MacGregor 19 Mast Stepping

The mast on my Potter 15 is 15-1/2 feet long and weighs about 10 pounds. Raising the mast is relatively easy as long as the shrouds don't snag. The mast for my M19 is nine feet longer and weighs more than 45 pounds. A mast-raising failure could be catastrophic, and I needed some method of assist to single-hand it. I had difficulty trying to figure out how mast-raising on an M19 was executed; the photos in the owner's manual did not jibe with my reality...

The MacGregor 19 was built with a pivoting mast step and has provisions for lateral baby-stays between the middle of the lower mast section to anchors that are outboard on the forward cabin top. It took some effort to find, but below is a photo of the set-up (today I cannot find the picture's source, but thank you for the clearest explanation of what's going on. And what a great-looking dodger -- something that I will return to). As you can see, the babystays are attached to cabin top using the flat deck eye straps that are just outside the bullet blocks, and they are co-linear with the pivoting axis of the mast, which is critical for stabilizing the mast until the shrouds can take over.

After more searching around the internet I found a photo of a cable with a fitting that would mate with the flat deck eye strap and presumably a mast with a keyhole slot. Lo and behold, Blue Water Yachts (www.bwyachts.com), the aftermarket parts supplier for MacGregor sailboats, still sells the mating clip (BWY #34201X0) and the flat straps (BWY #34211X0), although not the cable assembly.

I don't have slots in my M19 mast. Instead there are two holes that are 5’-7” above the foot of the mast. I used them to attach two mast tangs. The flat shackles on the cabin top are 24 inches from the centerline, and the babystay mast support angle is about 70 degrees. I believe this is very close to what is shown in the owner's manual, which shows a rope cleated to the mast. Instead of steel cables I used a couple of polypro cam straps threaded through the flat deck eye strap that ran up to the mast tang on each side.

Two mast crutches were supplied with my boat; they plug into a socket on the transom crossbar. A short, 6-inch crutch is used during transport, and a 2-foot long crutch is used to increase the mast lifting angle during raising and lowering.

There was no gin pole that was included with my boat. The short crutch could possibly be used as a gin pole, but it would need an extension tube to slip on the end. The tubing would need to be pretty small diameter to fit. For a DIY project, Blue Water Yachts sells arms that can bolt onto larger-diameter tubing (BWY #34231V0).

One version of the M19 mast raising process (described in the owner's manual) uses one of the winches. The gin pole is attached to the front of the mast step and the forestay is then attached to the end of the gin pole. A block is temporarily clipped somewhere near the bow, and a sheet is run through the block to the end of the forestay. With the gin pole perpendicular to the mast, a block-and-tackle (the mainsheet) is strung between the pole and the forestay anchor. Or one of the jib winches is used. Take the lazy end to the winch, give it a crank, and up she goes. Unfortunately, working in the cockpit is not the safest place since you will be standing right under the mast. And once you've got the mast up, the tricky part is extracting the forestay and locking it into the bow fitting. Thinking ahead, you can belay the mast upright if you shackled the jib halyard to the bow and cleated it off on the mast. What the manual doesn't mention is that this operation is best performed if there is at least one more person besides the person on the winch, a luxury that I don't have. I sail single-handed, and I don't want to depend on boat ramp "volunteers" for help.

Another mast raising system for the MacGregor powersailers incorporates a dedicated near-vertical strut that attaches to the mast step and has a small hand winch, similar to ones used on trailers, attached near the top end. Here is a good video of the home-brew rig in use, www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRaJxP50ZS8. Judy Blumhorst, the well-know West Wight Potter sailmaker, posted an great video with commentary of how she manages her Potter 19's mast, www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIXH9jos-cI. Finally, this video shows the details for the latest MacGregor 26M powersailer mast raising system, www.youtube.com/watch?v=z69AEM101x0. So I had lots of great examples to study.

I assembled my crane using some aluminum C-section and a trailer winch from my parts box. The bottom of the aluminum is bolted to the front of the mast step. The top end of the strut is fixed to the mooring cleat using a cable or a length of low-stretch line. Baby stays to anchor points on the chainplates fix the “mini-mast” strut. The winch cable is attached to the mast and is used to raise and lower it.

Note that I added an extra set of stays from the crane to the bullet blocks on the cabin top (the ones normally used as fairleads for the jib sheets). This keeps the crane rock steady throughout the mast raising process.

The advantage of this approach is that the operator has a stable winch position that is close to the mast, the forestay is loose (which will need to be released or attached to the bow fitting) and you are not underneath the mast at any point. In addition, being close to the mast allows the operator to stabilize the rig if something should need it (like a fouled shroud). And the winch lock gives positive control and can hold the mast at any elevation. And the smallest trailer winches, rated at 600 pounds, are more than strong enough to do the job. I've also found that I've got a good view of all the shrouds while I'm cranking, and I can stop at any point if I need to fuss with something. It's much better than working down in the cockpit.

This crane system is simple and safe, so it will stay in my M19 kit. I don't need any help to get the mast up and down with complete control. The only downside is that there's one more piece of gear that I need to carry. I haven't tried raising or lowering the mast while out on the water, but I think that this system would work infinitely safer and with more control than the method shown in the owner's manual if you are sailing short-handed.