Hi Jeff,

The whole lump of stainless allows the mast to be lowered. If you look at the photo you will see that the top 8 inches of the unit are hinged to allow it to tilt towards the stern. It is held upright by two clips. At the base of the mount you will see a socket for a post. This post is approx 3 feet high with a winch on the top. comming out of the mast slot you will see a 2 inch wide strap. The bottom of the strap is fixed to the base of the mast which is stepped on the hull.

Now to lower the mast you wrap the strap around the winch and winch it out of the boat vertically untill it is in the top 8 inch section. there is a hole through the mast and top section which you place a long pin/bolt. You then release the clips and using the A frame (on the deck in the picture) you lower the mast to the stern. There are also a set of hounds which give some side to side stability. It is a bit of a scary time but it works well. You do need a very still day and some one who is willing to stand in front of that 32 ft mast to steady it !!! Two of us have now lowered and raised it with no problems. It not some thing I will be doing very often but may save time and money when the needs must.

regards,

Peter

Jeff McFadden wrote:

Jonathan Snodgrass wrote:

Annie Hill wrote:A substantial piece of ironmongery, indeed!

I would second Jeff's advice.  When all else fails, go back to The Bible and see how They did it.

No, no, the other Bible!

Annie Hill wrote:A substantial piece of ironmongery, indeed!

I would second Jeff's advice.  When all else fails, go back to The Bible and see how They did it.

Thanks Jeff, I hope all goes well with your rig. I have now found a rigging plan for a Venturer but my rig is nothing like the the plan !!!!

I finally got round to getting the sail up at the week end and have found a small rip in the sail which will need repairing. The rig is the old Newbridge High Power sail which I have heard is not that good but will try it this year to see how it goes. Any one know of a second hand Hasler sail ???

I found lots of the ropes twisted and tangled and have managed to get these sorted but the Topping Lift is very hard to work. One end starts at the top of the mast comes down to the aft end of the boom back to the top of the mast and back down to the forward end of the boom and back up to the top and then back down the mast to a turning pully up to the cockpit. The only way I can haul it up is to lift the sail pack to take the strain of the rope.

I have added a few photos of DragonFly in the Photo gallery which shows the mast lowering rig, it's some lump of engineering.

regards,

Peter

Hi,

Does any one have a rigging plan for a Venturer. We have just bought our Venturer but the mast was raised by the yard selling it and have not rigged it correct from what I can see. While all the rigging seems to be there it seems messed up and I only have three ropes back to the back from the mast.and non left at the base of the mast. I have the plan for a Coromandel and junk rigged Corribee but it does not resemble these at all. Was there a change of rigging for the Venturer does any one know ????

Many thanks ,

Peter