Hi Andy
Replacing the shrouds should be relatively straightforward, if a little time-consuming. The top fitting is a fork with a pin secured with a split ring and the bottom fitting is a swaged-on threaded rod that goes into the bottle screw adjuster. The slightly tricky bit is that the end fittings for the spreaders are clamped on to the shrouds so you'll have to unscrew these from the old shrouds and transfer them on to the new ones. However, you need to get the end fittings attached at exactly the right position so that the spreader is not being pulled up or down when you tension the rig. I suggest that before taking the end fittings off the old wires that you put the new one alongside as accurately as you can and mark the position where the end fitting needs to go. In an ideal world you would have the end fittings on but not clamped tight until the mast is upright with a light tension on. Then you would check that the spreaders are sitting comfortably at the right angle before putting the tension on, and only then would you tighten up the end fitting screws. Unfortunately unless you have a cherry picker handy this isn't really practical, so it may take a bit of trial and error. Once you've attached the new rigging I suggest you put electrical tape over the split rings to stop them coming out and also protecting against snagging the spinnaker. Also make sure that any shackles on e.g. the jib halyard block are moused with monel wire, and again tape over the wire to prevent snagging.
Re getting the mast down and up again, it's relatively straightforward but there are a few tips I usually give that possibly aren't in the book:
I’ve just done my annual mast drop and inspection/service and I did it all comfortably in an afternoon on my own, so it’s not difficult, although it’s certainly quicker and easier if you’ve got one or two people to assist. Here are my main tips:
Raising:
1. Be careful with the carbon pole. It’s very strong in compression (down its length) but it’s not good if you try to bend it. When you first rig it up it will tend to flop over the guard rail until you pull the tension on the spinnaker halyard. As it comes up towards vertical it’s possible for the bottom end to jam on the deck ring and if you try to force it either by pulling too hard on the halyard or grabbing the pole itself you can spit the carbon tube where the end fitting goes it. I’ve done and I know at least two others have done it as well.
2. Check that the halyards and other ropes that go to the foot of the mast are relatively slack before you start. I once tidied them up when it was down and pulled all the slack out. When the mast goes from horizontal to vertical it needs more length on the halyards, so I started to find that winching got quite hard and then noticed that the foot of the mast was being pulled out of line as the halyard tightened up.
3. When raising, the first couple of feet of the lift are the hardest, so if you have a helper get them to lift the mast as much as they can off the A-frame support and this will make the winching easier. The winching gets easier the further up you get, but it’s still quite hard work even with Pontos/Karver winches. (I hope you’ve got those, I think it’s quite an effort with the standard winch).
4. Don’t let anyone stand underneath the mast at any time just in case something breaks.
5. Keep an eagle eye on all the rigging as the mast goes up to check that nothing is catching anywhere, again easier with extra eyes.
6. Keep your other eagle eye on the hinge lugs as you start the lift as they can sometimes spring out of the slots. I think later boats may have a bolt that you put through the hinge bracket to keep the two sides together but early boats don’t have this.
7. Use the main halyard to try and keep the mast going up straight, especially if the boat is afloat (the boat will usually lean over to port as you’ll be winching on that side) and/or there’s a strong breeze blowing, again easier with a helper. If you’re on your own you can pass the halyard under the top of the stanchion at the forward end of the cockpit and control it as you winch, but don’t be tempted to tie it off or pull too hard as you’ll get the problem in tip 2.
8. As it gets near the vertical check that the mast foot is coming down over the peg on the deck plate, it may need a little persuasion one way or the other to get it to sit down fully.
Lowering:
1. You shouldn’t need to slacken the shrouds at all. I find that I can lower/raise with just undoing the forestay, so this saves a lot of time messing about with the shroud turnbuckles.
2. The mast can be a little reluctant to fall back, so either get someone to give it a push or use the main halyard to pull it back until gravity takes over.
3. Watch the spreaders as you get near the end of the drop. You want the shrouds to go outside the aft stanchions but sometimes you’ll find one side or the other is coming down inside and you won’t be able to get the mast track into the groove on the roller on the A-frame.
One other thing - try to avoid skin contact on the carbon mast as much as possible. I've found that wearing just a t-shirt on a warm day and messing about with shackles etc with my arms around the mast for while I ended up with a nasty rash on the inside of my upper arms where they had been rubbing on the mast.
Good luck!
