Lodged on a Wooden Block

Why would the mast receptacle be lodged on a wooden block?  I've looked at a lot of Seahawk 17 pics over the last couple of years and this is certainly a one off. Can anybody divine a guess?

Well, Ive been thinking about it.....when i lower my mast, the mast hits
the coachroof top in the curve long before the end of the mast is anywhere
near the cockpit. In fact, the person who i bought the boat from rigged up
this crazy 7' high prop to take the mast, but its still not very usable.

I've been looking to make a tabernacle because that lifts the pivot point
so the mast goes flat....but i wonder if the block lifts the pivot enough
to make it more manageable when lowered? Have you tried?

I suppose it would also lift the boom a few inches, so if a previous owner
was very tall....but it seems a hard way to do that.

Thanks

Perry

Thanx Perry  
We're thinking of going with a boomvang attached to the forestay with a "Y" stick to cradle the mast in lowering and raising it.  Comments?

Tom

Well, I'm aiming to eventually replace mine with a tabernacle, but in
the meantime, i've tried a few things. my favourite was a couple of
blocks lashed to the back of the pulpit, with a line hoisted from them
to the top of the mast (I have a spinnaker block as well as a jib, for
some reason). By using the jib sheet and the line on the two blocks
together, we could lower the mast a fair way whilst  keeping it
controlled, and then take the weight on an a-frame.....however, it was
a 2 person job.

I'd love to get to the point I could make it a 1 person, winch job,
but not sure how....still turning my engineering to it!
However....having an 8 month old baby seems to have slowed any
progress down to a halt!

Thanks

perry

Hi Perry,

Perry wrote

I'd love to get to the point I could make it a 1 person, winch job,
but not sure how....still turning my engineering to it!
However....having an 8 month old baby seems to have slowed any
progress down to a halt!

Have you got a mast that weighs a ton, or do you hang your baby in the cabin doorway as Austin did?

If not, all this talk of engineering, winches and A-frames is way over the top. Even without a tabernacle the information about lowering a mast with a tabernacle applies.