Gin Pole Scare

[Ray Bowles]

I have a 8 foot gin pole that came with my SJ 23 many years ago. I have used it probably 20 times and friends another 10 to 15. Today a friend wanted to borrow it and when we loaded it into his truck I noticed that it had a very slight angle to port. After looking very closely at the joint where the pipe enters the base plate that saddles on the mast I found a crack in the pipe threads. It is 3/4 inch galvanized pipe. I am very certain that it would have broken on the next use and the mast would have fallen God knows where.
I have always been very careful when raising or lowering a mast for both personel and equipment reasons. There is no way to carefully drop a mast.
This type of pole straddles the mast on 3 sides and sits about 2 to 3 feet up the mast and is strapped on.
This was an "O S##t" moment.
Ray

 

[topcat0399]

I have a 8 foot gin pole that came with my SJ 23 many years ago. I have used it probably 20 times and friends another 10 to 15. Today a friend wanted to borrow it and when we loaded it into his truck I noticed that it had a very slight angle to port. After looking very closely at the joint where the pipe enters the base plate that saddles on the mast I found a crack in the pipe threads. It is 3/4 inch galvanized pipe. I am very certain that it would have broken on the next use and the mast would have fallen God knows where.
I have always been very careful when raising or lowering a mast for both personel and equipment reasons. There is no way to carefully drop a mast.
This type of pole straddles the mast on 3 sides and sits about 2 to 3 feet up the mast and is strapped on.
This was an "O S##t" moment.
Ray

Another example of why we must all regularly Look, Touch, Listen, and Smell for the bent broken misshapen missing strange sounding and funny smelling.

Glad nothing bad came of it.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Ray;

I am not sure when you say strapped on but a couple of ideas based on the mast raise pole on the Hunters which are inserted into the mast. First, did anyone try to push the pole in the center or any part of it up and down or sideways. That sir is a no no. The second item when a pole is raised too much upward initially, I told my customers to make sure to look at the top of the pole so it is not putting pressure against the mast and of course the same is true for being too low.

can you forward a couple of photos to me at davecondon@mindspring.com

 

[Ray Bowles]

Dave, The gin pole is mounted next to the San Juan 23 mast location for using the boom for a gin pole. The pole is 8 feet long. The SJ boom and my gin pole length is almost the same.
I prefer my gin pole set-up to the SJ method. I had a 95 Hunter 26 that had the same set-up. I've raised more masts than I care to count using a pole and that was the first problem I've had.
I'm just glad we caught it before it broke.
Ray

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Thank you for sharing Ray. Often I see questions from many who do not have the experience you do just like me. You will never know how many masts over the years I raised at the yard, deliveries, boat shows, and so on. I too grew tired of doing that. The best mast raising was one morning on TV in Roanoke, VA at 6 a.m. prior to the start of the local boat on a Hunter 26. The news reporter did not go to advertising at the appointed time as my daughter, 10 years old at the time was winching the mast up by herself. That reporter was in disbelief. The funny part, my daughter became a TV local celebrity and I sold 3 Hunter 26's that day to my surprise.