I'm thinking of trying a solo mast stepping setup like Easy Step. My concerns are two fold:
1. my Tornado does not sit on the centerline of the (tilt) trailer so the winch line will be pulling to the side rather than in line with the mast hinge. Any problems with this either with a gin pole or other type of stepping system?
2. The mast step hinge on my boat needs the mast to be rotated 90 deg. to put the pin in...thus the mast's sides are fore & aft. Will this cause any problem with the forestay fitting taking all the load sideways during a raising/lowering process?

Mike.

Mike,
I use the Gin-Pole (Easy Step) on my Prindle 18. It also has the mast step on the side. Following the advise of fellow list member, Sheldon, I rivited a small padeye (fairlead) on the side of the mast about the same height as mast hound. I have a 1/4" non stretch line attached to this, which attachs to the top of the gin pole. When not in use, it is held tight against the mast with a clam cleat near the base of the mast.
I also built a small tripod to hold the rear of the mast high enough for the diamond wires to clear the rear crossbar. (better than the step ladder in the photos)
There are some photos of it in use in my folder at thebeachcats.com

Jack Hoying
Fort Loramie, Ohio
Prindle 18 #1645
http://www.bright.net/~jmhoying/sailing/prindle.htm

Mike-
I don't know what your tilt trailer looks like or works like but back when the 18squares were using tilt trailers that was the easiet I ever raised a 31' mast! Process consisted of hooking up (or leaving hooked up) the "upper" side shroud (ie the one to the raised hull), sliding the mast back- cradled in the rear mast holder- putting mast base on the ball (NACRA system- mast had to be turned 90 degrees- but since it's to be supported by one side stay pointing mast "up" was way to go anyway!) then simply swinging mast forward (also swings slightly up- it's rotating around an axis between the mast base and side shroud), hook up forestays and "lower" side stay and THEN "detilting" the boat to flat. Dropping mast is reverse. It does put a little more strain on the tilting mechanism, but if it can't handle those loads fully tilted you are probably in trouble anyway!
Hope this helps-

Kirt

Does the 18sq have a pin in the base to act as a hinge when stepping? Does this strain the hinge or mast step due to the "swinging up" of the mast as it pivots?

My trailer doesn't have mast support behind the rear beam...it's forward of it and the mast is positioned under the tramp after the boat is tilted, then up to the trailer's front post. I should be able to adapt things to work out alright...thanks for the idea.

Mike.

Mike-
The 18sq. does have a pin, but it goes in the mast base casting below the ball to "capture" the ball in the mast base. The mast is free to rotate with the pin in. IF your mast pins such that the mast is NOT free to rotate while pinned (ie it is actually rotating around the pin) then to make this work you need a (strong, non-stretchy) line, shroud (trapeze lines with short length of Spectra would work), etc. from the hound to the end of the front beam to support the mast as it raises (since the line rotates around the same axis as the mast base the triangle formed by this line, the mast and the front beam will remain constant, something that is not the case if you use a shroud). DO however hook up the "upward shroud" to act as a "stop" so the mast won't just keep going forward once you get it "up". The only problem with this method will be that the mast will need to be supported at the hound at the same height as the mast base when you hook this line up. A stepladder, "tipi structure", etc. can be used for this purpose.

Hope this helps-

Kirt

Mike-

On my T I built a tilt trailer that was offset when down. The mast hinge mounted at the dolphin striker/main beam with a hinge to a smaller base that the pin slid through. This hinge base will pull through the beam with little effort. I looked into production mast raising system but found the offset would be quite awkward with a pole. I finally developed an "A" frame [pvc] that attached [cut to fit around] to the main beam inside the hulls along with two pieces of pvc pipe tied together [X] to raise the top. Basically the mast was raised to about 30 degrees with the pvc pipe. Then with the "A" frame attached to a 3:1 block tied to the mast carrier the mast raised and lowered the mast single handed. I used this for five years whenever I singlehanded or was waiting on a crew to show up. Worked fine. Also used a piece of fence pipe anchored to the trailer in a larger piece to raise and lower the boat with the 3:1 block system I used to raise the mast. No battery/winch. All of it tied to the trailer next to the sail box.

thom
FMS SC20 #57-being refinished by Don Caldwell presently
ARC22 #2234 Widowmaker
F25c 009 Charisma