Whisker Pole, Mast Track, and Ring

[KZW]

I have a 150 Genoa on my C-310 and could use a whisker pole. However, I have no mast track, and no ring. When running, holding the Genoa out with a boat hook only works in very light air and is not conducive to longevity of the pole or the crew holding it!!!

I’d like to hear from C-310 folks who added a track and ring to their roller furling mast.
- What make/model did you buy?
- Did you install it yourself?
- Was there any issue with installing a mast track on a roller furling mast?
- What pole did you buy?
- How do you store your pole?

 

[Stu Jackson]

Have you considered a single ring? We found that even with our mast track and moveable car, once set it is in the same position all the time, pretty much, for casual cruising. For racing, it was nice to be able to dip the pole to gybe, but we never did it much.

Vertical pole storage is very attractive. The downside is that the lower jaw can get frozen very easily. Good maintenance could avoid that headache.

Stanchion mounting horizontally seems to offset that problem, although some complain it narrows access to get forward. Depends on where you do that.

 

[KZW]

Stu,

Good points on the pole. Thank you. I shall keep it in mind.

By single ring, do you mean a ring hard mounted to the mast, i.e. not on a track? I've seen that in small boats, like on my old Holder 14, but not on larger boats. It would probably suit my purpose, and certainly beats holding the sail out on a boat hook.

I've participated in a handfull of local club races, but I'm not serious about it, and am not going to get serious about it. I don't remove the Bimini or Dodger, and spend more time chatting with the crew than paying attention to trim. I won't go to carbon/mylar sails, etc. I don't want to go to the expense of race hardware, don't want to have to have a highly trained crew and need to practice all the time and don't want to put the strain on the boat. I used to crew on a Catalina 30 tail rig with a regular set of folks and we were rather serious and very competitive. It was fun, but I don't need it at my present stage in life. However, it would be nice to have a method to hold the Genoa out, and keep it from pulsing, wrapping on the forestay, collapsing etc.

Cheers

 

[Stu Jackson]

Stu,

Good points on the pole. Thank you. I shall keep it in mind.

By single ring, do you mean a ring hard mounted to the mast, i.e. not on a track?

Yes, that's it. Just locate it properly, so that it lines up with the clew of your sail when you deploy the pole.

 

[peter_ms]

Yes, that's it. Just locate it properly, so that it lines up with the clew of your sail when you deploy the pole.

You just need a short section of T-track and a ring car to make it adjustable. Catalina leaves the leading edge of the mast clear so that you can drill and tap for the fastening screws.
Best if you use a centepunch that fits the holes closely as there is not a lot of play with the required flat head screws. Also you should fasten it with one screw before punching for the remainder for the same reason.
Garhauer makes a ring car for a mast track but I think you have to ask. It isn't a standard jib fairlead since the loads are compression, not tension like the fairleads. I made the mistake of using a cheap car and it was a _itch to adjust under load.
Peter

 

[pk104]

Here is a picture of the inside of my 2001 roller furling mast made by Charleston Spars. You can see the two PVC tubes going up the front of the mast with room to drill between yo add a track. Hope it helps.
Gary

 

[weinie]

forspar mast padeye
mount it at level of clew so pole is parallel when downwind.

 

[joker460]

I added a whisker pole track because I almost lost the pole when trying to set it up manually. That would have been an expensive mistake.

Used this site to select components. http://www.forespar.com/whisker-poles.shtml

Added the track while the mast was down (much easier), just drilled an tapped the holes using the track as a guide.

Good luck

 

[KZW]

Thanks to all for replying. There is very good info here.

Regarding the pad eyes. Masts are thin walled structures. I would think just four bolts might tear it out under load.

What poles do you like? I figure it must extend to almost 18 ft as the foot of my Genoa measures 17 ft. From the Forespar site:
- Twist lock? Is there an issue of these binding, jamming - I sometimes have that issue with boat hooks
- Line control?
- Tri-reacher?

Is there anything particular to look for in tracks? Anyone have a preference or would like to share what they used?

What pole ends should be specified? I've not a clue about UXP, UTR, UTS, etc.

Sorry to be so ignorant on this stuff.

 

[c130king]

I don't know a lot of details about these types of things but my 310 has a whisker pole track and adjustable car. There is a long whisker pole that I hardly ever use. It is 2-piece and there is a line in it that secures to a small horn cleat to lock it at the appropriate length.

However, that line broke and took everything apart to replace the line. Used Dynema cord...fairly expensive...but when I put it all back together I made the line about 6-8" too short...not enough slack/length in the line to tie it off on the horn cleat to lock it. So will have to take it apart again and try to replace the line again.

However, when I do use it to pole out the Genoa for wing-on-wing it works very well and holds the sail out pretty nice.

