It was not easy to find a replacement mast for my catamaran; but I managed to do it. A new mast would have cost more than this boat. I am a perfectionist and cannot stand the sight of the ugly dent left there by the previous owner. It bothers me too much to leave it alone; must remove the dent!
I have checked, repaired or replaced some minor components of this 1983 boat. The mast is a bit battered but still very strong. I checked all the standing rigging on the mast: side, fore and jib stays and 4 trapeze wires and also the running rigs: the jib and main halyards and sheets. All the lines seem solid enough and have years of life left in them.
I decided to replace the two side stays and adjusters because on one of them the plastic cover was broken in many places, showing its age. I kept the good one as a spare for the fore stay which is used only during rig-up and rig-down. The actual working/running fore stay is sewn inside the leach of the jib sail. This wire plus two side stays support the mast when on the water. When hiking out on the trapeze, flying one hull, only two stays are loaded. When on the water, the side stay on the low side is always slack.
I was slowly repairing the catamaran throughout last winter. I raised the mast a few times to see how it actually worked. At the same time I googled for an easier way on You Tube. I found a gin pole method which attracted my attention. Using an old spinnaker pole connected at one end to a point near the base of the mast while the top end is shackled to the bottom of the fore-stay which then connects to a 5:1 winch.
The mast can be raised slowly using this winch.Two temporary side stays must be installed to keep the movement of the mast in one plane so that it will not move sideways as it is raised or lowered.
