PocketShip.net

Hello everyone. This is a question for those of you who are actually sailing and trailering your boat.

When you are preparing to tilt the mast back for trailering ... do the boom and mainsail stay attached (like on the C-P Suncat) or do you detach the boom and remove the mainsail from the mast and gaff? If the latter, where do they go ... in the cabin? From the photos I have seen, it looks like the jib stays attached to the bowsprit so I'm assuming that the jib halyard is tightened/loosened for this part of the process ... right?

I'm just trying to clearly visualize the process of setting it up at the ramp and putting everything in its place at the end of the day. Thanks.

Kim

The boom stays attached, and the mains'l stays bent on. The gaff has to come off the track (which means the mains'l cars have to come off the track too). The boom and mast rest on the gallows. When you furled your main, you already tied the gaff the to boom, so it also pretty much stays put. The mast and boom should be lashed to the gallows to secure them.

I whipped up some webbing/snap-together sail ties that I use when furling the main, and then the mast is down for trailering, I'll run one or two of those around the whole mast/boom/sail/gaff mess to make sure everything is nicely held together.

See my [Tattoo's] posting for 1/15/2012 about a "bracket" to hold the forward end of the gaff when trailering. It is easily mounted on (or removed from) the tabernacle and stowed in the tow vehicle since it is only used when trailering. Of course you could just lash the gaff and furled sail to the mast and boom. The cars on the mast are slid off, but the head of the sail stays bent to the gaff. The sail cover I had made covers the gaff with the sail bent to it. In off season the whole works is stowed in my garage attic.

Thanks for your description!

Kim

Hi Kim,

Since I don't have sail covers and don't want to subject them to 55mph highway speeds I remove both during take down. The main gets removed and dropped right into the cabin, then the mast is lowered with the jib halyard and the jib is removed using a hairpin clip at the furler and a caribiner style clip on the halyard and sheet. I've added some eye straps to the mast to clip the three halyards to so they can be secured for trailering also. The boom is secured with a length of cord between the gooseneck and out haul and the gaff is secured to it with a couple velcro straps. All three spars are lashed to the gallows as the last step.

Chris