Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
I plan on using CatalinaDirect stanchion clamps on the cockpit rails together with 1” galvanized pipe and a bow roller for a homemade mast crutch at the slip in order to ultimately motor the boat for haul out with the rudder still attached to gudgeons for steerage. (Also building that type of solo mast lowering system (just google or look at tropical boater) that uses a mast bale with a pole that clips on the mast step and runs sheets to pulpit and bale, with self-braking winch and baby stays, etc. (I have a furling genoa). Necessary to lower the mast to work on lighting, to install new standing rigging, halyards, etc.)
On Passage I'd go with an approach that includes several attachment points to keep the crutch solidly in place. A foot for the transom end of the cockpit deck that's held in place by lines passing through the cockpit drain scuppers, a dual vertical leg that misses the fuel-water separator mounted on the inside center of the transom, two cockpit seat mounted stabilizers that can be secured to the aft cleats, and a vertical with an offset that can brace against the stern pulpit rail, tied on with a few lines.
I use a system similar to what Bruce suggests: a foot hinged to the upright (2x4x8)with a bracket and bow roller on top to roll the mast fore and aft. Lines from the upright to the aft and winch cleats and a lashing to the traveller bar for lateral and fore and aft stability are permanently attached to the crutch. I lost mine last spring when I hadn't lashed it to the trailer while recovering Pearl and it floated away.
EDIT: The new one will have lines permanently attached to go through the scuppers and up to the traveller bar combining the mid lashing instead of fiddling with tying the foot each time.
Dave B. aboard Pearl 1982 TR/SK/Trad. #3399 Lake Erie/Florida Panhandle
Borrowing from another C25 sailor who needed to go through locks at the great lakes, I built a mast crutch using 1x4's that had "feet" in the trough at the back of the cockpit floor next to the transom, a cross-piece that secured to the stern railing, and a second cross-piece that held a roller for the mast. There is a pic somewhere in the archives. I used bolts with wing nuts so the whole thing would come apart easily for storage. It was made so the rudder could be kept on the transom for steerage. The most expensive piece was the metal bracket that held the roller.
DavidP 1975 C-22 SK #5459 "Shadowfax" Fleet 52 PO of 1984 C-25 SK/TR #4142 "Recess" Percy Priest Yacht Club, Hamilton Creek Marina, Nashville, TN
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.