whisker pole ends

[montenido]

Hi all, I'm looking at a used whisker pole for my C36. It is 12' long and has a snap type of jaw on one end and an open sort of hook on the other end. Is this normal. The whisker pole on my other boat had closing jaws on both ends.
All input is appreciated.

Cheers, Bill

[celenoglu]

This might be an old model. They had special connections to the mast, and to the sail.

[ccher]

I had one like that on my old boat. The hook goes over the sheet at the clue. 12 feet however seems awfully short for a 36' boat.

[dave22q]

Originally Posted by ccher

I had one like that on my old boat. The hook goes over the sheet at the clue. 12 feet however seems awfully short for a 36' boat.

i'm looking at similar pole. does the hook engage the clew or the snap shackle on the sheet? opening facing aft? also the is a sheeve (pully) inside the hook is that for rigging a line from the topping lift to raise/lower the pole height? i cannot see any other use.

i'm looking to use this on a 110 genoa on my morgan 33 (pole is 17'). i'm assuming i need rig a fore guy to protect the pole from the foremost stays.

any thoughts would be most helpful.

[Faster]

Originally Posted by dave22q

i'm looking at similar pole. does the hook engage the clew or the snap shackle on the sheet? opening facing aft? also the is a sheeve (pully) inside the hook is that for rigging a line from the topping lift to raise/lower the pole height? i cannot see any other use.

i'm looking to use this on a 110 genoa on my morgan 33 (pole is 17'). i'm assuming i need rig a fore guy to protect the pole from the foremost stays.

any thoughts would be most helpful.

My first thought is to tell you to get rid of the snapshackle on the sheet.. nothing wrong with tying sheets on, saves hardware and a big bruise if you get knocked on the noggin..

If there's a hook on the pole end you could use the clew cringle or the sheet itself... I'd probably try the sheet as that would allow you to fully release the sail in a puff... the clew clipped to the pole may prevent the sail from properly depowering, esp downwind.

Agree with ccher earlier that 12 foot whisker pole for a C36 is too short, I believe the J is 14 feet or so, and as a spinn pole length that would be standard, but a whisker usually needs to be longer to use with a big genoa.. many are telescoping for that reason...

[Sanduskysailor]

Sounds like a reaching strut to me. Used on boats with a symmetrical spinnaker to keep the guy off the shrouds. Check out the the pic? It wouldn't work well as a whisker or spinnaker pole besides it is too short for that application.

[montenido]

Thanks for the feedback everybody. Sandusky, that is the beast. Glad I passed on the deal. I guess I should measure my genoa foot length, might be a good starting point.

Thanks again.

Bill

[dave22q]

thanks for the quick feedback. the photo is correct. my application is for my morgan 33 genoa as a wisker pole. this is supposed to be a forespar telescoping 7-17' which is what the website calls for. is a reaching strut a thinner gauge metal or just a wisker pole with the sail end different?
again thanks. you just saved me substantial money.
dave

[Faster]

Originally Posted by dave22q

...is a reaching strut a thinner gauge metal or just a wisker pole with the sail end different?..

A reaching strut's only purpose is to hold the guy off the shrouds on a tight pole-forward reach with a symmetrical spinnaker. It generally mounts to rings on the SIDE of the mast and is lashed to the shrouds to keep in place. The loaded guy runs through the pole end, easing chafe on the sheet as it would otherwise 'saw' though itself being dragged across the shrouds. It also helps with side loads on the stanchions if they are otherwise in the way.



In short round the buoys they are rarely used, but on long legs it's worth deploying if you've got one. They are quite short, basically just half the beam of the boat at that point.

[speciald]

A 17' reaching strut would be a monster, was it off an old J boat?

Measure you J length not the foot of your head sail. For racing, a pole can be J + 10% at its longest.