After reading several posts regarding the benefits of adding a Hobie Baby Bob to the top of the mast, I decided to mount one myself. Since I sail with my wife and four year old daughter I wanted the extra peace of mind knowing that it would help prevent turtling. I went to my local Home Depot and bought a 1 1/2 in. aluminum flat bar 1/8 in. thick for about $10. Since the Hobie mount is about 1 in. wide and the mast opening is about 2 in. wide, I simply cut two 4 in. pieces of the aluminum bar and bent them so that it would fit the inside of the Hobie mount and expand to accommodate the inside of the mast. I secured it all with three bolts on each side of the Hobie mount and 2 bolts on each side of the mast. The whole setup only required two pieces of aluminum bar and 10 bolts. It took about 1 hour from start to finish and it seems to be rock solid. There are also a couple holes on the back side of the Hobie mount to add a block like some of the other mounts that I have seen on this site do. I guess I won't truly know how secure it is until the mount is truly put to the test. It’s not the most attractive mount, but is there anything attractive about mounting a large plastic egg on top of the mast?
Here are a couple pictures:
Here are a couple pictures: