I have this 1982 Nacra 5.2 with the non-captive mast system and the bar in the middle of the tramp.

I am looking for instruction how to raise the mast solo. I will be sailing singlehandly this season and I will also be traillering to the launch sites.

If anybody has some suggestion, I will be happy to listen to it.

My cat is unfortunatly still stuck in ice (yes, ice, I live up north) and under a powerline so it is probably going to take me one or two weeks before I make my first attempt in my driveway.

I will be purchasing some gear from Murray's for the Nacra in the next few days. Other than the usual stuff, I am thinking about a set of shroud extenders.

Right now, I am thinking about a pivot point at the mast base, temporaty sidestays and a rear mast support. I will probably also install a winch on the trailler.

All suggestion are welcome but I will not change my mast for an Helium filled Carbon fiber mast ;-)

Charles
Nacra 5.2

1st and foremost...upgrade the mast base to the captive style. Murray's has the kit (it's probably even be here on catsailor). It comes with a new dolphin striker post, new mast ball, and new mast base. Solo raising without it is much more difficult.

I have a friend that raises his solo although I've never seen him do it (I always help when I'm there!). He puts a step ladder at the back of the boat to support the mast while he puts the base on the ball (and the pin in place to keep it there). He then runs all the rigging, hops on the trampoline, and steps it in place. He has a line that he measured just right that he hooks to the eyestrap on the front of the mast to hold it in place while he jumps down to attach the forestay. Same for reverse.

REPLACE THE BASE!

Without the captive mast setup, I suspect the only practical way to step the mast would be a dead lift. Stand the mast up in front of the front beam, stand on the tramp and lift up and set it in place, you would have to have the shrouds and forestay VERY loose. Sounds dangerous to me......

I have the captive mast base and raise the mast my by myself. Try to park with the front of the trailer downhill if possible. If it is real windy, park with the front of the trailer downwind and let the wind assist you. (That also helps to keep the mast standing in place while you fasten the forestay.)

Position the mast on the tramp and put the back (top) of the mast on a 6' stepladder. Slide the mast onto the ball (mast is lying on its side) and insert the pen into the captive mast base. Make sure shrouds and trap lines are clear and will not get caught on anything. The mast will continue to lie on its side. You may want to make sure the shrouds are slightly loose or you may not be able to attach the forestay to the bridle. Make sure that the forestay has a clear shot at the bridle and will not get twisted/tangled when you step the mast.

Attach a long line to the end of the forestay and run it through a block attached to the winch post on the trailer. From the block, go under the bridle, coil the remainder of the line and lay it on the tramp. (This line will have the forestay/bridle in position and will help keep the mast standing when you leave the tramp to connect the forestay.)

Now get on the tramp and put the tail of the line that you attached to the forestay and stick it in your belt/pants. From the very rear of the tramp, with one foot on the rear beam to get good support, lift the mast (not really all that heavy but it is somewhat awkward) and get under it as quick as you can. Lift and go hand over hand while walking forward, as quickly as you can, to step the mast. Quicker is better. While doing this; try to keep the slack out of the line that is attached to the forestay. Once you get so far, the side stays will keep the mast from going side to side. If you were able to park with the front of the trailer downhill/downwind, the mast will practically stand on its own.

Holding tension on the line, step off the tramp, attach the forestay to the bridle, remove the line, remove the pin from the mast base, tension the shrouds and go sailing (after putting away the ladder, which I bungie to the trailer).

Terry

Charles,
Isn't there any way to use a piece of line to secure the mast base to the mast step for raising and lowering? We have done that occasionally on various cats.

If you attach the line to a trapeze handle instead of the forestay, you can attach the forestay to the bridle while you still have the line supporting the mast from the front.

Be careful when stepping on the rear beam: because of the shape of the hulls, your weight plus the mast will make the boat "seat back" on the rear segment of the hulls and put you in a very scary situation... This is the reason why I havn´t been able to raise the mast solo myself (any advice for this?)
My mast has a home made base that is just a semi-sphere. It is obviously non captive, it requires to start a certain angle and to attach a safety line fron the base to the mast step. It won´t avoid the base to get out of the ball, but it will certainly avoid that I kill someone standing close to the base of the mast...

Either leave the boat tied down to the trailer while stepping the mast or move your rear cradles on the trailer so they are just under, or behind, the rear beam of the boat. If you are talking about the trailer tongue raising into the air, leave it connected to the tow vehicle while stepping.

This is out of the question, I live in a country where we have very strict laws against beheading women and children with a 29' aluminum pole.

I have a smaller 25' mast with a smaller section that I can dead lift but the Nacra 29' mast is simply too heavy.

I use to have a Nacra 5.7 with a captive mast system. I had both boats at the same time and I was tempted to switch over the mast base system before selling the Nacra 5.7

The problem with the captive mast system is that the mast has to lie on the side while we are stepping it.

Here it goes:

I am thinking about upgrading to the captive mast base system, I simply have to purchase the kit and install it. It a cheaper solution than the helium filled carbon mast.

