Hobie Cat Forums

I am a new owner of a second-hand 2001 Hobie Getaway. My wife and I aren't spring chickens anymore and raising the mast on this boat is a workout, to say the least.

We had been looking at purchasing the Mast Stepper III and specifically these instructions located here: http://www.hobieco.com/linked_images/3156.pdf

My concern is that the wing seat plate (we have the wing seats) looks nothing like the one shown in this illustration. Our plate is far bigger, has a couple of open holes on either end you can see through the entire cross-bar. It does have a couple of indentations where the threaded holes are shown, but they are not drilled or threaded.

I can probably drill one indentation out and thread it, but my concern is this and I need someone from Hobie or someone who's been there to weigh in - are there any OTHER differences that might sink me in using the Master Stepper III on this boat?

I also doubt I'll sail solo - so are these lines even necessary? I just need help raising the mast - one of us can certainly crank, the other can walk the mast up and keep it from swaying from side to side.

_________________
Lance
1945 Snipe
Overland Park, KS

With 2 people all you need is an inexpensive trailer winch. You will probably need to lift the mast the first 2-3 feet. Then the winch takes over the heavy lifting. It does take moderate effort to keep the mast aligned but nothing like the effort to raise the mast without the winch. You also save all the rigging time required for the mast raising system.

_________________
Bob

Do you have a picture of your plate ?
Mine looked like the one on the instruction sheet, and the mast stepper worked nicely, allowing to raise the mast single handedly without effort.
The line going from the plate to the side of the mast is just there to prevent the mast to move too much to the side, during the raising operation so you can probably attach it differently, without even drilling an extra hole. May be you can just attach it to the base of the wing.

Here's a picture of the forward plate on my Hobie 2001 Getaway. My aft plate also has holes in it like this one.



The two indentations are just below the wing seat attachment and there are two rather large holes on either side and just below the wing seat attachment.

I also need to find some caps/plugs for those holes. When taking a picture of this side, I found a rather large paper wasp nest just inside the plate. As my wife is allergic to wasp and bee stings, we can't have THAT ongoing...

_________________
Lance
1945 Snipe
Overland Park, KS

Like you, I'm no spring chicken either. My wife and I raise the mast using an electric winch I got from Harbor Freight. Cost was about $50. Added a pulley to the forward mast support and ran the cable through there to get some height to the raising system. It has a remote control with it so I can raise it alone if need be. Rigging is simple with the only quirk we've found is making sure the line used to attach to the winch cable is wrapped around the mast to keep it from rotating forward during the raising and damaging the foot of the mast. The winch can be powered from a long cable to the battery of the tow vehicle or from a battery placed below the winch. I placed a battery in my cat box and added a 4 prong exterior grade plug and connection so I could just plug in the remote rather than having to connect it to the terminals each time. We've used this system for 3 years and it works great.

Now, credit where credit is due..I adopted the scheme from a posting that was/is on this forum I believe. I don't recall the thread, but I have his pics that show the important parts of the setup. If you are interested, I think my email is on my profile. If you don't see it there, leave your email info and I'll forward the pics.

Barry Martin

pls let me know where you can buy maststepper 3
thanks bill

hi lance and barry
thanks 4 some great info an coversation
maybe i'll try that harbor freight remote ,that sounds like a cheaper deal but i need some photos ...if you can email me them...i would love 2 take this puppy for a spin before it freezes over in v. beach
i'll apreciate it !! fengshuidude@yahoo.com
i also have a used 2001 ,that a friend let me have cheaply but it has a few quirks
thanks again
bill

Hi, I also have a 2001...looks the same.
I bought the Maststepper 3 this summer as sometimes I like to go out by myself.
Drilled and tapped the forward dimple of the 2 under the the wing support.
About a 1/2 deep until it breaks through.
Bought a winch from Harbor Freight on sale for $25.
Took the strap off of the winch and loaded it with an old wakeboard rope that my wife ran 20ft. of it around the boat prop...lol...good strong, non- stretch...overkill...but I knew I would find a use for it.
But you need to have a rope to run through the pulley.
Run the ropes up the mast and tension them pretty taunt with the halyard.
First time seems a little crazy...but works like a charm.
Works great for one person rig tension too.
Worth the money...every penny, to be independent and no back strain.
If you have any questions... been there done that..if you need help.

Mike

Any Hobie Cat dealer. 1 (800) HOBIE-49 or use the "Find a Dealer" link at the top of this page.

_________________
Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

Hi guys. Any info on the setups for raising the mast would be useful. That's going to be my spring project when I get the boat out of winter storage. I've also got to replace the forward tramp as I put a foot through it my last time out.

So I'll be ordering a Mast Stepper III and the tramp around the first of the year.

I've been looking at a Superwinch from etrailer. (http://www.etrailer.com/Electric-Winch/ ... 18200.html) This winch is quite a bit more expensive than the $50 or so winches from Harbor Freight, but I was specifically concerned because during the summer, my boat will set outside. So whatever winch I use needs to be at least be able to handle getting wet and the reviews on the HF winch weren't exactly thrilling.

Or I put it on the trailer so it's easy to get on and off. Anyone done this?

Feel free to PM me information.

_________________
Lance
1945 Snipe
Overland Park, KS

Hi Lance,

Before I got my HF winch, I looked around too. True the rating is not as good as some of the more expensive units out there, but I figured for the difference in price I could buy 5 of the HF winches with a 2yr warranty. That would last me for up to 10 years worth of lifting and lowering of the mast. The higher cost units don't have unlimited lifetime warranties that I could find and there's no guarantee they will last 10 years. Also, I wanted a remote control with the winch so I could activate it while lifting the mast out of the rear cradle. My first winch died after a year. I took it back and they gave me a new one. No questions asked. This 2nd one has been on the trailer for 2 years.. Mine is outside all year and for 3-4 weeks of that time its at the beach in salt air.

Mine is bolted to the forward mast support. It is held in place by a U bolt and a single bolt straight through the support. 5 minute job to put on or take off.

If you really want to buy a high end winch, take a look at the Warn brand. They make a very good product. I think they are sold by either Lowes or Home Depot.

Barry Martin

Hi,

I, too, am no spring chicken and made a "gin pole" to raise the mast on our H16.

See my post here: viewtopic.php?f=45&t=31204

It contains a link to the original that I worked from. It's quick, easy and seems to be pretty safe for both raising and lowerinf the mast.

Next spring I'll get some pictures and post them on the 16 forum.

Ed

_________________
'76 Hobie 16