Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast Retrofit -- Part 7 -- Mast crutch

Tanzer 16 Hinged Mast Retrofit --Part 7 Mast Crutch  -- September 20, 2014. Still waiting on crew Tony to come help cut the mast so I decided to make a crutch to help with the mast raising.  A crutch will be more convenient than hauling a ladder down to the boat launch.

First thing needed?  A pair of pintles to insert in the transom gudgeons.  Since they are about 50 bucks each, I decided to make them.  With no access to a welder, they had to screw together.  Like so:

Since I will probably put a tack weld on each side of the pintle later, I used metal brackets.  Plywood could serve just as well and require a lot less time.  A piece of 3/8" steel rod fits into the gudgeons nicely.  Drilling the holes in the rod is much easier if you file one side flat and use a center punch to mark the hole.  When I fitted it on the boat, I realized the little keeper that is supposed to secure the rudder to the gudgeons is in the way.  I plan to just bend it to the side.  It's pretty much useless anyway.  That's why you see many boats for sale that need a rudder.  Much better solution:  Drill hole in a rudder pintle and secure it with a ring every time you go out.  Thusly:

The part that holds the mast (Would you call that the crotch of the crutch?) is some MDO scrap bigger than the mast.  The board is just a piece of oak plywood I had laying on the shelf--a 2x4 would work. The board is 6 feet long and about 4 inches wide.  Once the mast has been hooked into the hinge, we will be able to push it up in the air about five feet above the stern deck.  That will help a lot with sorting out the lines and rigging and give us a nice head start when we use the gin pole and winch to raise the mast.

Today's Cliche:  No job is so simple that it can be done in one trip to the store.