I have always had a problem with the way masts are lifted into place. Standard procedure is to loop a strop under the spreader basess and lift away with a trailing guy rope on the bottom for control (and to hold the bottom to the bottom if the centre of gravity is too high). I have always wondered if the spreader bases and holes in the (soft) aluminum mast walls are actually designed to take this kind of sheer loading..?
And- if the strop is not placed just so, or the mast twists while being lifted, all the weight may be loaded onto a spreader(s) which would destroy it immediately. This has arisen in my mind particularly now since the mast on the 35-2 is such a serious chunk of metal and an incredible weight.
In the past, I have tried looping a long 1" line tied off at the base on either side of the mast with the top of the loop just above the spreaders and have inserted the strop under this loop... much to the consternation of the yard guys who just want it done as quickly as possible... with the standard reasoning that "this is the way we have always done it"!
The loop procedure worked fine in stepping the mast, albeit with a bit of fiddling, but the only way to do this for unstepping would be to go op in a bosun's chair to carry up the loop and thread the strop through it.
Any thoughts on the proper way to lift a mast..?
And- if the strop is not placed just so, or the mast twists while being lifted, all the weight may be loaded onto a spreader(s) which would destroy it immediately. This has arisen in my mind particularly now since the mast on the 35-2 is such a serious chunk of metal and an incredible weight.
In the past, I have tried looping a long 1" line tied off at the base on either side of the mast with the top of the loop just above the spreaders and have inserted the strop under this loop... much to the consternation of the yard guys who just want it done as quickly as possible... with the standard reasoning that "this is the way we have always done it"!
The loop procedure worked fine in stepping the mast, albeit with a bit of fiddling, but the only way to do this for unstepping would be to go op in a bosun's chair to carry up the loop and thread the strop through it.
Any thoughts on the proper way to lift a mast..?