Enrique, there is a tech article in the main website about bulkhead replacement, it deals with the port bulkhead but may be of use to you. Our boat had damage at the base of the starboard bulkhead from water leakage and I looked at what might be involved in removing/replacing it. I thought it would not be too hard but I ended up fixing the problem in situ. It should be easier than removing the port one just due to size alone.

WRT the mast and leaving the uppers undone, it's not something I would do partly because we pull the mast every year. I'd be concerned about what the mast might start doing above the attachment point for the lowers in a strong wind. Might be best to talk to Catalina or a qualified rigger to get their opinion on that.

if your handrails are SS might you consider using those on a temp basis to use a attachment points. I was doing something similar this summer and i simply rigged up a set up to attach the shrouds to the handrails. there was not very much tension on the shroulds just enough so they weren't loose. seemed to work plus based on what i have observed and what other folks have said i don't believe the rig is going much of anywhere the stick seems to be pretty stout on its own. after all it's not like you are going to be sailing with it that way. FWIW.

Good idea, Mike. Here's another one: tie it securely off to one of the lowers.

Enrique,
Let me post here my reply from the email list. If you are taking out your starboard chainplate, I would not leave my mast unsupported over the winter. Why not use your main and jib halyards to steady the mast while the upper is loose? You could attach the halyards to the chainplates for the lowers, using the same holes that are already in your cover for the lowers. Going directly from the masthead to the chainplates is not quite as good as going over the spreader tips, but it is a lot better than nothing. With cabintop winches, you can get quite a bit of tension on the halyards to steady the top of the mast. I don't think the handrails are engineered for that amount of tension in that direction (straight up). They are fine for attaching the halyards to keep them from slapping the mast, but not for large loads. Just a thought.

Considering that all the shrouds and stays are designed for loads which are undersail I would think that the profile of the mast to any wind albeit a long moment arm would be minimal in comparison. I do not feel I would leave unattended though, even for the winter. I have attached a page from the owners manual and suggest you run a decent line from one side to the other putting some tension (on upper shroud) with a tie down strap. This would keep with the correct direction of opposing any load that might occur with high winds.
I have never kept my mast in any boat over the winter as I do feel when it is exposed to the wind and on the hard causees a certain amount of vibration which leads to early crazing.

"I have never kept my mast in any boat over the winter as I do feel when it is exposed to the wind and on the hard causes a certain amount of vibration which leads to early crazing."

Gary, I don't follow this line of thinking. Please explain why you think it's better to pull the stick every winter. Is this a cold weather concern??? Out here, our boats stay in the water year round - in fact my mast hasn't been out of the boat since it was brand new.

Larry, I'll let Gary give his reasoning, but we pull the stick every year as well. It's an east coast thing I guess, but most riggers around here say it's better than leaving it in. We get a ton of strong wind in winter, and that's worse near the north shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario. It just shakes the crap out of the rig. One rigger told me that there's as much wear on the pins and shackles in 1 winter as there is in 10 years of sailing. There's no load on it from the sails and no matter what you to do (loosen or tighten shrouds) the thing has got harmonics like crazy and it just shakes and shakes and shakes in any good wind. Not good for anything. There's lots of boats in our marina that don't pull the stick, but most boats in our marina don't get much use, and even less of that use is sailing, and I bet if you looked close most of those rigs have pins severely worn out. It's a lot of work and I've considered not doing it, but so far I'm still doing it. Other benefit is it lets me put a really good winter cover on the boat, I could rent it out for the winter once it's all snugged down!

Larry as Bud stated it could be an East Coast thing, but I also came by this habit from evolution I would guess. My first sailboat was trailable so everytime it came out of the water the mast came down to haul it home.
My next boat a 1984 Catalina 30 I purchased in 1985 from a previous owner who had it stored in a barn. I stored outside at the boatyard where we removed the mast and used as a ridgepole. Ironically in the same boatyard was a Cat 30 within one number of the serial number I had. He stored his on the hard with the mast in. By 1995 there was a remarkable difference between the two boats. Mine had a few minor craze lines and his whole topsides was infested with them.
My belief without a good deal of sceince behind it was that the vibration/humming that occurs over the winter here in Maine with the mast left in and the hull fixed to the ground by cradle or blocking sets up the boat for wear and tear. Keep in mind when the boat is in the water the hull is not resisting the wind in the same manner as sitting on the hard.
Now as Paul Harvey would say "the rest of the story", taking the mast out allows for an annual visual of the rigging. I also keep GWTW in a barn at the boatyard, so it would be difficult to get it in with the mast!

[QUOTE=Gary Bain;15791]Larry as Bud stated it could be an East Coast thing, but I also came by this habit from evolution I would guess. My first sailboat was trailable so everytime it came out of the water the mast came down to haul it home.
My next boat a 1984 Catalina 30 I purchased in 1985 from a previous owner who had it stored in a barn. I stored outside at the boatyard where we removed the mast and used as a ridgepole. Ironically in the same boatyard was a Cat 30 within one number of the serial number I had. He stored his on the hard with the mast in. By 1995 there was a remarkable difference between the two boats. Mine had a few minor craze lines and his whole topsides was infested with them.
My belief without a good deal of sceince behind it was that the vibration/humming that occurs over the winter here in Maine with the mast left in and the hull fixed to the ground by cradle or blocking sets up the boat for wear and tear. Keep in mind when the boat is in the water the hull is not resisting the wind in the same manner as sitting on the hard.
Now as Paul Harvey would say "the rest of the story", taking the mast out allows for an annual visual of the rigging. I also keep GWTW in a barn at the boatyard, so it would be difficult to get it in with the mast![/QUOTE]

Gary,

How far away from Cumberland, ME is your storage facility?? Nice storage.....

Here on the northern Chesapeake, very few people pull their mast. I had the mast on my 30 off once in 9 years, and my 36 once in 15 (to replace the rigging). I get the shakes in the slip depending on wind direction, don't see how it would be any different on the hard; but who knows.

Rod
Bittersweet Boatyard in South Bristol it's about 60 miles for me from Auburn, suspect it to be similar from Cumberland maybe a bit more.