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Post by shiook on Jan 3, 2016 14:19:56 GMT
Has anyone created a temporary, one time use, forestay rig to allow the mast to be tipped rearward to allow the boat to pass under a bridge?
I'm considering attaching a line to the forestay to allow me to winch out and lengthen the forestay, so the boat has reduced bridge clearance height for this one bridge in Florida's Okeechobee waterway. Feasible? Does the deck stepped mast step fitting allow this movement?
Any alternative methods used? I see the standard practice there is to fly a water ballast off the mast to tip the boat while motoring thru. I'm not so excited about trying that but am considering all ideas to avoid the long trip around.
Thank you as always.
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Post by MalcolmP on Jan 3, 2016 16:19:48 GMT
You would need to stabilise the foot really well - the shearing force would be significant. - could be expensive... Not that I know anything about the ICW etc but I have scraped through some low bridges in Holland like the Ososterscheldt and on the UK east coast one shallow marina will at times take the main halyard onto a workboat to heel boats to reduce draft and the rigs seems to take such abuse in their stride Best to do actual measurement of course but data on the SO36i even the performance version goo.gl/1KBeUQ gives an "I" of just over 46 feet , so even adding say 5 foot for height of the mast step above the waterline that is maybe 2' more than the minimum rail height of mentioned www.offshoreblue.com/cruising/okeechobee-bridges.php and they do say lake levels may be lower. If you can take things like aerials and tricolors off the mast that will help. You would not need to heel the boat that much so the loads should not be that significant, if you don't like the ballast being swung out on the halyard you should be able to induce significant heel just by putting water drums on the side deck and shifting all your stores etc etc to the same side and even asking some big guys from a local bar to sit on the side decks too ... |
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Post by rxc on Feb 8, 2016 4:22:22 GMT
That is an amazing video. It looks like they have the weights rigged semi-permanently, in order to be able to cruise on the US ICW. I can't get thru the Okeechobee canal because most of the bridges are 55 ft, but one railroad bridge is only 50 ft. There are some guys at the railroad bridge who run a service where they will use water barrels to heel your boat over for a fee, instead of trying to get the mast to lean back, by easing the forestay. I would recommend using their services rather than trying to play with the rigging.
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Post by synergy36 on May 28, 2020 17:42:56 GMT
I have a 2007 SO 36i and will also be going up the canal to haul at Indiantown Marina. The water barrel approach is the most common and the one I plan to use. Timing your passage to arrive at the low bridge at low tide can help too. I agree with the other writer that tipping the mast aft could be high risk.
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Post by NZL50505 on Jun 3, 2020 18:45:53 GMT
Has anyone created a temporary, one time use, forestay rig to allow the mast to be tipped rearward to allow the boat to pass under a bridge? I'm considering attaching a line to the forestay to allow me to winch out and lengthen the forestay, so the boat has reduced bridge clearance height for this one bridge in Florida's Okeechobee waterway. Feasible? Does the deck stepped mast step fitting allow this movement? Any alternative methods used? I see the standard practice there is to fly a water ballast off the mast to tip the boat while motoring thru. I'm not so excited about trying that but am considering all ideas to avoid the long trip around. Thank you as always. You should discuss with a rigger and / or someone who can do the maths reliably for you. But my recollection of basic geometry tells me that after just a few feet of lengthening the forestay with the mast tipped back just a few degrees the increased loads on the temporary forestay would skyrocket - and you might struggle to even pull the mast back to vertical without assistance from a better angle. |
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Post by panoramix on Jun 3, 2020 22:16:50 GMT
If you lower the mast by lengthening the forestay, the other rigging goes slack. That is a big problem, because now your mast can and will swing sideways.
The next step is that the foot of the mast breaks out, slips forward and the whole lot comes down on you!
A sailboat is designed and made to heel over. Even extreme angles like in the video are no problem. So fill up your dinghy and you can do it yourself.
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