DaySailer.org Forum

I am curious about my recently purchased 1984 Spindrift DS1. I have seen older and newer DS'ers and they all have their masts stepped on top of the deck but mine has a keel stepped mast. When I bought it 7 months ago I didn't think anything about it. I would have preferred the deck stepped mast as it seems much easier.
Does anyone know anything about the history involving this keel stepped mast system?

I have a keel stepped mast on my '63 DS 1. Some people just do fine with raising the mast outside the boat then, while keeping it vertical, dropping it into the hole.

The previous owner of my boat added a curious little contraption that gives me the best of both worlds - a mast that can be raised much like a hinged mast, but one that retains the characteristics of a keel step mast while sailing.

Here's the writeup.

PS: this post had nothing to do with wooden seats, so I made a new thread for you. Just click "new topic" next time when you want to start a new discussion.

Sorry Green Lake, I'll keep the thread advice in mind.

That's OK. Sorry I couldn't give you anything about the history of why and when certain mast types were added.

There is a Precision DS1 at our club with a deck stepped mast and it is as factory as can be. This boat looks to never had a hole drilled in it anywhere. The tabernacle covers the hole in the cuddy deck, so a keel stepped mast could be used. It seems there could have been 2 versions of the boat in the post O'Day era, recreational and race.

Green Lake

Saw your detail for” Raising a Keel-Stepped Mast”. Looks like a great feature!

Is it necessary to insert the pin before raising the mast ie can friction and some hold on the mast be enough to keep it from falling thru the sleeve?

If using the pin is it hard to pull the pin out of the sleeve with the full weight of the mast on the pin?

TY for this.

Cliff

Thought I needed a pin, haven't used one in a long time. Friction is enough and at some point (partially raised) the bottom rests on the edge of the partners and is kept in place as long as it's not lined up with the opening. The alignment needs to be pretty perfect or the mast won't go down, so it's very controllable.

I singlehand this setup all the time, but having crew makes it faster to get the mast into position horizontally before raising (and faster to get all stays connected - because of the keel step, the mast stays up while that is being done but the forestay is out of reach for anyone raising the mast from the cockpit without climbing on the foredeck, so a helper is nice for that step).

Green Lake

When the mast is in the sleeve, what is the approximate clearance between the two?

And how long is the sleeve?

TY for all.

Cliff

The sleeve is a pretty tight fit, but it's still just loose enough that there's no friction if the mast is aligned.

It's about 6-8" long - too far away for measurements, but you may estimate it from this picture (given mast dimension).