Tom, welcome to the C36IA. I deleted your other post to prevent duplicate threads, and to ensure that all of the answers are collected in one place. This will facilitate easier searching by those who come after.

We have at least two other C36IA Members residing in Punta Gorda, including our JiBSheet editor, Duane Ising. It might be helpful to have ready access to a C36, sort of on your doorstep, to think about the carriage you might construct for the mast.

Yes; welcome, Tom. If you are in Punta Gorda now, you are welcome to come over to our boat with your tape measure and cold beer and have at it. :)

Hello Tom:

We are going to be doing this route from west to east this summer. Here are a few links that I have read and will be making our supports from what I have read. They will be out of 2 x 4's . One thing I noticed in one of the links is one couple that have done this trip a few times, in the first trip they made, They got the mast to high in the supports and what it did is raised the center of gravity to high and when they went thru Lake Oneida they thought they were going to capsize as they got into ruff weather. So that is on my mind also.
[URL="http://www.cruiserlog.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13063"]http://www.cruiserlog.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13063[/URL]

[URL="http://www.atlanticsailors.com/Erie-Canal.html"]http://www.atlanticsailors.com/Erie-Canal.html[/URL]

[URL="http://rebootracing.blogspot.com/2009/08/erie-canal-transit-reflections...."]http://rebootracing.blogspot.com/2009/08/erie-canal-transit-reflections....

Randy

Randy,

Interesting comment about the height of the mast stored on deck effecting the rolling moment. The CG of the mast with the mast standing is obviously far higher than the mast stowed above the cabin. The mast tends to dampen the rolling moment of the boat, this is why tight rope walkers use long poles to dampen their motions. Boats that have been demasted in heavy seas are sometimes abandon for the same reason as the boat becomes far more active in pitch and roll making the conditions feel far worse than they may actually be. The likely hood of a capsize would be reduced by lowering the boats center of effort, the increased pitch rate may make for a misserable ride.

You could higher tight rope walkers to stand on deck with their poles to dampen the motion or just stand on deck holding the mast parallel to the beam to dampen the motion. Your arms will probably get tired though.

Here is the article I am refuring to. Please read the 2nd paragraph as it explains the issue.

[URL="http://www.searoom.com/shard/south-1D.html"]http://www.searoom.com/shard/south-1D.html[/URL]

Randy

We had friends do this a few years ago. At both Oswego and Albany they found an ample supply of materials/pre built supports at the marinas that required only a bit of work to make fit their boat. People just leave them there when they're done with them for the next guy going the other way.

We're planning on doing this in '11 so hopefully the above hasn't changed. I am going to keep the mast as low as possible on deck and only as high as will clear my skull at the stern. We're also planning on some years in the upper lakes and will use the Trent/Severn to get there so we'll probably get more practice than we want at this.

Tom and bud.

Drop me a email and I will forward you a email I just got from a couple with a picture of there set up that they use. It is the link I gave in a post, they wrote me back in a letter I sent.

Randy

According to a C34 sailor that has made the trip, many folks are now shipping the mast by truck rather than doing the cradle. Expensive by your self, but if you can get 3 or 4 others the cost goes down.

You can read about his adventures at:

[url]http://home.comcast.net/~saildan/BahamaTrip/BahamaTrip-Web-BAHAMA_HOME_P...