Hobie Cat Forums

Hi Dave,

I get one of my kids start back at the mast bob and lift it a bit as he walks forward (it's not very heavy from that end). Standing near the back of the boat, I lift it the rest of the way while he runs around and cranks on the trailer winch.

I used the Mast Stepper III over the holiday and am very pleased with it. It definately takes time to use but if your concern is eliminating the heavy lifting it is worth getting. You can speed things up by skipping the lines that keep the mast from moving side-to-side and just using the jin pole to lift and lower the mast. You have to hold the mast as it's going up or down to keep it from going sideways, but that takes no where near the effort of lifting the mast. I'm very happy with it.

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Dave

I remember watching an old video of mast-stepping on a H-21.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca_n9F7pwuY

The mainsheet blocks were used instead of a winch. With "baby stays"(?) in place and the mast resting on top of an ice chest on the aft end of the tramp, and a gin pole secured, grabbing the mainsheet and "walking away from the boat" brought up the mast quite smoothly. Could this be an option for the Getaway?
Thanks.

When I had a Hobie 17, I made a gin pole from a 2x4 and tied the trapeze wires to the wings to provide side to side stability; you do need to have some way to keep it stable until you get the mast high enough for the shrouds to prevent it swaying.

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Yet another Bob!