I have no need to sail or drive my NorseBoat under bridges, but my last boat was a Windrose 18 with a 23 foot mast which I kept parked about ¼ mile from Cheney Lake and had two Power Lines to go under to reach the launch ramp. To get that boat rigged quickly since the mast was about 30 feet above the ground when the boat was on the trailer and would not clear the Power Lines I set up the Jib Stay with a “Johnson Marine Quick- Release Shroud Lever”, left the Shrouds & Back Stay set up then used the Jib Halyard to control the mast while laying the whole rig in a “Mast Up” support mounted in the rudder gudgenons which was adjusted to support the mast at a 60 degree angle, this made much easier to start the mast up when raising it. That “Shroud Lever” allowed the Jib Stay to keep its rigged length when pining it while slack , then locking the Lever to set the tension again. This operation was done single handed for 20 years of sailing.

Now I still park my NorseBoat in the same place, but the short mast has no problem getting under the Power Lines, but getting the upper mast stuck into lower section is a real pain caused by two problems: (1) I am only 5’ 10 “also just turned 78 last month: (2) Kansas wind blows too hard to wave an 11 foot pole over your head while holding on to the last foot of it. When the “NorseBoat Forum” requested input on how to lower the mast, my brain swung into gear, since I had a similar problem and the mechanics would work for either case.

Here is what I have developed, a hinged 24” section of 3 inch PVC pipe with a portion of one side removed to allow the pipe diameter to be reduced to fit the 2 3/4 inch diameter of the mast, installed a shortened 4” strap hinge with four FH 10-32 screws that are countersunk on inner side of the pipe,(note: to be able to countersink the four holes if you don’t have a long shank countersink you will have to remove the extra material that is needed to allow the sail hoops to slide past the hinge area at this time to get the drill motor chuck down in the pipe to cut the countersinks) the outside two screw holes in the hinge are drilled & tapped in the center with enough edge distance to the hole supplied with the hinge then the end is trimmed to remove the hole, the inner holes are drilled on the center also( note: hole must be 9/16”from edge of pipe to support the load, I made nuts for these from a strip of .136”thick steel that are fitted close to the hinge pivot to add support in that area since only one screw is used ( note: the side of the hinge that has two rolled sections requires the nut strip to be as wide as the hinge or the torque load will deform the unsupported ends ), the screws were ground off to almost flush with the strap or the nut strips, then removed and the ends beveled with a file. While having the screws out you need to bevel the three edges of the strip nuts which are away from hinge pivot, this allows Hoops to slip by.

Now comes the way to fit & fiddle all these parts to fit the mast and allow the sail and gaff Hoops to slide over this “Mast Handler” and be stowed on the mast between the Boom Hoop ( note: my boom hoop fits tighter than all the other hoops which have about ¾” slop ). First to get the fit of the PVC pipe I used several 3 1/2” hose clamps to squeeze the pipe to less than the 2 ¾” OD of the mast then heated it with a “Heat Gun”, I cut 5 inches off the 24” section, and found that after clamping , heating & cooling then removing the clamps the pipe OD was 3 1/8” to fit the lower end” Upper Mast Section” of my mast (note: don’t rush to squeeze the pipe in one clamp,heat & cool cycle because it is easier to get to the 3 1/8” OD by increasing the clamp pressure than to having to wedge the pipe open to reach the 3 1/8” diameter when it is over squeezed, by twisting wooden blocks in the open side to spread it open). The final check is to fit the PVC pipe to your mast so it can be moved along the mast using light force, you don’t want the mast sections to slide out of the pipe sections while swinging them up or down ( note: to be sure the Upper Mast will not slip out while moving the boat you can use a 4” “Quick–Grip” Handi-Clamp” modified by removing the swivel pads & adding two pieces of the scrap PVC Pipe to the inside of the clamp arms held on by light Safety Wire to pinch the 5” section tight, see photo ). The fit of the sail hoops to allow them to pass the hinge area since the OD of the PVC Pipe with the hinge is greater than ID of the Hoops will require the material opposite the hinge be removed. The best way to handle the amount and area needing removal is to pull the pin securing the Gaff to it’s Hoop, then slide it over the “Mast Handler” while it is installed on the Lower Mast Section to mark the areas to remove (note: to allow the “Hoop” to get over the hinge pin the “Hoop” will need to be contacting the mast tube for enough clearance to skip through this area , also on my boat the “Gaff Hoop” has the same ID as the “Sail Hoops” but is 1” wide while the “Sail Hoop” is ½” wide so if the “Gaff Hoop” will get through the “Sail Hoops” will too) so this is another cut & try exercise, a clue would be to look at the pictures so the shape of the trimmed area is known.

Here is a “List of Materials”:

(1) PVC Pipe 3” diameter by 24” long (note: must be the solid pipe not the Foam Cored Drain Type) Home Depot has this available on a rack of assorted

Diameters all 24 “long, cost $4.49 each for 3” Solid PVC 24” long

(2) Strap Hinge 4” size 2/package at Home Depot for $2.99

(3) Machine Screws FH 10-32 X ½” long four required (had these on hand)

(4) Mild Steel .136” thick X ½” wide X 1 ½” long (note: had a piece of this from a scrapped Lawn Fertilizer Spreader)

(5) Worm Drive Hose Clamps to fit the PVC Pipe 3 needed ( note: if you have enough smaller clamps on hand just gang them up into create a large enough Clamps for this temporary use).

(6) 4” Quick – Grip Handi - Clamp?

The only special tools required would be a 10-32 Tap & Holder, also a #21 drill bit to drill the holes for tapping. A Powered Jig Saw is the easy way to make the two 24” cuts to open the side of the PVC Pipe for clearance to shrink the diameter to fit the mast OD.

You will notice that my pictures don’t show my boat but it is currently at “Southern Yachts” getting the cracks in the floor near the center board trunk fixed under the NorseBoat warranty. I have done a check out in my front yard on Sunday February 17, with a blustery North wind blowing & 34 degrees temperature using a “Workmate 85” work bench with clamps & wood to support the Lower Mast, then got on a ladder at the normal deck height raised the Upper Mast until I hit some tree branches. After relocating the set up (boat), all worked as planned with the Upper Mast sliding over the splice tube, no wiggling required. The next test was to slide the “Mast Handler” down the “Lower Mast” to the “Boom” stop clamp then slide all the sail and hoops, also the gaff & hoop over the “Mast Handler” to make sure that with the normal load of sail and gaff all the “Hoops” skip over the hinge area like it did when I just slid the “Gaff Hoop” in my hand to determine how much material had to be trimmed, no correction was needed.

One other item I though you “NorseBoat Men” that have other crew you sail with might consider building instead of the “Mast Holder” is an adapter for the end of your Oar, laminate pieces of 3/8” plywood, two pieces 6” X 7 3/4” two7/8” X 7 3/4” & one7/8” X 4 1/4”. The two large pieces are the outside cheeks while the three small pieces spacer them & keep it secured to the tip of the oar. The smallest piece has the oar tip shape traced to match the oar tip on one side then located to allow 4 3/8”of oar tip to slip in the adapter & the other side will be form by the bottom of the cutout that matches the mast diameter, use “Titebond III” glue & ¾” wood screws to secure the pieces, caution offset the screws so they won’t clash with each other, now layout the cutout for the mast 2 15/16” wide & 2 ¾”deep (picture will save lots of words). This 9 foot helping hand might be just what you need to handle the mast.