stepping the mast

Ok, I bought a used hobie 16 in july. I've been sailing monohulls for about five years, but this is my first cat. I've sailed it three times so far. The 16 has been the most enjoyable boat I've ever sailed except for one thing.
STEPPING THE MAST

When we attempt to raise it, the mast always seems to want to drift to one side. Neither my dad, or I are strong enough to muscle it up and keep it straight at the same time, so we used a wingh the last two times. Still, we can't controll the swaying of the mast from side to side.

I came up with a theory on how to raise it more easily. I wanted to know if it would be bad if the mast were brought up at an angle. If one person could pull all the way on one of the shrouds as the other cranks it up. That way, the opposite shroud is tense, keeping the mast in a straight line. This strategy worked well when lowering the mast, but we haven't tried it on the raise yet.


opinions?

There are lots of posts on this if you do a search you can get lots of ideas. I'm not sure how you're stepping the mast; it shouldn't be that difficult; just stand at the rear of the trampoline and lift it onto your shoulder, then walk it forward/up. Are you doing something different?

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Warm regards,

Jim

Hello Harken22 and welcome-
There are more discussions on this than you can shake a mast at but this most recent discussion covered a lot of ground with a few members who seem to have a lot of experience- go to

http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewt ... highlight=

Of course, if you invent a better way, we all need to know Thanks!

At the first sign of storm, WE SAIL

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The fact that this windy world is largely covered in water obviously means that man was meant to sail.