Hi all, I'm a newbie J30 owner. I'm getting ready to pull the boat out of the water and bring it to my home shop so that I catch up on some deferred maintenance, get a survey done and work through any bugs we find. My searches on this forum don't seem to bring back any instructions on the procedure to pull the mast and what I will find as start dismantling everything. Are there electrical connections inside the base that need to be released when the mast is lifted a few inches? I am not seeing any connections at the base that are external. My boat is #281 a 1981 model. Will be using a marina hoist to lift the mast, but I don't want any big surprises. If it is label and cut the wires thing I can do that too.
dg

There should be wires for masthead light, antenna, steaming light and wind meter if you have one coming out of the base of the mast and going to a box on the floor near the head . There should be a cover in the floor that you can remove. and unhook all of the wires depending on how they are wired.

I was on the boat again this morning and pulled the entire hairball of wiring out of the box at the base of the mast. There are some pretty basic spade connections there. I kinda thought that since this box area is essentially a wet area there would be more elaborate connectors, not the case on my boat yet. Looks like an area for improvement.

Have marked all the lines and pulled all the stopper knots. Next up is the boom and then looking at the turnbuckles.

Not sure where 281 came from but on Long Island Sound we had to have thru bolt at the base of the mast to keep it there in case of dismasting. You might make sure you don't have a bolt installed. Good luck. On my boat one of the wire pairs I use for my Windex light only has about 2 VDC by the mast.

This boat had spent the last 10 years in Hood River, Oregon. There is a turnbuckle setup on the front side of the mast that secures the mast to the hull on this boat. Plan is to go through the entire boat over the next few months. One of the main reasons for buying an older J30 like this 1981 is all of the great info on this site. I will try to add to this knowledge base as I go along. I'm having the boat delivered to my home on the 19th so it can sit next to my wood shop. Next up will be the survey and then the fun can begin in earnest.