You cannot put a square peg in a round hole!
We once, many years ago, flew a very long mast for a very big racing yacht, down to Buenos Areas, arriving with the foot of the mast firmly wedged against the aft pressure bulkhead, and the top in the cockpit.
We let the handling agents scratch their heads for a while, wondering how to get it out without cutting it in two.
Finally they had to ask us how we got it in!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a revised, developed and refined version of the African solution to the long box/cargo door entry problem.
LONG BOX – AFRICAN SOLUTION (Revision #1)
EQUIPMENT:
1 long piece of string.
1 tape measure. (does not need to be long)
1 stone
METHOD #1 (low box):
Place string on box, and pull string tight.
Cut string to the same length as box.
Attach one end of this string to outside front of cargo door.
Pull string tight and place other end on inside opposite wall of cargo compartment.
Place tape measure, at approximately rightangles to the tight piece of string.
ANSWER:
Measure distance between tight piece of string and inside rear of cargo door = max width of box to fit through the door.
METHOD #2 (tall box):
Attach another piece of string to stone.
Hang string down side of box, so that sting is tight, while stone touches ground.
Cut string at same height as box.
Attach this string to inside rear edge of cargo door, so that string is tight and stone touches cargo floor.
Place tape measure, at approximately rightangles to the tight piece of string used in method #1.
ANSWER:
Measure distance between tight piece of string and stone = max width of tall box to fit through cargo door.
(This is not so stupid. It would actually work!)
As for the mast, in order to load it we had the front windshield removed and using a crane we slid it in through there.