I just bought a '78 Venture 222 last week. Although I've been on the water in canoes and kayaks (with and without sails) my whole life, this is my first sailboat. Everything is pretty good on it except the wiring (which the old owner tried to redo himself) and the mast crutch. I have been practicing getting the mast up and down by myself using the boom vang blocks and a longer line. Everything was working well when I had the mast stepped and could raise and lower it myself no problem. Getting the mast down was my real problem, going up wasn't so bad even without any mechanical advantage. Anyway, I figured with that working I would pack the mast up and take it out on the water.
The problem with the mast crutch is it's just a pole with a half piece of PVC pipe screwed to the top. Not the best setup. Anyway that will be a later project. I'm not sure what the base to anyone else's looks like but mine is just a wide stainless steel L that goes on the top and back along the outside edge with a pole bracket on top . So sliding the mast toward the bow was okay because pole was supported from bending by the piece down the back.
When I got to the marina and was pushing the mast towards the stern the whole thing cracked off right through the fiberglass. I wasn't even really pushing too hard just the weight of the mast on an angle had enough to cause it to let go. I suspect it might have been about ready to go at any time. After thinking about it I realized that the support should be a U and not an L to give support in both directions. But what I'm wondering is what everybody else has for their crutch setup, like does anybody use any supports up higher to keep the whole thing from moving back and forth. I realize a good roller is in order but that is more of a winter project to build a new crutch. If I can get away with reusing the hardware that I have and maybe supporting it better I could focus on some more important things first before winter.... like repairing the fiberglass I just broke
Oh and everything went well on the water. I've got some learning to do to get the hang of everything single handed but it was a good first time out.