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I did this to my whisker pole on a wild run in 20-25 kts through the Gulf of Maine at 3am in sweet 6-8' following seas...
The outer tube is 3"...inner is 2.5" The inner is the broken one; the outer has a very slight bend to it. Question is...worth going through the effort (removing rivets, finding a similar aluminum tube, trying to fit it, etc.) to fix it or just buy new? Forespar said that it'd be 200-somthin bucks for a new tube and over 100 to ship it. Bullcrap. There is probably another way but don't know what that way looks like. What do folks think?
Cheers,
Clint
Clinton B. Chase
Tartan 30 #388 Cirrus
Portland, Maine
Sorry man about that whisker pole. I am not sure if it is worth it to repair it... Perhaps you should try to see if you can straighten out the outer tube first before deciding to spend money on a new tube or a whole new whisker pole. If the outer tube is shot, then its all shot. Get a new or used one. If you can straighten out the outer tube, then... I found a website, the lowest price I could find for a blank aluminum tube so far. You did not mention what length the ruined inner pole was so I don't know if the prices at this website is good. Maybe you can do better than me.
Shipping at the most do seem to be under 100 bucks for sure. The 2 1/2" Tube, 9' in length was just approx 11 bucks via UPS ground (to my location which is in Wiscasset...). The 11' section was slightly more. But don't quote me on that, check yourself to be totally certain. I could be wrong. Forespar's prices is a definte rip off for sure. Good luck then.
I picked up some industrial aluminum tubing at a local distributor to make a whisker pole.
It was about $6 a foot for 6061-T6 aluminum, diameter 2" and .065 wall thickness. Yours is a bit larger. The aluminum is not anodized, but should last a long time.
If the outer tube can be fixed it might be worth it.
something on shipping. Just this week I received a 6 foot spinnaker track from a friend in Mich. 6 feet long, 1 inch wide, 4 pounds.
Charges from UPS for shipping were quoted at $46!!! That included a 6.50 surcharge cause it was in a tube instead of a box, an over size charge, plus a undetermined "fuel surcharge" tied to the current price of a barrel of oil :(
We called DHL and got a quote from them. They shipped it, in the same tube, for 8.53.
While we're on the subject, I've never known exactly what the difference is between a spinnaker pole and a whisker pole.
I (think) I understand that a spinnaker pole is used to "pole out" a traditional spinnaker (although I've never flown one); whereas a whisker pole is used to "pole out" a headsail that's attached to the forestay (is this right).
But what are the physical differences in the actual pole you'd use? What would make you look at one of these poles in, say, a consignment shop, and say "That's a spinnaker pole" vs. "It's a whisker pole."
The whisker pole is usually quite light(for a given boat size) compared to the spinnaker pole due to the different forces they need to handle. The whisker simply poles a jib or genoa out to keep it from collapsing. The loads are mostly light tension(except in Clints case!). Most are adjustable fro different sails, angles.
The spinnaker pole is usually the length of the J, or the foot of the working jib. When the boat is on a reach, the end of the pole is on or nearly against the headstay. Imagine an enormous spinnaker on one side of the boat pulling against the guy(the sheet more or less on the other side) on the other and the only thing working against all the force is the compression strength of the pole pushing against the mast. Most of course are heavy aluminum tubing but we still have the original spruce pole on our Alden Challenger. It tapers to the ends and the center is around 4" in diameter-this is where they need to be robust.
I love flying the old racing spinnakers on Christmas. Nothing (for me) makes a boat come alive like a real spinnaker. With our light air spinnaker on a reach, we can reach phenomenal speeds in light airs. It's a handful to work but worth the effort.
Here's a favorite photo which shows the compression forces on the pole. This also shows the bad trim(pole on the headstay) poor seamanship(winch handle still in the winch) and fear(my son ready to duck in the center hatch) that accompanies a short handed family sailing a light spinnaker in a tad too much wind. But the rewards are evident.
I've enjoyed your articles on Christmas...beautiful boat.
I noticed you had no downhaul on the tack of the spinn. What was controlling the luff tension? That would also help power/depower the sail. We use the ATN Tacker (collar that goes around furled up genny and holds tack of sail and the downhaul). We love it.
I have a UK Flasher...really a reacher... great for light air but I wish i could sail a little deeper/off wind...i can sail down to 130 AP but deeper than that and I loose the sail esp. if there are any waves. We've had it up to winds in the upper teens (AP) and have taken it down if the gusts hit 20 kt (AP). Need a smaller/heavier spinnaker now....geesh. Here is a shot coming home from MV/Cape before the pole incident.
Cheers,
Clint
Clinton B. Chase
Tartan 30 #388 Cirrus
Portland, Maine
LOL- Nice picture Tom- the girl seems to be absolutely petrified. *grin* Looks like my granddaughter would look- she's never known what fear is on a boat
hard to see rigged to the port side and up to the pole end. On a reach like this the pole is pretty low to tighten the luff alittle. You're right Clint, without it the pole would rise straight up.
Rigged like this, jibing is pretty much out of the question. We'll set the chute for a sail like this, 10 miles up Blue Hill Bay and I'll release the windward shackle on the afterguy to let the chute fly in behind the main where we will gather it in. We had a sock on our last boat which made this an easier operation but we are rigged the old fashioned way on Xmas and will make some changes eventually, for now it's still fun!
Thanks for the clarification on spinnaker poles vs. whisker poles.
This does lead me to one more question though: Is there such a thing as a wooden whisker pole? What I mean is, how would one make an adjustable wooden pole, since it can't retract/extend inside itself like an aluminum one can?
Hello Rachel,
Yes there are/were wooden whisker poles, but I don't know about adjustable ones. The one I remember my grandfather using when he raced 'Kestrel' was about 20 feet long. It would stay down in the cabin until it was needed. A rope grommet was spliced into the eye of the clew and the end of the pole was pushed into the grommet eye. The sail would be pushed out to windward and then the inboard end of the pole would be secured to the mast with another rope. It was a little unwieldy, but helped them win a race or two.
A good source for aluminum tubing is from stores which sell irrigation supplies.
Also (I learned this when I did a stint in Indianapolis), if racing is big in your or a nearby community, check with shops which make or repair race car frames. I found some good stuff that way. :)
Kurt and Barque, the CrewDog. Katie Marie, Ariel #422 Melelani, Islander 36 (shoal)
