Proper mast crutch height for H23?

[isaksp00]

Does anyone know the proper (or I should say, sufficient) height for the mast crutch on a Hunter 23, when extended up, so that mast can be pinned to the plate while clearing the hatch cover? I think I need to extend mine to be taller, but see no easy way to measure exactly how tall.

I assume the easiest way to define is height above top of transom, or maybe height above top pintle.

 

[jorg027]

From the base of the top pintle my crutch is 47" high. It's also adjustable to raise further. I prefer to raise it higher to give me more headroom when the mast is stored. You could probably go lower than 47" too, but not by much.

 

[C Jones]

Mine will adjust from 3' 6" in the down position to 7' in the fully raised position. Mine came with my boat and looks homemade but it works well. It has a boat trailer winch to raise and lower it. Easy from the ground with the boat on the trailer.

 

[isaksp00]

Thanks for the info. 7 ft? I doubt if mine is anywhere near that, tho I can't measure as I am not near the boat. Do you find you need the full 7 ft in order to keep the mast off the cabin top? I am intrigued by the use of the winch - can you describe how it hooks up, or better yet, if you have a photo? My crutch has a square tube with fittings for the rudder pintles, and a slightly smaller square tube inside, that telescopes up. I can't see how I'd possibly fit a winch cable.

 

[C Jones]

I trailer the boat in the down position then raise the crutch all the way up to raise the mast. It makes attaching the foot easier. My crutch top has a roller bottom about 10" wide and roller sides about 4" tall. The trailer boat winch is welded on at the bottom rear center of the crutch. The crutch is made of 1-1/2" square tubing with a 1-1/4" square tube in it that raises and lowers. The winch line goes up to a block on the outter 1-1/2" tube and back down to the center tube eye. This is just a single chain link welded to the inner 1-1/4" tube. The eye goes up and down in a slot cut in the backside of the outter tube. It does look homemade but someone put some thought in it and it works well. The total crutch length when in the down position is about 5'-6" I would send a picture of it but its in storage 90 miles away. Charles

 

[isaksp00]

Charles, thanks for this! Very helpful. The trick is that the prev owner added the slot in the outer tube. Without that, it is obviously tough to get any cable down to the bottom of the inner tube. Other threads have proposed approaches to snake a wire down between the inner and outer tubes, such as by using a round inner tube to provide some space. I don't see any easy way to get that slot added (short of asking a metal shop, which I might do). On the other hand, once the mast is on the raised crutch, it isn't all that tough to lift it off the crutch so someone can lower the inner tube... A rig of some sort that can go across the cockpit, with a vertical piece to support the mast temporarily, would help wiht that.

By the way, I viewed your profile pictures - very nice boat.

 

[C Jones]

Isaksp00, Thanks for the kind words. The slot does not look difficult to cut IMO, I think a simple 4" hand grinder could cut the slot in it pretty easy. It might take 30 min. and several grinding wheels. Good luck, take pictures and keep us posted. Charles

 

[peptobysmol]

Could also put a "chop saw" blade in your grinder or on a miter saw. Would make a more even cut and be easier to control I'd think. Barring that you could get a plasma torch

 

[isaksp00]

I think I'll defer the slot for a season - I don't have a miter saw, so I think I'd ask a metal shop - can't imagine it would be more than $30 or so just to cut a slot.

I was at the boat yesterday and did some measurements. I stretched a string from the mast hinge pin back to the transom and lifted it until it cleared the cabin roof (pop-top hatch leading edge) by about an inch, maybe 1.5 in. Distance from top pintle to string was about 5 ft 6 in. The highest my crutch can safely extend is about 4' 9".
I am going to buy a 4" spool trailer roller and bracket, mount it on a 1X6 (excess decking board I have) that is about 2' long, and bolt that to the top of the crutch using a shorter piece of 1X6 as a backing plate. My crutch just has what looks like electrical conduit pipe bent into something like a "smile" shape (U, but the ends don't come to the vertical), so that will fit between the boards. This would give me about and extra 18", getting me to a few inches over 6' - should support the mast before it hits the hatch edge.
If this works well I will try to post.
Peter