It looks like it will work, have a following vehicle with flashing lights just to cover your mast end ! How heavy do you recon that stick is ??
Ive just been thru this unstepping episode and concluded it was much easier to lift the masts out at a yard where you can do what needs doing
Select to expand quote
This is $750. To buy direct from manufacturer is $645, so it isn't too bad a price.
Select to expand quoteFelixdeCat said..
Ok so I measured the car trailer thats for hire locally and here's my plan to get this done. Its not to scale exactly but if my pythagoras is correct I should have about 1m clearance both to the road and the roof of the car. Clearance to the road is more important though because the pivot point for the car is inside the length of the mast. So the car has to pitch up significantly to strike the mast.
I would definitely be doing this in the middle of the night. i.e. load the mast and park by the roadside and come back for it at night.
I'll strip the mast on board the boat before hand so all I need to do on the day is detach the 3 stays.
Frame will be made of 90 x 45 structural pine. I always find uses for that stuff so I can use it for another project later down the track.
Given I have no idea how much this mast weighs I will fit a boat roller on the rear end so only one end of the mast needs to be lifted at any one time.
Total length = 15.5m
That will work fine - I'd even slide the mast a bit further forward.
This is how I moved my mast when I moved house halfway through prepping it.
This is how I took it to the Marina for stepping - this was the riggers trailer he uses all the time for transporting various masts
This is how we transported this mast. Truck is safer and there is no worry with dips in the road.
Check your local road rules.
There are rules about how far an object can project behind the back of the vehicle/ trailer it is carried on. A length of 1 meter comes to mind in NSW (but I haven't checked that for this post) and I don't think a flag tied to it overcomes that limitation.
Well I thought I had it all sorted. I found a 6m trailer for hire on Gumtree for $60 a day, booked the marina crane for Monday 19th and booked a day off work. The mast is all ready to go.
I rang the trailer guy today to see if I could pick it up a day early and he informs me the trailer is in QLD and wont be back till Tuesday........ gee....... THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW!!!
SO its back to using a regular 4.5m car trailer from the local servo. Because this will add to the overhang I will ask a friend to follow from behind..... But at least I dont have to drive 1 hour to collect/return the trailer.
Legally it should be fine because theres no specific rule on maximum overhang. Only a rule about a red flag:
www.rms.nsw.gov.au/roads/safety-rules/road-rules/towing.html
Actually it mentions the overall length has to be less than 19m. That gives you plenty of leeway though.
All I can say is you mono guys have balls. So much side to side movement. Surely you have a harness too?
I probably couldn't do a ladder even if I wanted to cause of the diamond stays around the mast.
Reminds me of driving the mast for my boat from Mona Vale to the Bayview slipway.
4am was our chosen time but we had our 14.5m mast on the roofbars of the Holden Rodeo!
There were no photo taken to protect the not so innocent. 
The other option is to wander down to your local rowing club and offer a donation in return for the use of their rowing 8 trailer. Purpose built to carry long loads, and they usually sit empty for weeks at a time when not being used.
That sounds like a great idea Chris.
the crap I went through organising my mast road transported was not enjoyable, and that was only 17mtr and only weighs 160kg.
I went by water in the end thankfully, so I bypassed all the stuff Felix is having to worry about!
All went well without any big hiccups.
The trip back should be easier cause I can do that in the wee hours.
Select to expand quoteRamona said..
Well done! Hope there were no dips in the road.
Hehe yeah there were 2 speed humps on the route I was worried about but I left the 50mm SHS roof racks I made on the car to protect the roof just in case. The sunroof also helped keep an eye on the mast dipping down or swinging out to the sides on sharp bends. But in the end it was fine. I might raise the front just a little for the trip back in case the road profile is different in some way 
So now I have all the rigging collected, any recommendations for a rigger in Sydney to take it to?
Select to expand quoteFelixdeCat said..
So now I have all the rigging collected, any recommendations for a rigger in Sydney to take it to?
I always use Phill Bate at Riggtech. they reckon he's expensive, but he does an excellent job and I've
never thought I 'd been overcharged. Riggtech's at Newport.
I use sydney lifting equipment at brookvale. They are not riggers, but make up rigging to your specification or your old rigging. Look them up.
Ok cool thanks guys. I'll get quotes from both of them this week.
Now all all I need is a sailmaker who can reshape the mainsail as the boom is going up by 750mm.
Ok the easy part is done. Mast is stripped and ive sanded it from top to bottom and sprayed it with epoxy primer. A few stainless threads failed during the exercise so a mobile service will need to come and sort that for me. Once thats done I will paint the mast white before reassembly starts.
While the rigging does the rounds for quotes, can I ask if anyone has a windvane they would recommend to be visible on a 40 ft mast? I thought about going down the electronic instrument path but I dont think ill get the value for money from it. I think I just need the vane and some telltales etc. I saw this one and thought it might be the goods:
www.whitworths.com.au/wind-ind-s-s-360mm
Also, does anyone have a sail maker they would recommend as I need to get the mainsail reduced to fit the new boom height and also a new cover for the furling headsail.
Thanks!!
