I have tried a google search and cannot seem to find anywhere that sells mast stands. I am looking for a 48" stand (to place a couple of feet ahead of my current one) on which I am going to mount a remote winch so that I can step my mast singlehandedly. So the mast stand needn't have a cradle. Just a square piece of galvanized with a bracket to mount to the trailer would work fine.

Thanks!

I'm not sure why you need two mast stands but I would imagine you could go to a local trailer shop or machine shop and have them weld a piece of steel tubing to a plate with some side supports and then drill four holes in it and buy a couple u bolts relatively cheap.

I am with Hohie.

i raise my ARC 21 mast solo w/one mast stand.

ripcurl:

What kind of boat are we talking about here? Most beach cat masts can be raised by hand. All you need to do is tie a line to the forestay, run it through the bridle, and bring it to the tramp. Raise the mast, hold it uprght against the shrouds with one hand, reach down and grab the line with the other. Tie it tight on a mast cleat. Go to the bridle, connect your forestay to the bridle, and remove the line.

Just make sure you use a strong enough line...

Mike

It's probably worth adding that the raising process is easiest (in my experience) when performed with a little bit of speed. Trying to lift the mast overhead gradually is pretty tough, but if you're inexperienced and not sure of the dynamics it is kind of instinctive to take it slowly, even though this actually makes it harder than it needs to be. This may be what creates the perceived need for the security of a winch. That said, I'm fortunate to usually have someone around to help with the initial lift from the back and to secure the forestay.

Thanks for the input. My cat is an Escape Playcat. The mast is light but it is easy to break the ball (according to the original owner). My difficulty is that once I have the mast raised it is hard to keep it stable while attaching the stays. My thinking vis-a-vis the extra mast stand is that the current one is quite close to the forward crossbar (and therefore the mast base/ball) and I wanted to create a better angle to raise the mast by placing the new stand about two feet forward of the current one. The Playcat does not have any cleats on the mast (nor can trapezes be attached) - the stays are attached to the leading edge of the mast. It is a very easy setup with two people. Perhaps it will simply take practice. I could attempt to use the existing hand winch but this just doesn't seem practical as I might have to grow an extra arm. I need something (instead of someone!) to hold the mast steady while attaching the stays. I am inexperienced with mast stepping on cats as most of my sailing has been on small monohulls such as a Sunfish which are tremendously easy to rig.

Thanks again for any further input.

J

put winch on regular mast holder and make a block to hold back end (top) of mast high enough so angle is good. your shrouds should keep side to side play to minimum then just connect stays. that said i always did lift with rope to cleat as mentioned earlier on my 16, not really sure about a playcat though.

It sounds like you're trying to raise the mast from the front, and then get the side stays on whilst it's held only by the forestay. I'd recommend doing it the other way: get the stays on first and raise from the back of the boat.

As has already been suggested, the trick to doing this singled handed is to tie a rope to the forestay, run it through the bridle and back to the deck. Having put the mast up with both stays on, keeping it upright is just a matter of leaning on it whilst you take up the slack and tie off the rope. You can then go and sort out the forestay.

Paul

See if you can tie the stays to the front crossbeam while you are raising the mast. They will be too long and the mast will sag badly to one side but see if it will hold the mast up.

Warning try this when you have help and before you try raising the mast solo.