Whisker Pole Storage
I wasn't aware that the Hunter 34 came with an Isomat mast. Actually, the only one I ever saw with that mast was in the photos in the original brochure. All of the rest I am aware of came with Kenyon (who got bought by Isomat in the late 80's) masts without the extruded grooves for a pole car. The 31s and 40s were the lucky ones. OK, with that, I think that mounting the pole to the front of the mast is an excellent way to store it. Deploying the pole and retrieving it is so easy. In my case, I bought a 12 foot piece of 1 1/4" track and mounted that to the front of the mast after drilling and tapping holes every 4 inches. Make sure you bed the track with silicone and put antisieze on the screws. Mount the track about 3 feet up from the deck. You want to be sure that the pole will stow vertically with some track left at the top. Mount a couple of blocks to the mast (one at each end of the track). Those blocks have a base that accepts four screws and is slightly curved to follow the contour of the mast. Screw a tang between each block and the track where the two ends of your hoisting line will attach. Buy a car for the track from Forespar. Get the kind that has a pivoting attachment point. If you use one with a ring, it will get twisted and jam on the track. Then the jaw of the pole will snap. Mount a couple of blocks with shackles on the car and run 3/8" line through everything so you end up with a 2:1 purchase to raise and lower the car (and pole). Don't forget to buy the little stops that go at the ends of the track so you can't pull the car off. Add two clam cleats in opposite directions to secure the line so the car can't move up or down. You can mount a pad eye in front of the mast and put a shackle there to clip the pole to when it is stowed. Add a topping lift block about 4 feet above the top of the track on the mast and a cleat down where it is easy to reach. Once I set the pole for the jib with the topping lift to hold it level, I never have to uncleat it again. The pole stows vertically with the topping lift going slack, and when deployed it goes right to level. Before you go to wing and wing, unclip the pole from the shackle, run the lazy sheet through the jaw, and deploy the pole level. It rests right on the forestay because you are on the opposite tack. Gybe the jib, and you are sailing wing and wing. If you need to gybe back to a reach, the sheet runs through the jaw and pole goes back to resting against the forestay. If you have roller furling you can wind the sail up and still leave the pole up until you get back to the dock. If you have the Isomat mast, a lot of the work is done for you already. You should be able to find one of the proprietary cars for the extrusion. There is a topping lift sheave already on that mast, so all you need is the blocks on the mast, the clam cleats, a padeye and shakle and a cleat for the topping lift. And a pole of course. I can even deploy the pole with the dinghy stored on the foredeck. The beauty about the whole system is that I don't have to go further forward than the mast to set the pole. Much safer out in the ocean. Good Luck. Allan H34 "Alchemie" SF Bay
