Why Should I Take the Mast Out?

March 2009

"Does it have to come out?" If I were a surgeon, I might better understand the mix of anxiety and uncertainty that usually accompanies this question. But I'm a rigger, and the question is the all-too-frequent response to my suggestion that we need to remove a sailboat's mast to do some work. After all these years maybe I've become used to the notion that it's no big deal; I certainly know that it is a very rare mast that offers anything like resistance or major complications. I'll hasten to add that this isn't a job to be taken lightly — far from it — but it isn't the major operation that my clients' trepidation often makes it out to be.

In addition, leaving the mast in often doesn't make sense economically. I used to do jobs with the mast in place, thinking that I was somehow saving my clients money. But then I took a close look at how much slower I had to work when aloft, plus the added cost of deck crew, and I quickly came to the realization that the client was often paying more to leave the stick in. And frankly, although it is possible to do almost anything aloft that you can on the ground, it is harder to do as good a job. For both these reasons — cost-effectiveness and quality control — I now approach whether or not to leave the mast in with a simple formula:

I think about how slow, awkward, and hazardous it is to do anything aloft. Then I think about how fast, ergonomic, and safe it is to do the same thing with the mast on sawhorses, waist-high. Next, I factor in the time and expense of removing and replacing the mast. If the bother of stepping and unstepping is more than offset by the ease and safety and speed of doing the work on the ground, then obviously you are better off taking the mast out. The math doesn't work out for something as simple as changing a light bulb, so up the mast you go. But what if you are going to change the bulb, put in a new masthead light, add a halyard restrainer, and replace the furler? This is a fairly typical cluster of items, and given straightforward disconnects and reasonable crane prices, we might well be at the worth-pulling-it-out point, without even going into all the simple tasks — cleaning, inspecting, rebedding fasteners — that are even simpler with the mast on the ground, and which you'll be delighted to do with the stick in front of you, instead of dreading doing aloft.

At other times, there is simply no question that the mast has to come out, no matter how simple the job. If, for instance, the mast step, compression post, or deck at the base of the mast has issues, you have to get the mast out of the way to get at them. At other times it might seem like you could leave the mast in, such as when the chainplates need to be inspected and/or replaced. Here it is possible to effect temporary staying and remove the chainplates one at a time, or in pairs. Sounds simple, doesn't it? But the reality is that the temporary staying is a time-consuming bother, that you'll need to detune and retune as you go to prevent interesting mast distortions, that any chainplates that need to be replaced will be done on the machinist's own sweet time, and that meanwhile you'll have large holes in your deck or hull. In addition, some rigs, like those with discontinuous rigging, or with no shrouds forward of the mast, are much harder to temporary than others.

As for the how of the thing, the step-by-careful-step task of physically removing and then replacing the mast is well outside the scope of this article. A good crane driver and a calm, dry day are two important factors; experience is the third. I do this kind of thing for a living, so there's a vested interest here, but let me urge you to consider getting professionals for the job. Lots of people don't, and lots of them are successful, but there probably isn't a crane drive alive who doesn't have a tale or two about working with novices. Oh, the yelling, and the lunging, and the near-disasters, and the actual disasters — there is a learning curve to this process, and it doesn't make sense to experiment with your precious spar. Instead, find a careful, experienced rigger to show you the way. You're bound to learn something, and you'll reduce your risk.

Assured of a safe pick out and then in, and with straightforward, bosun's-chair-free work available to you, the idea of trying to do the work in place will seem ludicrous. At least when the scope of the job justifies it, you're better off on the ground. So why not pull the stick?

(This article first appeared in Latitude 48)

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