Re: [Cal_Boats] Cal to Cal mast stepping (Tom)

False economies are just that -- false economies. A substantial portion of the yard's $150 charge is insurance that covers the potential damages should something fail causing damage or injury during the mast stepping. Had one of the spinnaker halyards parted or a knot failed (I know we're all sailors, but it can happen!) than you are left with your $150 savings quadrupling into a $1000 (or more) loss. On top of that is the fact that your "volunteers" weren't that at all. Expecting "consideration" of a beer and/or food after the mast raising makes them, in the eyes of a good maritime lawyer, paid workers and without the proper marine insurance your liability under maritime workers' laws was huge should one of them be hurt. Your buddies would probably never have brought this up, but their insurance companies most certainly would! Moral of the story -- $150 is cheap compared to the potential liabilities that you assumed by raising the mast yourself! Sometimes I curse my MBA.... Don Dutton, 1986 Cal 33-2, "Quantum Evolution" From: Tom Vandiver <bs… [at] yahoo.com> To: Cal List <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 12:16:05 AM Subject: [Cal_Boats] Cal to Cal mast stepping Hi Cal Folks, It was time to step the mast on our Cal 25, Bravura, and being somewhat frugal in nature, I devised a plan to avoid the $150 charge from the yard for the boom truck. Since our Cal Cruising 46, Satori, has a "tree trunk" mast, the spinnaker pole is 27' long and the pole track runs to the spreaders, I devised this scheme, which worked well. 1-Boats are bow to bow, w/ some overlap. 2-Spin pole on Satori is rigged with the spin halyard through a snatch block at the end of the pole. 3-topping lift is rigged to a mast winch. 4-fore and after guys are arranged to control the pole end. 5-down haul is tied to the Cal 25 spin halyard 6-two loyal Cal friends, (Thanks Mike, Cal 40 Celtic Naut), carried the mast down my dock and hooked up 7-I used Satori's spin halyard to crank the mast vertical 8- swung it over the step and stalwart helpers attached stays and shrouds. 9-We all had a cold Yuengling or two Items required: Cal 46 and a Cal 25 long dock friends imagination Sorry, we were too busy to take photos. Tom and Bobbie Vandiver, Bayou Chico

Donald Dutton wrote: > False economies are just that -- false economies. A substantial > portion of the yard's $150 charge is insurance that covers the > potential damages should something fail causing damage or injury > during the mast stepping. Well, we all make little calculations about risk and cost. My Cal 20 mast goes up so readily with two guys that I just do it that way. I'm gambling that we won't hurt ourselves or make a big mess of anything. It's kind of like deciding whether to choose a high or low deductible amount on the car insurance. Your points about potential liability are good ones, and should be pondered by those who are deciding. There are many variables, including the difficulty of the task, the skills of the participants, the safety regimen adopted by the skipper, and the influence of alcohol. Just the other day I was citing John Rousmaniere's dictum that the most dangerous portion of a sailboat is the liquor locker (or beer cooler, for low-budget folks). Chris Campbell

