The mast project for my trailerable Compac 19 is getting back on track. It was sidetracked in May when we found an old (by US standards) house by the coast that needed extensive renovations now pretty well complete. I'd planned to step the aluminum mast in a tabernacle but am having second thoughts now that I know the boat won't need to be trailered more than the quarter mile trip from home to the town ramp 'till fall. If I keel step I'm looking for a partner set up that will allow the easiest self removal, no spartite, but still not be noisy. The partners would be built through the hatch. One thought has been oversized plywood fastened below the deck, plywood built up through and over the hatch frame and a round plywood flange to catch the mast coat. The hole should be I guess tapered and glassed. The mast is 4 ½ inches dia. What size might be good for the opening top and bottom?

The picture of Froken Sorensen' arrangement looks much simpler. Of course it would, it's Arne's. It looks like a hole in the under deck plywood with little clearance for the mast and with two slots in the partner holding two wedges. I'd love to know more of the details. I'm wondering if the old modified hatch with the viewing window slides up the mast to access the wedges as needed.

If I do it this way I will add several feet of spruce mast to the top. The way Annie shows looks like it would work well.