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All masts of sail yacht, house boats, or merchant junks or other boats are usually stepped in a [[underline]] "tabernacle", [[/underline]] making it easy to lower them when going under a bridge. Their system is [[underline]] somewhat simpler than the one I adopted on the Ion. [[/underline]] Instead of oscillating the mast between 2 heavy oak planks, they simply carry a stub of a mast stepped to the keelson and protruding only 2 or 3 feet, rarely 4 feet high; altho' [[underline]] the mast [[/underline]] is rather tall, [[underline]] sometimes longer than the overall length [[/underline]] of the boat. This arrangement reminds one of the way topmasts are stepped on some boats. If 2 or three masts are available and
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[[image: diagram of mast arrangement with sections
labeled: "mast", "deck", "stub", "keelson", "Bolt which acts as [[underline]] pivot [[/underline]], and "steelband fastened on mast and allows tilting without undoing this band when lowering the mast
lower band which holds the foot of the mast.  Wedges can be driven below]]
if one of the masts had to be lowered or erected one of the halyards of the other masts is made to lift the lowering mast in position until the foreguy can be worked thru' the winch. In other cases the boat carries simply two strong poles towards the bow which are fastened and hinged on each side