Hi, Just wondering if anyone has any ideas for the following. The block of wood at the mast step (under the mast) of my 25 footer has collapsed due to age and needs replacing. I'm wondering if there is any easy way to loosen the rig and replace the block of wood. It's only about 20mm thick. Otherwise any idea what a rigger would charge to do it?

Also some of the boat clubs have small cranes on there piers . Not sure where you are

I had to do the same thing once myself.

I slackened the rigging screws evenly and used a friends high lift jack placed under the goose neck to lift the mast. My mast was keel stepped so I wedged a timber post between the keel and cabin top under where I was going to place the jack base.

The base of the mast was raised high enough to remove the corroded alloy plate and I replaced it with some pieces of plastic bearing a bit like cutting board material.

The high lift jack is popular among 4WD enthusiasts.

Hope that helps.

cheers
Wayne

I did that once by putting boat under a bridge and throwing a line down. RMS wouldnt like that these days.

You only need to lift the mast a few mm to slide the old block out. You could slacken the rigging, and lift the base of the mast with something while you slide the old block out and the new one in.

Important to restrain the mast base so that it only moves upwards. Lifting devices only limited by your ingenuity. Jack under the boom, lever under fitting at base, small tripod with mainsheet attached to boom vang attachment, plenty of ways.

Yara said..
You only need to lift the mast a few mm to slide the old block out. You could slacken the rigging, and lift the base of the mast with something while you slide the old block out and the new one in.

Important to restrain the mast base so that it only moves upwards. Lifting devices only limited by your ingenuity. Jack under the boom, lever under fitting at base, small tripod with mainsheet attached to boom vang attachment, plenty of ways.

Id add to this a couple of people this a lever lashed to the mast and brace it with a wide piece of ply on the opposite end so the lever pressure spreads the load .
With the rigging screws slackened and maybe a couple of ropes to keep the mast in an up right position at the base while lifting.
The mast that size would not be much over 100 kg
If the lever was long enough you could do it on your own by using you main sheet block system remove it off the boom and attach it to the lever
I removed and fitted a VW engine using the same as below on the side of the road some where between Rocky and Mckay years ago just a couple of tree branches . Had to remove the seat belts and use them as a tow rope to get it started( flat battery)

That's basically how I fitted my 200 KG Bukh engine on my own once it was on the engine chassis rails I slide it down on some scrap ply