Don, I was the volunteer. No "consideration" was ever expected. Tom has helped me with my boat as well with his knowledge and wisdom and has not "expected consideration" either. Have we shared war stories over a cold one afterwards? Sure we have but not because it was mandatory. I helped because a friend needed it and because it is messing about on boats. Not because there might be a beer involved. If I hurt myself on Tom's boat then it would have been my own fault. Not his. Not all of us are litigious bastards. As for insurance companies, they're paid to go after each other. Isn't that what the "protection" money is for? Sometimes I curse folks with MBA's as well. Mike Cal-40 /#44 Celtic Naut/ Donald Dutton wrote: > False economies are just that -- false economies. A substantial > portion of the yard's $150 charge is insurance that covers the > potential damages should something fail causing damage or injury > during the mast stepping. Had one of the spinnaker halyards parted or > a knot failed (I know we're all sailors, but it can happen!) than you > are left with your $150 savings quadrupling into a $1000 (or more) > loss. On top of that is the fact that your "volunteers" weren't that > at all. Expecting "consideration" of a beer and/or food after the > mast raising makes them, in the eyes of a good maritime lawyer, paid > workers and without the proper marine insurance your liability under > maritime workers' laws was huge should one of them be hurt. Your > buddies would probably never have brought this up, but their insurance > companies most certainly would! > > Moral of the story -- $150 is cheap compared to the potential > liabilities that you assumed by raising the mast yourself! > > Sometimes I curse my MBA.... > > Don Dutton, 1986 Cal 33-2, "Quantum Evolution" > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Tom Vandiver <bs… [at] yahoo.com> > To: Cal List <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> > Sent: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 12:16:05 AM > Subject: [Cal_Boats] Cal to Cal mast stepping > > Hi Cal Folks, > > > > It was time to step the mast on our Cal 25, Bravura, and being > somewhat frugal in nature, I devised a plan to avoid the $150 charge > from the yard for the boom truck. > > > > Since our Cal Cruising 46, Satori, has a "tree trunk" mast, the > spinnaker pole is 27' long and the pole track runs to the spreaders, I > devised this scheme, which worked well. > > 1-Boats are bow to bow, w/ some overlap. > > 2-Spin pole on Satori is rigged with the spin halyard through a snatch > block at the end of the pole. > > 3-topping lift is rigged to a mast winch. > > 4-fore and after guys are arranged to control the pole end. > > 5-down haul is tied to the Cal 25 spin halyard > > 6-two loyal Cal friends, (Thanks Mike, Cal 40 Celtic Naut), carried > the mast down my dock and hooked up > > 7-I used Satori's spin halyard to crank the mast vertical > > 8- swung it over the step and stalwart helpers attached stays and shrouds. > > 9-We all had a cold Yuengling or two > > > > Items required: > > Cal 46 and a Cal 25 > > long dock > > friends > > imagination > > > > Sorry, we were too busy to take photos. > > > > Tom and Bobbie Vandiver, Bayou Chico > >

Guys, You just need to belong to a yacht club that has a gin pole, and a steward who knows how to step masts. My club charges members $35.00 to step any mast. Non-members pay $3.50 per foot. We do require the owner to sign a waiver prior to the action. We have had only one incident in about 10 years, it was actually the owner's problem, but the damage was settled. Regards, David Dobbs Cal29 411 --- On Tue, 7/8/08, Donald Dutton <dn… [at] sbcglobal.net> wrote: From: Donald Dutton <dn… [at] sbcglobal.net> Subject: Re: [Cal_Boats] Cal to Cal mast stepping (Tom) To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2008, 10:39 AM False economies are just that -- false economies. A substantial portion of the yard's $150 charge is insurance that covers the potential damages should something fail causing damage or injury during the mast stepping. Had one of the spinnaker halyards parted or a knot failed (I know we're all sailors, but it can happen!) than you are left with your $150 savings quadrupling into a $1000 (or more) loss. On top of that is the fact that your "volunteers" weren't that at all. Expecting "consideration" of a beer and/or food after the mast raising makes them, in the eyes of a good maritime lawyer, paid workers and without the proper marine insurance your liability under maritime workers' laws was huge should one of them be hurt. Your buddies would probably never have brought this up, but their insurance companies most certainly would! Moral of the story -- $150 is cheap compared to the potential liabilities that you assumed by raising the mast yourself! Sometimes I curse my MBA.... Don Dutton, 1986 Cal 33-2, "Quantum Evolution" From: Tom Vandiver <bshmarine@yahoo. com> To: Cal List <Cal_Boats@yahoogrou ps.com> Sent: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 12:16:05 AM Subject: [Cal_Boats] Cal to Cal mast stepping Hi Cal Folks, It was time to step the mast on our Cal 25, Bravura, and being somewhat frugal in nature, I devised a plan to avoid the $150 charge from the yard for the boom truck. Since our Cal Cruising 46, Satori, has a "tree trunk" mast, the spinnaker pole is 27' long and the pole track runs to the spreaders, I devised this scheme, which worked well. 1-Boats are bow to bow, w/ some overlap. 2-Spin pole on Satori is rigged with the spin halyard through a snatch block at the end of the pole. 3-topping lift is rigged to a mast winch. 4-fore and after guys are arranged to control the pole end. 5-down haul is tied to the Cal 25 spin halyard 6-two loyal Cal friends, (Thanks Mike, Cal 40 Celtic Naut), carried the mast down my dock and hooked up 7-I used Satori's spin halyard to crank the mast vertical 8- swung it over the step and stalwart helpers attached stays and shrouds. 9-We all had a cold Yuengling or two Items required: Cal 46 and a Cal 25 long dock friends imagination Sorry, we were too busy to take photos. Tom and Bobbie Vandiver, Bayou Chico