Subject: Re: Mast raising
From: Mike Crawford
Date: 7/1/2006, 9:17 PM
To: harryproa@yahoogroups.com.au

<< Would it be possible... using the crossbeams for leverage, pop it back up.>>

  I believe this is how Rob stepped the masts on Harrigami

    http://www.harryproa.com/news4_hg4.htm

  It's an interesting question I've been pondering for quite some time. 

  My goal is to purchase or build, depending upon time and money availability, the largest boat that I can trailer myself without an escort vehicle.  In the U.S., that's a 3.66m trailer width and 24.38m length.  Trailerability without special permits is limited to 2.6m width, but I'm willing to go through the effort to get a wide load permit for the one or two times per year that I'd move the boat.

  The Corsair F-36 is a good baseline, but the Harry proas make a much better use of space and material.  Instead of a dinky trimaran cockpit, and only one private cabin with a v-berth, a 15m Harry or Visionarry would offer two queen/double berths in separate areas of the cabin, and a huge catamaran-like area above deck.  There are also dozens of other advantages to the proas, but there's no need to rehash them every few months.

  The question is how to get it on and off the trailer without necessarily paying a lift fee and $60 per hour for yard help.

  I enjoy watching the Farrier folding system on the Corsairs and F boats, and also the hinged folding system used on Dragonflies, Elans, and the Telstar 28.  Both allow you to fold up a boat while on the water and float it onto a normal trailer.  The hinged system is easier and more stable, but F boat fans will argue that the Farrier system is stronger.  Lately I've been fascinated by the Cat2fold scissors folding system: 

    http://www.cat2fold.com/index.php?page=pictures

  Rafi Francke has done quite a job with the system, and the video I've seen of one person folding and unfolding the boat with a single winch is impressive.  it's a heck of a lot more elegant than the expandable trailer used for my current catamaran.  This system would work nicely on a Visionarry if the beam of the windward hull were about 18cm narrower.  Collapsing a Visionarry on the water and floating it onto a standard trailer would be too cool for words.

  However, the scissors akas would add weight, and wouldn't be as sturdy as a single box beam.  A fancy trailer with the tilt/winch system would be a simpler, cheaper, lighter, and stronger design.

  My question for the group is: can this be done without a lift, using just a custom trailer and two people?

  Does anyone else have folding/trailering schemes about which they've been thinking?

       - Mike



oceanplodder2003 wrote:
Would it be possible on the 12 m Harry to take just the LW hull,
insert the crossbeams, tip the whole thing on its side, insert the
mast horizontally, then using the crossbeams for leverage, pop it back
up. No need for a crane?
Also, if we put the una rig on Harry, what would the dimensions be,
not losing any sail area?