Another Warning & First again

[Jim Seamans]

Sure getting tired of being first!!! ;-)Monday night after being out all Memorial weekend,I was cleaning the boat getting ready for storage.I grabbed the crutch pole and felt it was veryvery very loose. I checked it and found it was brokenclean through. The only thing holding it down wasthe weight of the mast. A very scary thing since Ijust driven 60 miles home with it and not knowingwhen it finally let go. All kinds of mishaps wentthrough my mind. I haven't removed the crutch sinceI picked up the boat two years ago. Eddie atHunter was amazed, he had never heard of one of thesebreaking. The only thing I could come up with is whenI picked up the boat from Crazy Dave they had to drillanother hole to insert the pin to keep it from rotating and this weakened it. Check the picture!Check your poles for any boat that uses one.JimS/V Java

 

[Al]

Yikes!

Are they sending you a new one? With the correct hole placement? I was going to drill a hole in mine for the pin so that it would not twist as well...maybe not. Thanks for the warning!!

 

[Sean Coerse]

Hole

I got my H240 from Dave. It also has a hole but hasn't been a problem. I do not keep it up though and only trailer 3-4 times a year because I keep it in a slip during the season.

 

[Jim Seamans]

Yes - Drill hole and place a pin in

Hunter is sent another pole, but drill a holeand place a pin in. I didn't and on Saturday getting ready, as I lifted up the mast and began rotating back the crutch rotated and dropped the mast. Interesting bunch of problems ensued.When Dave was preparing the boat the original hole was either not drilled all the way through or did not line up, so he drilled another hole. Thats how two holes got in there.JimS/V Java

 

[AL]

was the hole in the new...

Was the hole in the new mast crutch they sent you correctly lined up and all the way through?

 

[Frank Sears]

Another question...

Jim, I can't have you having all the problems...My crutch pole is bend. Is it suppose to be that way? The first time we let the mast down we didn't have the pin in the crutch so the crutch turned and scraped the mast big time as we were getting her into place on the crutch. I won't forget that again... Is your pole bent?

 

[AL]

post bend

mine has a bend in it. I was always thought it was supposed to be there so that turned correctly the top part would be perpendicular to the mast (once down).

 

[Jim Seamans]

Ref: Bend and Hole

The crutch from Hunter comes bent and without the hole drilled. Funny thing though with the original crutch when you begin to rotate the mast back to insert the base pin. The upper stays catch in the crutch so I modified the roller at the top of the crutch. See picture...JimS/V Java

 

[Jim Seamans]

Opps here is the picture

picture

 

[Bob Fliegel]

Pole Problems

Last weekend I put my boat (s/v Joy-Sea) in the water. I had a friend pull the boat and trailer, with his pick up truck, while I followed him in my car. The day before I happened to read your post on the broken pole so I paid attention to the stress on the pole while the trailer and boat were in motion. I could not believe how the pole was being bounced around and twisted by the forces of the mast. This is really a disaster waiting to happen. As strong as the s/s pole appears to be, I am quite certain it is not sufficient for the job. My mast, which was properly secured with bungees and tie downs, bounced around so much, my wind indicator arrow slapped up against my VHF antenna and broke inhalf. There has to be a better way of securing the mast for transport - that pole is just not safe. By the way, my mast is bent and also has a small alignment hole in it which did not line up. ASK ME WHY I DIDN'T DRILL ANOTHER HOLE!

 

[Bill]

TIE IT DOWN

For what it's worth- we have always tied the mast very tight from stern cleat to stern cleat to prevent the port-starboard movement. Also we secure midway near the mast step from the mid stanchion bases. I was sick of my VHF taking a beaten going down the highway! We also remove the windex..silly to think you can run with it under the best of condtions.I think the HM design team missed this potential problem and stress point, I would hate to think of a serious accident with a following vehicel should a pole section hit someone and the subsequent legal issues should a death occur. Not to mention the towing width as another point of legal discovered along the path of recovery! Everyone would get named, you Hunter, dealer, etc. YIKES

 

[Nancy Berg]

PIN DOES NOT STAY IN

We have the hole and the pin and have to wiggle the mast crutch to get the pin all the way in the hole. Then we tie down the mast and crutch to reduce the bouncing up and down. BUT the pin still works its way out. On a recent trip to and from Mexico (1500 miles round trip) we had to stop frequently to check the pin and work it back in. We even tried using duct tape to help keep it in and it would tear thru the tape. One time the base was out of the cup. Our imaginary nightmare is the pole bouncing out of the bracket and falling on the highway. We are looking at several ways of fixing this problem but welcome any suggestions.

 

[Jim Seamans]

Yikes Double Yikes

Bob I brought my boat home this weekend to work on some small problems. As I towed I watched the mast in my outside rear view mirror. I almost did something in my pants watching that mast rock back and forth. I didn't realize it was moving that much. It is a wonder I made it home without dropping it. Have no idea when the crutch let go all I know I was in the yard. YIKES I'm supprised more of these have not broken.I have now strapped it down to the transom cleats and the mast does not move. You can see the red strap that is holding down the mast.JimS/V Java