It is easy to raise and lower the main mast of a Devon Yawl, but this is much more difficult singlehanded on a Devon Dayboat. The Dayboat mast is 6.5 metres and rests in a tabernacle on top of the cuddy. When lowered, and still hinged through the bolt in the tabernacle and lying on the transom, it is well below the horizontal. I use the winch on the front of my trailer and an old aluminium spar to raise and lower my mast single-handed.

The spar is 3 metres long. A pulley, sufficiently strong for the considerable load, is attached to the top through which is led the winch line. This winch line is connected to the main halyard. All the winch line is required and careful inspection of the photograph shows the connection between the main halyard and the winch line well above the attachment of the roller reefing foresail. The bottom of the spar has an iron ferrule which fits snugly over the trailer ball hitch fixed to the front of my FWD vehicle. The spar is stoutly lashed to the front bumper bar with fore and aft and two lateral lashings, which can be made out in the photograph. It is important that the spar is secure.

For raising, the mast is hinged in the tabernacle and supported above the horizontal by a pair of shearlegs which are situated at the forward end of the rear deck. These are lashed on to the transom. The shearlegs have a height of about 1.5 metres and plenty of extension above the crotch to allow the mast to be ‘caught’ during lowering. The rear deck is protected from possible damage if the mast is dropped by rolled boat covers and old buoyancy aids. This is important because when lowering the mast and it is almost horizontal, the mast drops very rapidly for a payout of only one or two centimetres of the winch line. This is the difficult, critical part of the operation.

The main shrouds on both sides are connected up before raising and disconnected after lowering. The mast may sway out of the centre line of the boat and this tendency is prevented by holding the roller reefing gear with the hand not used for operating the winch. The roller reefing gear has in any case to be held free of obstruction and to ensure that none of the attachments become snagged or kinked, which is particularly likely to occur during raising the mast. The shrouds frequently catch on to the deck cleats. One advantage of using the winch with the ratchet mechanism is that if shrouds or other lines snag, the mast can be held in midair whilst the problem is rectified. Using the winch it is easy to pull the mast sufficiently far forward to attach and undo both the roller reefing forestay and the inboard forestay.

The whole job is simple. I have, however, always avoided high winds. The procedure will be improved by using a longer spar of 3.5 to 4 metres and lengthening the shearlegs by about 0.5 metres to the crotch and providing ends a further 0.75 metres on each side to make it easier to ‘catch’ the mast. The cost of materials was £10 for the scrap spar, £3 for a throw out pulley, nothing for the scrap wood for the shearlegs nor the scrap bolt used to make the hinge. Practical, easy and cheap.