Scott Dufour wrote:

Should I do the same with my stern pulpit, or will I need to beef it up or convert it in some manner when I've got the rig changed over?  Do most people attach the mainsheet to the stern pulpit in these conversions? 

I put my sheet terminus on the stern rail. Pics in my album in odds & ends folder. If you keep the stern rail my setup might give you some ideas.

I reasoned less of a jumble of lines (self-steering, mooring, stern anchor) at deck level. Also less likely to lose my hat when the sheet comes across the cockpit gybing..higher the better in that case.

The stern rail, as-is, was not strong enough. It had to be braced with a 2" OD x 1/4" wall fiberglass/CF pipe (from my old spinnaker pole). My cockpit surround is a thick, 5 inch high, fiberglass deck structure againist which the pipe pushes when loaded. My order-of-magnitude estimate was max 400 pound load at 12 knts wind speed and full sail...I'd probably reef before that though. Main materials: 3x3x1/4 inch aluminum angle, 1/4 in u-bolts, aluminum speed rail fittings for 2 inch pipe.

robert self

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It's rare to have a need to mount sheet blocks on the pushpit, and is done when there is no suitable deck area for them (having said that, I do like a vertical spread of deck blocks, so as to keep the parts of the sheet separate and not rubbing against each other, and you might achieve this by mounting just one block on the pushpit, the rest on deck). 

Mudita has a suitable stern deck for mounting deck blocks, this is the standard place to put them, and therefore I recommend that you put them there, until such time as you have gathered enough experience with the rig to be certain that you want them somewhere else. 

Without being able to see the pushpit, I can't advise whether or not it is fit to carry a sheet block, but I would doubt it, bearing in mind the size of single sail that you are planning to fit. Pushpits have generally not been designed to carry an upwards/forwards/sideways load, just the downwards/outwards load that a person is likely to put on them.

I would have to query your intention of raising the stanchions. This is a 10m yacht, not a cruise liner! 36in stanchions would need to be 1.5in diameter - all totally out of proportion with the size of boat. Bear in mind that with junk rig, you won't be going forward at sea very much, and when you do, in rough weather, you go stooped over or on hands and knees to keep your CG low. Much better value is to rig a jackstay/manrope inboard, and to use a short tether clipped to it when circumstances demand it, but otherwise to practice moving safely around the deck, using it, and other handholds, as needed.

I have an order of operations issue - can't make decisions on the stern pulpit without the rig, and can't do the rig without the pulpit.

I've pulled the stern pulpit off Mudita (33 feet, 12,000 lbs) and I'm sending all my stanchions, stanchion bases, bow pulpit off to get refurbished - some welds definitely need work.

Should I do the same with my stern pulpit, or will I need to beef it up or convert it in some manner when I've got the rig changed over?  Do most people attach the mainsheet to the stern pulpit in these conversions? 

To complicate matters, I'm increasing the height of my lifelines from 24" trip inducers to 30 or 36 inches, so I have to get creative with the pulpits. I don't want to go through fabrication issues only to find that I have to scrap the whole thing because it won't work with the rig when I finally get around to it.