23.5 Questions

[Spiderjohn69]

I've just purchased a 1993 23.5 that was part of an estate sale. The family was not familiar with the boat and having no expierience with a water ballasted trailerable boat I have quite a few questions. Tho origainal owners manual is pretty vague when it comes to mast raising and rigging. It does show using a mast raising tube in conjuction with the main sheet to hoist the mast. I don't have the mast raising tube. Is it necessary or is there an alternate way to singlehand the mast up? I also would like to know more about the mast step. It appears the holes at the bottom of the mast are threaded. I was expecting a pin to secure the mast to the step but apparently there are two bolts required.

My 5 years sailing experience has been on club boats and I looking forward to owning my own boat and want to get it right before I put the boat in the water.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[cephius (Dave)]

Spider John,
There has been several discussions on this topic. I guess it boils down to your health (strength) and your experience if it can be done solo.

The tube, or some replacement for it, is required to provide the leverage to pull a mast lying horizontal up when the halyard is pulling from the end of the mast.

If you can heft the mast up to about 30° while pulling on the lifting line, then you won't need the tube.

There are risks involved and more eyes/hands helps. The tube also makes the process more controlled.

I'm not familiar with the 23.5's mast step. My H260 does have a pin.

 

[Charlie13958]

My set up uses a pin at the mast base, and that pin holds the clip for the boom vang. Besides the mast raising tube, there should be two guy wires about 3' long with a pelican hook on one end and an L-shaped eye that goes into the mast. These are to steady the mast while raising and lowering. The pelican hook goes to an eye on the cabin top stanchion. These and the tube should be available from Hunter Parts.

 

[Bobbi Ullinger]

Kinship is also a '93. The mast raising "tube", also called a gyn pole, is easily fabricated using a 6'6" length of thick walled aluminum tubing. In one end cut a 3/4" round notch (this is the end that fits into the hole at the foot of the mast) and at the other end drill a 3/8" hole about 1/2" from the end, making sure that this hole is parallel to the notch at the other end. A rigging shop can then put a short piece of wire rope through this hole with swaged loops on each end.

A few years after we bought our boat, the original gyn pole collapsed and we made a new one.

 

[cephius (Dave)]

Gyn Pole

Mine is identical to Rods, but it is stainless steel.

Here is a modification that will strengthen the tube:
http://hunter.sailboatowners.com/in...id=267&cat_id=20&aid=6155&page=article&mn=260

 

[owner23.5]

more questions here as well I have the same boat but being new "to me" have only rasied lowered mast once , what we did is tie a rope to mast and other end my son had in the bed up the pickup to support the weight as I lifted the mast from the other end , while I would have to move up the boat during this my son held the weight briefly while I made my way up , I have to paperwork and wondering I"m sure I have all the parts that hunter supplied with the original purchase but have no clue what the process is any help or pics you guys/gals may have ?thanks

 

[Bobbi Ullinger]

It sounds like you may be missing some pieces. The necessary equipment to raise the mast are the gyn pole that I described earlier, 2 mast raising stays (about 58” long w/ a hook on one end and a pelican hook on the other), the mainsheet, and the forestay. The procedure that I use for raising the mast is as follows:

1. Attach the top of the forestay to the mast w/ the t-ball just above the jib halyard sheave.
2. Slide the mast aft in the crutch, making sure that the shrouds do not twist or get tangled.
3. Pin the foot of the mast to the mast step, making sure that the clip for the vang is in place.
4. Hook the raising stays to the slots in each side of the mast and connect the pelican hooks to the eyes on the cabin top stanchions. Check to make sure that there are no kinks in the shrouds, and that the shroud turnbuckles are laying down aft and are free to rotate upward with the mast.
5. Place the notched end of the gyn pole in the in the hole on the front of the foot of the mast, and attach the jib halyard to one of the loops at the other end of the gyn pole.
6. Attach the block of the main sheet that has the cleat to the other hook on the end of the gyn pole, and the other block to the eye in the anchor locker. Make sure that the main sheet is free of twists and tangles.
7. While holding the gyn pole vertical, fasten the free end of the jib halyard to the cleat on the side of the mast.
8. Hall on the main sheet, and the mast will begin to lift off of the clutch. While raising the mast, continually check to make sure that the shroud turnbuckles are moving to vertical and that the shrouds don’t kink or bend, and that the mast light and antenna connectors are not under the mast foot.
9. When the mast is vertical, connect the forestay to the bow plate.
10. Disconnect and stow the raising halyards and gyn pole, and disconnect the main sheet and move it to the cockpit.
11. Adjust the tension of the forestay.

Lowering the mast is basically the above in reverse.

I don't have any pics, but I can take some in a month or so, after I move Kinship from the back yard to the driveway.

 

[Spiderjohn69]

Rob, thanks for the info. I used your pictures and made a gyn pole from a piece of thick walled aluminum conduit. I found the raising stays and it went up exactly as you described. You saved me quite a bit of money and time trying to buy the part from the factory. My next project is to figure out the rudder and tiller configuration. It was all removed from the boat and disassembled. It seems pretty straicht forward but the two plastic peices on either side of the tiller were deteriated to the point I can't tell what they are supposed to look like. I assume the acted as bearing surfaces so the tiller could be raised without wearing. There are two red rubber friction plates on either sides the rudder I will have to replace and there is a 1/8 in thick aluminum plate and I don't have a clue wha it is for. The rudder details in the book aren't much better than the mast details.

 

[Bobbi Ullinger]

The plastic pieces on each side of the tiller act as shims to remove any play. I replaced mine a few years ago with some plexiglass, which is a fraction of the cost of the material of the originals (HDPE I think), and seem to be holding up fine.

The 1/8" aluminum plate has me stumped. What is it's shape and dimensions?