Reaching pole storage

[jssailem]

Well, a boat hook is a horse of a different color.

I place mine on the cabin deck alongside the handrails. The hook slides in under the forward handhold, and the boat hook stays put. This is good in moderate or calm conditions. When I batten down the boat for sailing in rising winds, the boat hook goes into the lazarrette with the fenders. We don't really use the boat hook unless we are in the marina. That is the same time we break out the fenders.

 

[Davidasailor26]

This thread got me to thinking, "'A dangerous thing.' 'I know!'". How often do y'all actually use your boat hook for fending your boat or catching a dock? I cannot remember the last time I used it for that. I occasionally use it to grab a crab pot if the counter-weight is in the wrong place so that the flag does not stand up. I also will use it to grab a mooring with the Happy Hooker attached. Other than that, it stays in its holder.

I used ours to fend off a dock once, when we had an engine failure and needed to duck into a slip quickly. I won’t do that again - they’re not built for compression.

We do use ours every time we dock though - to grab dock lines left at the slip. I can’t imagine trying to dock without having it for that.

 

[kappykaplan]

We do use ours every time we dock though - to grab dock lines left at the slip. I can’t imagine trying to dock without having it for that.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

I keep mine on my cabin top hand rails. I used to use these to hold the grip end and the entire hook never shifted. Now I leave the aft end loose. I only have to put it back in place on occasion. I have yet to lose one.

For storing my boat hook, I 4d printed a pair of keepers that holds it very nicely on the starboard sitee. The SS commercial ones I had tried always bent and did not hold well. The new one pops in an out with a very satisfying "Snap".

This thread got me to thinking, "'A dangerous thing.' 'I know!'". How often do y'all actually use your boat hook for fending your boat or catching a dock? I cannot remember the last time I used it for that. I occasionally use it to grab a crab pot if the counter-weight is in the wrong place so that the flag does not stand up. I also will use it to grab a mooring with the Happy Hooker attached. Other than that, it stays in its holder.

I use it when I'm docking by myself. I put in an extra loop for the hook and drop the line on the line over the cleat. Without the extra loop, the hook gets caught between the line and the cleat and you have to dodge the aft end to keep from impaling yourself as the boat moves.

 

[dlochner]

Here's a photo of one of the boat hooks hanging on the Bimini frame.