Hi,
I am the new and happy owner of a 1983 - 367 and this will be my first time having my boat and mast transported about 2 miles to my house for the winter. Most of the sailors around here that bring their boats home get their masts pulled and then lowered by the boom so that it lies on top of the boat supported by the bow pulpit, cabin top, and aft push pit; all cushioned with fenders. Sometimes they elevate it a little higher up to serve as a tarp support. However, it seems to me that the 367 mast would be much too heavy and long to do this without damage to my boat. Our boat yards here don't have room to store it. Any advise would be much appreciated.
Annie
Sounds like they are hinging a deck stepped mast on the step. Your mast is keel stepped and is not going to hinge. You are going to need a crane to lift it straight up out of the boat. You should be able to put the mast on the trailer beside or under the boat after the boat is loaded. Make sure the standing and running rigging is either removed or well secured to the mast. If it gets loose and goes under a trailer axle, it gets ugly quick.
Ray,
Your reply hints of personal experience with that axle comment.
Tell us more...
Dale
Thanks for your responses. I'll be sure to fasten the rigging securely to the mast. Unfortunately, the local boat haulers don't own trailers that are long enough to carry my mast next to the boat like you suggested. To clarify, the other boaters I was talking about have non-hinged masts that are shorter and lighter than mine and a crane pulls them up and then lowers and guides the mast to lie on top of the boat and it's lashed down and transported home, right on top of the boat. I have a crane lined up to lift my mast out also, but I'm afraid that if they put my heavy mast it on top of my boat, like they do with the lighter and shorter unhinged masts, it might break my bow pulpit, cabin top, and/or push pit.
Have some saw horses made that will support the mast any decent handy man carpenter could make them for you or you could do it yourself. Place the saw horses one large one on the fore deck and a shorter one on the cabin top. A Simple "A" frame of 2x4s at the stern will support the aft end. You will have three points of support less than two hundred ponds per support!
Just a thought.
Ed S/V Moonlight Mile
Here is what we did for the Erie Cannel trip. DaleBoth spars are next to each other.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s233/dtskibo/Misc009-1.jpg
Dale
I don't want to hijack the thread but yes, we had a bad experience with a boat transporter. You will note I left out the word "professional". They claim to be "professionals" and to be "fully licensed and insured", but we did not see any of it. We found Abracadabra on the hard in Charleston, SC. She had a seawater flooded engine (locked up) and a crack in her bilge from being improperly blocked in the boatyard. We knew these things when we bought the boat. So we needed to get her to Palacios, Tx. I did some checking around on the internet, and emailed a boat transporter. He is now working for another transporter and we hired that company to move the boat. The boatyard is not a do it yourself yard, so we had to hire them to prep the boat for shipping. They got the boat loaded OK, and the truck got parked for a few days at the driver's yard while he took a few days off. This was agreed on beforehand. It saved us from paying storage in the yard while he took a few days off. He started for Texas. I got an email from him with pics from Tallahasee, Fl. The standing and running rigging had gotten loose and in the trailer axle. The main mast was damaged and our forestay had cut his tire. So- he showed up in Palacios and things went downhill from there- It got pretty ugly. He refused to unload the boat until we paid for his 400.00+ trailer tire. I told him he could forget that- it was not going to happen. There was a discussion about the damage to the boat that got more and more heated. He refused to call his insurance company. He placed all the blame on the boatyard that prepped the boat. He again told us we could not have the boat until we paid for his tire. I told him the tire was not my problem and I was not paying for it, he could take that up with his insurance company when he filed a claim for our boat damages. He had admitted to me that he was speeding and watching the shrinkwrap come off the mast. I talked to one of the city police officers- we did not have to pay for the tire, but we could not make him unload the boat. In the meantime he was charging 85.00?/hr waiting time. In the end, Wanda paid him for the tire and I told him to get the boat off his trailer and get out of my sight. Damage to the boat- both winches torn off the mainmast, all the main standing rigging ruined, the mast has a dent in it where one of the winches used to be, wind instrument transducer destroyed, masthead torn off. He was real sorry about the damage, but it was not his problem- take it up with the boatyard.