Solo mast stepping

Ok, so I'm looking for tips to solo-step the mast on my Hobie 18. There is no way I'll be able to step it solo manually. In fact, it's difficult to do it with my crew, to the point that after attempting it the first time, we stopped, put it back down and immediatly went to the hardware store to buy stuff for a stepping system.

Currently, I have a manual winch mounted to the forward mast support, slightly higher than the front crossbar. The winch attaches to the forstay, over a gin pole made of a 4in by 6ft pvc pipe that attaches to the base of the mast with bungies and has lines going from the top of the pole to the ends of the crossbar, and under/around the dolphin striker. I also attach a trap line from each side to the jib sheets, which run through the tramp lacing and under the dolphin striker. The initial part of the lift is split between the crew and the winch, until the trap lines go slack (about 30 degs). Then the crew just keeps the mast from leaning and twisting while I use the winch to do the rest of the lifting. After its up, the crew holds the mast forward while I attach the forstay.

Using this setup, I have seroius doubts about stability between about 30 degs (when the trap lines slack) and nearly 90 degs, when the shrouds can prevent leaning. Also, around 60 degs (guessing) the gin pole no longer has any connection to the winch. It just sits there or sometimes falls, allowing twist more easily. With a crew, none of this is a problem. Solo, it could spell disaster. Another concern is when it is up, detaching the winch and connecting the forstay to the furler, as I doubt I could hold the mast up with the forstay, let alone attach it to the furler while doing so.

Are there any solo 18 sailors that can give me tips to either modify or rebuild my stepping system to work solo? Or a completely different approach maybe? I considered an electric winch, and that could solve most of the issues I'd be facing (except the forstay issue), as long as i can operate the winch and keep the mast stable at the same time, but Im hoping I can get it setup so I dont have to worry about stability and just crank to raise/lower. Even if it means a little extra setup/takedown time.

Thanks,
Kyrle

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Standard Hobie 18

The biggest recommendation I can give you is to add some rings to hook your trap wires and gin pole guide ropes to. If you take the covers off the front crossbar castings you will find a couple of bolts. One is the end of the dolphin striker, the other attaches the hull. Either of these have plenty of strength. Or you can add D-rings like in this post: https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=49792

Your lines do not have to be perfect. As you raise the mast the trap wires will get tighter, so start with a little slack. As a general rule your setup should be able to keep the mast tang between the hulls. If you find the mast swings more than that, snug things up a bit.


The above advice is appropriate for anyone who isn't strong enough to raise the mast manually. If you are or can become strong enough don't bother with the above setup. There are simpler ways.

Use the gin pole method. I'm 66 and can step it myself and lower it as well...keep the box into the wind. It's quite easy

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an old Salt still flying Hobie 18s since 1987!
Sail numbers: 13847 past 7997, 1155, 176
Boat name: Blown Away

I really like the idea of attaching to those bolts/nuts, especially looking at the other option where drilling and riveting seems to be involved. I didn't actually have to take off any covers, there weren't any there. When I looked, it seemed like it would be a simple matter to unbolt the crossbar-hull bolt and attach something under the bolt head, but I'd rather not un-do any metal to fiberglass connections if I can avoid it. Plus, it looks like connecting there would put all the stress on one of the hull lips, instead of the crossbar. Connecting to the dolphin striker mounts seems like the ideal choice, since I'm already using the dolphin striker with my current setup.

I'm having trouble finding hardware to do this though, especially with the recessed dolphin striker nut. How much weight should this D-ring or what ever I end up using be able to support? Any suggestions for hardware? Ideally I'd like to find something that I can simply unbolt existing hardware, slide on new hardware, re-bolt old hardware back on. I'm not opposed to safe modifications or DIY hardware though.



That's what I'm doing now (gin pole at base of mast). The problem is, my current rigging for stepping the mast was never intended to work on its own. It was only there to assist the crew during certain stages. The crew does most of the stabilizing during stepping. Outside of those stages, the rigging is worthless. In fact, We could probably do it without the trapeze-jib sheet connections, and really only need the lines on the gin pole to keep it in place at the start.

What I'm looking for is tips to change or replace my rigging to make it safe for solo stepping. The above tip from speed set me on a good path to stabilizing lateral movement (leaning) once I get hardware sorted. Now I just need to figure out how to stop rotation. I don't think my gin pole will do that, It doesn't hug the mast well enough. My best idea to fix that is to wrap the mast in plastic where the pole connects, attach the gin pole and fill that end of the pvc pipe with that hard-ish expanding foam to make a kind of form fitting cradle. Even with that, I have my doubts since its only going to support the front curve of the mast, still allowing some rotation.

