Hi Gardner,   I know you have a catamaran of some sort or was that the trimaranas well. You put photos in our group albums a while back. How do you find those ones? It is actually about a 5 minute preceedure on this Hartley 18. It is deck stepped and is just possible with one person to walk forwrardfrom the cockpit and push up. It was a very lengthy job on Sidecar, but would have been easier if I had a dedicated set of blocks and rope ready to go. I was economizing with the same blocks that were Sidecar's sheet blocks and sheet rope.   Still, I had to undo lazy jacks, take off sails, undo the sheets, then get the gin pole in the socket (ich is a big pole and an effort to get in), Then the tough part,. The centre of balance is lower because the boom is still attached. The boom makes it a bit more awkward as well. It is a little precarious having the whole rig dangling on one line high up and if there is any wind or waves then it fast becomes a real hard to control object. I had to do it a few times and am saying that it is a handy backup plan for doing something like mast top repairs - I think it could be a wise extra installation to put in the little step and hole to take a pole when buiding. Hopefully however you would not really ever need to use it except maybe at the launch and only because it is too expensive or there are no cranes in the area, I obviuosly needed to use it to get out of the swan river, and also to get into Mandurah estaury and then when i broke the mast and was repairing in Albany. But I could have gotten a crane and tied up to a dock instead. You are definitely more self-sufficient. I would nottry and make it a regular thing like on a trailor-sailor though.   I was thinking about Rob's racing Elementarry as well: That one is so light weight that it is pretty easy to launch and then to slot in the mast by turning the boat over on it's side and going in horizontally. These masts may seem fairly light to pick up and carry but it is never easy to raise it up and balance in the air while trying to slot in a hole.   Doug /4/11, Gardner Pomper <gardner@networknow.org> wrote: From: Gardner Pomper <gardner@networknow.org> Subject: Re: [harryproa] Change of SideCar ownership To: harryproa@yahoogroups.com.au Date: Monday, 25 April, 2011, 2:36   Doug, Can you talk a little more about how you lowered the mast on SC? My latest design has a 40' mast with a 4' bury. I was planning on having a 20+' gin pole, stored next to the lw hull, that would fit in a socket and lift out the mast with a block and tackle. The mast weighs 150 lbs, and I figure the center of gravity is (I am guessing) about 12-15' up the mast, so I have to have my lift point about 20' above the waterline. Is this similar to how you did SC? Do you think it is workable? - Gardner On Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 11:35 AM, Doug Haines <doha720@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:   I would like to summarise some observations about sailing Sidecar now that I've sold it to Herb Desson in Thailand.   It was the only way to make the 60-70nm stretches of WA coast that I did in going to both Kalbarri in the North and to Albany in the South. A normal slow small monohull would not have made it in time.   It was very good at anchor and didn't swing because of the bridle and also wouldn't roll around like this new boat I have now.   It was however fairly narrow in the cabin and the deck was so that yyou couldn't put your feet and legs down though you get used to that.   But the most practical thing for me around Perth is the mast lowering issue. The cheap ($1,000) trailor sailor that I got a few weeks ago and am now using a bit has already proven to be much easier to get iout of places around Perth that I need to go. Namely Mandurah and the Swan River, with very low bridges all over the place. And Aslop with this small boat cruising that I am doing this week (up to Rottnest Island and so on), it is not long straight stretches  all day like the long trips, and so much more tight tacking into bays - and here the monohull tacker is by far the more relaxing.   NNow I am thinking about it the other great feature on SC has been the reefing at any point to the wind (and any wind strengthtoo). I have noticeed this today when reefing the HArtley (trailer sailor) and having to drop the sail while rollinga round in some hhhusty breeze.   Doug Perth WA