line back to the main wench mostly as a safety. Since the sidestays are slightly behind the mast there is no need to disconnect them for lowering. The mast weighs about 75 lbs. I just walked it back to the extended ladder (16 ft.). (Just make sure the ladder contacts the mast above the spreaders.) Next drop the ladder to the unextended position (approx 8 ft).  The lowers can turn 90 deg. at the mast and disconnect. The uppers stay attached to the mast and they are unpinned fron the deck. The mast is bumped aft to unlock it from the deck. The mast pivot point on the ladder is closer to the base so it will want to lift up but it is not really bad. Next slide the base of the mast to the bow and beyond. Disconnect the backstay and remove mast from the boat. Install in reverse , you will have to loosen the stay turnbuckles to reconnect the forestay.

   Replaced, main sheve, light assy, VHF antenna and cable and main and jib halyard. I had replaced the lazy jacks about 6 months ago. Two people did it but three would have been better.

ecl