Mast Float Mount

liketoboat

New Member
It was a long cold winter here in the North East so I had all winter to read all the historical posts on preparing my (new to me) 1988 Capri for the 2010 sailing season. Thanks to all who previously posted their improvements and recommendations, as I utilized all of them. Of particualr interest was the subject of preventing turtling. I previously posted a note asking if anyone had ever tried the Catalina mast sleeve method , and if so, had it functioned as planned. Not having received any real positive response, I decided to purchase the Baby Bob. In reading the existing posts, someone had designed a simple mast mount for their Mast Float using scrap aluminum channel . I looked around my shop for something to duplicate his idea , but without much success. Then I noticed that the bottom of my mast already came with a cast aluminum mast plug. I bought another new mast plug from Catalina for about $12. To that I envisioned adding only one simple aluminum bracket that would mount directly to the Hobie's stainless brackets , thereby eliminating one unnecessary bracket, and reducing the overall height slightly. I couldn't find a bracket in my shop but I did locate an aluminum billet bar that I managed to take a slice from to the exact dimensions that I required. This was 1 inch wide, 3 inches long, and 1.25 inches high. I then brought it to work and had someone machine a 1/2 deep channel down the center, thereby creating a new U shaped channel. I drilled two .260 holes sideways through the bottom of the channel for the 2 screws that will attach the Hobie stainless brackets to the new aluminum channel. The new channel was then mounted to the mast cap with 3 stainless 1/4-20 screws and nuts.The Hobie stainless bracket slipped right right over the top of the new mast cap/ channel assembly. Viola, I now have a simple but effective Float Bracket. I will try to attach some pics of the individaul parts, and then a pic of the final assembly. This new mast cap was then drilled and tapped around trhe perimeter for four 1/4 -20 screws to mount the whole assembly to the top of the mast. One added feature was that I was also able to utilize the unused upper mounting holes on the standard Hobie stainless bracket to mouint two of the turning blocks that I had left over from upgrading my Mod 1 to the Mod 3 centerboard lifting suggestion. The two pulleys can now be used for flag pennants, to assist in stepping the mast, or a topping lift.
 

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    Hobie mount complete.jpg
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