Thanks,
Kyrle

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Standard Hobie 18

Who said anything about stopping rotation? As long as your mast stepping system doesn't force unwanted rotation you will be just fine. The biggest factor driving the mast to rotate is the gin pole pushing off center. My H21SC has a gin pole that attaches via a stub into a hole. This setup is flimsy and drives a bit of unwanted rotation. The stub get's bent up but it works. So just make sure your gin pole grips the mast better than a stub in a hole. Or mount the gin pole to the front crossbar eliminating any concerns about unwanted mast rotation.

There was a post on here a few years back where a fella hooked up a cheap electric winch to his trailer with a remote long enough to reach back to the tramp. He propped the top end of the mast up on a ladder to get it started. Then he hooked the winch cable to the trap lines or main halyard, hopped up on the boat and started the winch. The winch did all the work and all he did was keep the mast on center as it went up. Once up, he hopped down and connected the forestay. Looked super easy and much less complicated than a gin pole setup.

sm

You need to be careful when using a winch without a gin pole. Electric winches will apply a lot of force and can break things. If the included angle between the hoisting cable and the mast is too small the force to lift the mast will be very high.

Here is a thread worth reading:
https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=26174

Yes, that’s the thread I was referring to. I agree that you would need to be careful with the winch so nothing breaks. Still seems like a much simpler approach than using a hand winch, gin pole, trap wire stabilizers, etc.

sm

I use the mast stepper 3. It takes a few minutes to rig it, but it's a safe solution. Don't really want to drop the mast or overstress anything.

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Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks

There's mention of limiting rotation during stepping in the H18 assembly manual and I've always been taught and made special care on rotation in the past (in my H16 days). Granted the mast hinge on the 16 seems a lot flimsier than the 18s setup.

Ok, so as long as I keep the gin pole strait and don't let it lean (left/right), I don't have to worry about rotation? Done, there are support lines going to the same place the trap lines for horizontal stabilizing. And after the winch line leaves the gin pole, I don't have to worry about rotation at all? The gin pole either stays there, or rotates strait down when the winch line lifts off. I could and probably will fix that falling with a simple line from the top of the pole to the rotation control yoke.



I don't think I had seen that specific post before, but I had read of rollers causing damage, potentially from mast stepping. I have rollers. The temporary fix seemed to be a combination of the gin pole and the crew helping with lift in the beginning. The future fix (solo) is a combination of what I am working on here, and an already planned (but not built) telescoping tripod to lift and support the top of the mast, before using the winch. I also have plans to replace the rollers with bunks, but want to get this finished first since its already started.

As for hardware, I have lucked out and found a nearly perfect solution:

Its stainless steel and fits the dolphin striker mount without even needing to remove anything. I slid this over top of the existing lock nut then added an extra standard nut. There's just enough space so the bolt sticks out about 1 full thread, so I'm calling that good and keeping an eye on it (maybe some locktite later). The manufacturer claims it can hold 500lbs. Thinking if there's more than 500lbs there, somethings gone horribly wrong.

I will probably use a pair of shackles with Murrays VLS Double Braid 1/4" (same as trap adjustment lines) with bowlines connecting to the skippers trap lines for the leaning support lines. The bottom/crossbar shackles will also hold the gin pole lines. The trap lines will have enough slack to allow the mast to swing so that the mast head can move to 1/2 way between center-line and the inside of each hull. speed mentioned that those lines will get tighter as the mast goes up (my current setup loosens). Is this enough slack?

I also plan to switch from using the forstay to both crew trap wires, assuming that wont cause a problem with using the other trap wires too. That should resolve the issues with pinning the forstay.

Thanks for all the advice, suggestions, and links so far. Anyone see any problems with this setup? Am I missing anything?

Kyrle

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Standard Hobie 18

Sounds right. You will know for sure when you raise the mast.

A couple more tips:

When attaching the crossbar to the trap wires, attach to the wire eye loop, not the adjustable ring on the trap wire. This way adjusting the trapeze height won't mess up your mast stepper.

Use the same rope to stabilize the gin pole and hold the trap wires stabilizing the mast. The rigging should go like this: Eye snap on the end of the trap wire - short length of rope - eye snap to dolphin striker nut hook thing - several feet of rope - bowline to tip of gin pole. Repeat for other side.