Build a Better Boat Hook?

capta

capta

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Jun 4, 2009
4,882
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
We pretty much only use boat hooks to pick up the occasional mooring. None is worth a damn if I don't get the boat to the mooring or dock properly. We had 3, but one broke a week or so back, but it was my fault for not getting the boat properly to the mooring, not my lady's for not being able to hold a 77,000 pound boat in 20 knots, with a silly aluminum pole.
But no worries, every one we have we've found on the bottom in the mooring fields, so I'm sure another will show up soon enough.
 
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Likes: jwing and JamesG161
shemandr

shemandr

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Jan 1, 2006
7,402
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
I have the pole attachment for the button mop handle and use it all the time. It is like the picture in KG's post #12. It is a bit unwieldy at first but I find it very useful. You can fend off with the flat section between the upper two prongs, or with the prongs themselves on a hull for instance. I'm not sure what the semi-circular part is for but I guess you could push a rail with it. For capturing a line the reverse hook works well. You can push a line over a cleat with the one prog. Retrieving the the pole without bringing the line or loop with it needs practice. It's not perfect but I find it much better than the telescoping ones.
 
Kings Gambit

Kings Gambit

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Jul 27, 2011
5,119
Bavaria 38E Alamitos Bay
I can't figure why these things need a pike head. It interferes with the use of the hook to capture cheats and docklines laying on the dock. What is its function--the pike head? WHY is it there?:solame:
 
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jssailem

jssailem

SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
Oct 22, 2014
22,330
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
I suspect it is old school, designed for the time when the boat approached a wood dock. You would spike the wood and get a firm grip of the dock to push off. It is a little like the spike head of a log peavey

used in the pond to move logs.
 
capta

capta

.
Jun 4, 2009
4,882
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
jssailem said:
I suspect it is old school, designed for the time when the boat approached a wood dock. You would spike the wood and get a firm grip of the dock to push off. It is a little like the spike head of a log peavey

used in the pond to move logs.
Click to expand
Pilings. I doubt that the marinas would get a kick out of folks using a pike on their nice wooden docks.
 
Kings Gambit

Kings Gambit

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Jul 27, 2011
5,119
Bavaria 38E Alamitos Bay
The things are too long to use to fend off from a piling if you're in the cockpit under a Bimini, etc.; especially the traditional length ones. It'd take take both hands.
 
capta

capta

.
Jun 4, 2009
4,882
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
Kings Gambit said:
The things are too long to use to fend off from a piling if you're in the cockpit under a Bimini, etc.; especially the traditional length ones. It'd take take both hands.
Click to expand
In the days those old pike style boat poles were popular on yachts, there weren't any biminis and boats, even 40 odd footers, had walkaround decks.
 
WayneH

WayneH

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Jan 22, 2008
1,081
Tartan 37 287 Pensacola, FL
Went to the big blue hardware store, bought a 10 foot closet rod. Removed the hook from my bent and no longer collapsible boathook. Drilled a hole in one end of the closet rod to accommodate the hook. Drilled a much smaller hole on the other end for a lanyard. Wrapped both ends with binders twine and a couple of spots on the lanyard end to fit the Admiral's reach. Varnished the twine to lock it in place and stained the exposed portions of the rod to protect the wood.

Admiral is happy because now she can push off and not worry about bending or collapsing the pole. Plus she can whack me from much further away if I'm paying attention to OTHER bikinis. :poke:
 
Davidasailor26

Davidasailor26

.
May 17, 2004
5,461
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
Kings Gambit said:
I can't figure why these things need a pike head. It interferes with the use of the hook to capture cheats and docklines laying on the dock. What is its function--the pike head? WHY is it there?:solame:
Click to expand
Well the pike is useful to help hold a line out and easily drop it, like a loop over a piling.
 
Will Gilmore

Will Gilmore

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Oct 19, 2017
7,841
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
Kings Gambit said:
I can't figure why these things need a pike head.
Click to expand
I think it is there to keep the hook away when using the boat hook as a guard to push tenders away without accidentally catching them and pulling them closer. It may also be to fend off boarders and in-laws or tax collectors.

I did find this little grabber you might consider

- Will (Dragonfly)
 
Kings Gambit

Kings Gambit

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Jul 27, 2011
5,119
Bavaria 38E Alamitos Bay
I think I sort of knew that (post #12). But that's not one of the routine functions I need from mine.
 
G

gettinthere

.
Nov 26, 2008
1,966
Endeavour 42 Cruisin
I found an aluminum extendable pole at a hardware store that is VERY nice. It is hexagonal, not round. it has a spring loaded pin to lock it at one foot increments and a standard painters pole screw end. There are boat hooks with that screw which I attached to this pole. I have had it for 4 years and it works great. mechanism has performed well and it gets a lot of salt spray. Quite happy.
 
thinwater

thinwater

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Mar 26, 2011
3,630
Corsair F-24 MK I Deale, MD
Davis Industries. I've tried every brand I could find, including old stuff, broke them, did pull ups and pole vaults to test the lock, and practiced picking lines off docks (most hooks have bulbous tips that just push the line around). I then kept it on deck for years. West Marine has some good solid hooks. I donated the others, except for some really old ones I just like! The 12-foot pike decorates my daughter's room.


 
Terry Cox

Terry Cox

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Dec 25, 2000
5,875
Hunter Passage 42 Shelter Bay, WA
Kings Gambit said:
The pike on those are even more ridiculous.
Click to expand
Many tears ago (yes, tears) worked on the water for Weyerhaeuser repairing log rafts, then referred to as stick repair, a labor intensive and dangerous job. Back then the fixed pike pole was indispensable for pushing or pulling logs around. Would never use it on a boat.

Today, I have three indispensable and extendable Garelick brand aluminum boat hooks; two kept in the cockpit, one as a spare down below. Tips are guaranteed for life and Garelick has replaced three of them that I broke free of charge (another story). Would not sail without them.
 
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