Boat Trailering Mast holder

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amcordova

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Aug 26, 2010
2
MacGregor Venture 21 Petoskey
I have a 21ft MacGregor boat that I have had for 20+ years. I am wondering if anyone knows where I can get a mast holder to hold the mast off the stern when trailering. I seen something on the newer MacGregors that mount using the rutter pins but am open to any type. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Manny
 
sinnettc

sinnettc

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May 23, 2007
1,306
Catalina Capri 22 Albany, Oregon
Have you considered making one? Wood or PVC pipe (the heavy duty type) strike me as viable options. I don't have a picture of it, but i have a mast crutch that's made out of 2x2's and a bit of plywood. I don't trailer with it, as I have the kind that goes in the rudder gudgeons too, but with a slight modification (adding a 3rd leg or something to clamp it to the transom) I could if I needed to.
 
Tom Hoffman

Tom Hoffman

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Dec 25, 2009
269
American 26 & MFG Challenger 12 American 8.0, Challenger 12 Lake Pepin, Wisc.
I had one made by a local welder out of mild steel square tube 1-1/2 sq. I will try and remember to take a pic of it. It has a 1-1/4" sq tube that slides up and down in side of it..the bottom third cock inward to follow the contour of my transom. I bought some farm gate pintels ( gates swing on them) had them cut off and welded to the angled tube so they fit in my gudgeons.

The upper vertical piece extends up above my stern rail, about a foot. It stay in this position while trailering. Once at the launch site. I can then extend it uppward so that the top roller is about 7' above the transom. This gives a good starting angle to start lifting the mast for raising. Pretty simple to make. It cost me about $65.00 + materials. It looks like a crutch with a bow roller in the position that you would have your arm pit in. I built a second one to fasten through the mast step plate to hold the mast level for towing. I am going to make a 3rd one for the bow, then the mast will be level and secure. The middle one and the bow are made of wood.

Check tomorrow night, I will try and get pics.

Tom...
 
MrUnix

MrUnix

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Mar 24, 2010
626
Hunter 23 Gainesville, FL
Tom Hoffman said:
I had one made by a local welder out of mild steel square tube 1-1/2 sq [...]

Pretty simple to make. It cost me about $65.00 + materials. It looks like a crutch with a bow roller in the position that you would have your arm pit in.
Click to expand
I've been wanting to fab one up for a while now.. do you think you could supply dimensions along with the pics for those of us in need?

Cheers,
Brad
 
Joe11688

Joe11688

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Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
amcordova said:
I have a 21ft MacGregor boat that I have had for 20+ years. I am wondering if anyone knows where I can get a mast holder to hold the mast off the stern when trailering. I seen something on the newer MacGregors that mount using the rutter pins but am open to any type. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Manny
Click to expand
Years ago I made one out of wood, Manny. I used two bushing connectors from a large substation transformer to attach it to my stern rail. I built it so the crutch could be raised when I was ready to pin the tabernacle. I didn't want anything that would need to fit in the gudgeons on my transom because I wanted to launch my boat with the rudder on it and sometimes raise the mast after launching. This system worked, but it was too bulky and heavy so I took my boat down to a marine welder who did marine fabrication work building rails, pulpits, and towers and he came up with a design using 1" stainless steel pipe. I built the crutch out of solid maple and screwed the flange to it. He cut my stern rail and added a couple of fittings to accommodate a hoop shaped yoke in which the 1" pipe could slide through, and installed a flange in the cockpit sole for the pipe to sit on when the mast is being trailered. He made this hoop so that it was detachable, but I liked the hoop so much that I now keep it bolted on instead of using fast pins to hold it. The wooden crutch should have a small roller in it so you can roll the mast forward or aft. My stays would sometimes get caught in the crutch so I drilled another hole through it so I can move the roller up. This has been working out great for me for many years. I can stow the crutch under one of my settees and I built a stainless steel flag staff to fit in the yoke. Since I've been using a Gin Pole to raise my mast, I have no need to raise the mast crutch anymore. The mast crutch can be as simple as the wooden rail mounted crutch like my friend Wayne built for his Seaward 22 in the last pic.
 

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dscribner

dscribner

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Nov 9, 2008
1,338
Pearson-O'Day 290 Portland Maine
Ok, I'm a Yankee, thru and thru. When you say "mast crutch" and I know what the shape is, I wonder why picking up an actual crutch from Good Will or someplace and replacing the arm pit cradle with a rubber roller wouldn't work. A crutch should be able to take 150 lbs easily. A piece of oak to secure the base and a bungee to attach to the stern pulpit. I've been thinking of a way of boosting my existing crutch at stepping time. I have a nice pair of aluminum crutches, garnered from my sons failed attempt at aerobatic fame at Sunday River Ski Area. HMMMmmm......
 
Tom Hoffman

Tom Hoffman

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Dec 25, 2009
269
American 26 & MFG Challenger 12 American 8.0, Challenger 12 Lake Pepin, Wisc.
Mast crutch

Here is a picture of my mast crutch. The dimensions for your will have to suit your boat.



Here is a close up of the piece that goes up and down to raise the mast to a better angle when you are ready to actually raise the mast.

 
Joe11688

Joe11688

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Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
dscribner said:
Oh! Trinkka . . . nice shorts!
Click to expand
That picture was taken when I was a young whipper snapper. After that, I got old, fugly, and fat. I've since been on a diet and I'm down to almost 200 lbs again! :dance: I try to keep looking young by hanging out with old people. :D
 
kenn

kenn

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Apr 18, 2009
1,271
CL Sandpiper 565 Toronto
We have a mast crutch that hangs off of the rudder pintles. One of the previous owners made it up out of steel fence T-post, and welded the crutch 'Y' to it as well as the pintles, then painted it black. It's a bit fugly, but has worked surprisingly well.

There are two sets of pintles on it so we have two positions - a lower position for travelling and an upper one for mast-raising.

Tom Hoffman's set-up looks awesome. If I ever get around to it, i will copy that design.
 
F

FrankR3878

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Nov 20, 2007
27
Flying Scot and self built wooden dingy 19 foot and V12 WV and MD
I took an old shaft from the shovel of a fireplace set, made a "Y" out of plywood, drilled a hole the size of the shaft in the bottom of the "Y" and screwed in on the shaft and cushioned the "Y" with a scrap of outdoor carpet and just put it in the pintles when trailering with the mast down. Cost $0.00.
 
Joe11688

Joe11688

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Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
amcordova said:
I have a 21ft MacGregor boat that I have had for 20+ years. I am wondering if anyone knows where I can get a mast holder to hold the mast off the stern when trailering. I seen something on the newer MacGregors that mount using the rutter pins but am open to any type. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Manny
Click to expand
I just went down to the club today and pulled my boat out and brought it home. I don't know if this hurricane is going to hit us up here and I'm not taking any chances. I have a couple of small projects that I need to do to my boat at the house and I'll bring her back to the club some time next week. I took some pics of my mast raising/lowering rig which includes the mast crutches.
Joe
 

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