I might also build a mast craddle... or I am thinking about installing my cat backwards on my trailler so I will be able to use the existing mast craddle. Alro if I try raising the mast in the boat launch, the gravity will help me.

I should also build temporary stays that go from the front crossbeam to the trapeze wires and maybe another set that would connect the hull/bridle to the other trapeze wires. The first set of stay should allow me to raise the mast straight and the second set would help me to attach the forestay

I am also thinking about purchasing the shroud tensionners/de-tensionner( Murrays 02-1060) to try to speed up the setup time.

Charles
Nacra 5.2

I have old Unicorn A-cat with heavy aluminum mast.
After trying to dead rising mast a few times(no fun at all) I invented completely "new" way of rasing a mast.
1. Flip the boat (platform) on it's side. (Bring it on the beach first). You will need some kind of stick to hang the boat on.
2. Position mast on the ground perpendecular to the boat.
3.Connect "lower" shrouds and stays. (I mean connect wires to the hull next to the ground)
4. Hang the mast on the ball and let the boat rest on the mast(remove stick)
5. Connect "upper" wires(you will need something to stand on).
6.Lift a boat.

It can be done solo with drinking beer in process. Despite boat lifting the process much easier and secure than wrestling mast up.

My 2 cents

Vlad
Inter 17R
Unicorn A-cat

I have a Hobie 18 that I set up for solo mast raising when I first got it, not wanting to put kids or wife at risk. You will find similar rigs to mine in various catalogs, but you can scratch build what you need pretty easily *if* you have dual traps, a captive mast hinge, a trailer winch, and a reasonably tall mast support at the front of your trailer.

First, I added a pulley at the top of the mast support on the trailer. The trailer winch rope runs up the mast support, through the pulley, and attaches to one pair of trapeze lines (I suppose one trap line would do it, but I like using two). Use a decent shackle. Attach the other pair of trapeze lines on each side of the front beam somehow. These are to keep the mast more or less aligned while you lift. A small amount of slack is okay. You will probably need to lift the top of the mast off the ground a good six feet or more to get enough angle for the winch line to work. Use a step ladder, or make a stand out of 2x4's.

Now you can crank the mast up with the winch with minimal effort and complete control. You can apply enough pressure with the winch so it is easy to attach the forestay. Reconnect the trap lines to the bungies and you're in business.

I think the easiest way to get your mast up is JUST GO SEE A FRIENDLY PHYSICIAN AND GET A SAMPLE PRESCRIPTION FOR VIAGRA......
It worked for ..... er, a friend of mine (ya, that's right....).
Gettin' it back DOWN is the tricky part.

Charles:

You have a lot of advice here on getting up the mast, so you probably don't need mine. I will explain the shroud extenders to you though: They were originally designed as a safety mechanism in case you flipped the boat over on it's side. If you could pull the pin on the shroud extenders, then the hulls would travel over another twelve inches, and in theory, you could get the boat over easier. Two problems with them though: When you did get the boat back over, it's a bitch getting the shroud tensioned again; and secondly it's actually getting up there to release the pins. I have them on mine and I don't use them for righting, but they are incredibly helpful when dropping the mast or tuning the shroud tension for different wind conditions. If you do decide to use them as a righting tool, remember they cannot be used during a race.

Wyatt

This is true only if it's a Hobie (I think).

They come stock on Supercats and ARC's. It really helps with the wide beam boats. They are definitely legal with these boats.

I wonder why they are not race-legal for Hobies. I think I heard a reason once, but I can't remember what it was.

Charles, I had a NACRA5.2 which never had a captive base, and here's how I did it. First, I attached a small padeye low on the mast. Then have a short piece of line tied to the dolphin striker. Position the mast ready to raise, and when you put the mast casting on the mast ball, tie the line to the padeye, tightly. This keeps the mast tip from popping up and killing someone. When raising mast this way, it helps if you keep pressure forward along mast towards the mast base. Also, having boat with stern uphill and upwind, can also help. This small line saved me & friends many times. Untie after mast is raised. I still do this today out of habit, even with the captive system.
Where to position the padeye will depend on rotator, downhaul, etc. You may even be able to use something already in place.

Warning, this message will contain some explicit publicity

Thank you to everybody again for taking the time to reply.
I was able to find all that I need on the Catsailor Store and I will probably upgrade to the captive mast system in a few weeks.

As far as the shrouds extenders, I will probably purchase these because I am looking for a way to speed up the rigging of the boat and it will be safer since the stay remain attached even while operating the extender.

As far as racing, there only seems to be 2 beachcat in my area, the other one is a P16.

Also since I will be sailing on a difficult river, this will give me some extra security in case I am not able to right the boat. However, I am quite heavy and I would be really surprised if I failed to right the boat. I have been doing in in a lake but now I am in the St-Laurent River, it is like a small ovean, the river is over 60 milles wide and we have big tides, salt water and even beach