Came with the boat. I am not sure of the brand. But I do like...just rarely use it.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Jim

 

[peter_ms]

You can do a bunch of research at Forespar.com.
You want a line control pole. The length you need I'd the foot length of your biggest sail.
You want a UTR fitting on the outboard end; it is a trigger; you cock it with an attached line and as soon as you push it down on the sheet it snaps in place. The inboard end should be a UTP or piston. It is spring loaded and you force it over the ring on the mast; either fixed or on a track.
A whisker pole is used with jaws opening down. A spinnaker pole is jaws up.
Peter

 

[KZW]

You can do a bunch of research at Forespar.com.
You want a line control pole. The length you need I'd the foot length of your biggest sail.
You want a UTR fitting on the outboard end; it is a trigger; you cock it with an attached line and as soon as you push it down on the sheet it snaps in place. The inboard end should be a UTP or piston. It is spring loaded and you force it over the ring on the mast; either fixed or on a track.
A whisker pole is used with jaws opening down. A spinnaker pole is jaws up.
Peter

I learn something new every day. We only had a symmetrical chute on the C-30 I crewed on and I just assumed the jaws on a whisker pole worked the same way.

 

[rpwillia]

My Set Up

I went with a ring as I could never get a clear answer from Catalina or Charleston Spar about what was behind the mast where the rivets were on the front of the mast.

Here is a picture of my set up. I added a topping lift for the pole (always hook that on first then then take the pole off of the stanchion chocks) above with a mast hound and a garhauer block.

I used the curved forespar ring as it bridged where the rivets in the front of the mast were (I have the traditional sail). Very happy with the set up.

The other picture is from a Leukemia Cup race party and the guy in front is sitting with his wife and one of the crew. I understand the woman in the back just won something in the raffle and it had nothing to do with what was going on in front of her.

 

[KZW]

What Make/model of ring?

Do you have the standard 130% Genoa, or something larger?

I went with a ring as I could never get a clear answer from Catalina or Charleston Spar about what was behind the mast where the rivets were on the front of the mast.

Here is a picture of my set up. I added a topping lift for the pole (always hook that on first then then take the pole off of the stanchion chocks) above with a mast hound and a garhauer block.

I used the curved forespar ring as it bridged where the rivets in the front of the mast were (I have the traditional sail). Very happy with the set up.

The other picture is from a Leukemia Cup race party and the guy in front is sitting with his wife and one of the crew. I understand the woman in the back just won something in the raffle and it had nothing to do with what was going on in front of her.

 

[Doug4bass]

A few years ago I installed a 4ft Shaefer track on my '97 C-270 which had Isomat spars. Catalina had offset the internal wiring tube, so I was able to drill and tap
the machine screws and mount the track centered. Wasnt really a bad job at all. Remember, the whisker pole is supposed to be close to level in use....and the car position will need to be changed if you reef.

 

[KZW]

I had not thought about reefing. Thank you very much. I was thinking a 3 or 4 ft track would be sufficient.

A few years ago I installed a 4ft Shaefer track on my '97 C-270 which had Isomat spars. Catalina had offset the internal wiring tube, so I was able to drill and tap
the machine screws and mount the track centered. Wasnt really a bad job at all. Remember, the whisker pole is supposed to be close to level in use....and the car position will need to be changed if you reef.

 

[rpwillia]

What Make/model of ring?

Do you have the standard 130% Genoa, or something larger?

I do have the standard 130% genoa. The ring is about 5'6" off the deck or about eye level so I can see what I am doing.

Here is a picture of the pole in action. The guy in the picture is Tony Lancashire, who with another Royal Marine named Kevin sailed a 17' Nordic across the Northwest Passage a couple of years ago.

It is the Forespar ring pictured above that is curved.

 

[c130king]

Ray, It looks from the photo that maybe your Genoa Clew is fairly high cut. You happy with that? Seems as if my clew is much lower.

And on the topic of genoa's...has anyone ever had a Genoa cut so that the tack/foot is higher to keep it from rubbing on the pulpit rail and lifelines? I am having some "fraying" issues so keep a layer of blue duct tape on the first 3 feet or so of my foot (from tack aft about 3') to keep canvas on foot from fraying where it rubs on life line and the life line turnbuckle fittings.

Cheers,
Jim

 

[justsomeguy]

Ray, It looks from the photo that maybe your Genoa Clew is fairly high cut. You happy with that? Seems as if my clew is much lower.

snip-

I think what you're seeing is just how a headsail looks going downwind.

I think.

 

[rpwillia]

I think what you're seeing is just how a headsail looks going downwind.

I think.

justsomeguy you are spot on. We were spanking the fleet in the photo. That was the original Genoa that came with the boat, and when it blew out on the leech the year before last I had Quantum make me a new one pretty much the same.

I got really lucky with the ring height as the best advice I got was to put it about eye level so you had a clear view when putting it on. It has worked very well for both poling the genoa out as well as the spinnaker.

Here is the pole in action with the spinnaker. Please note we were spanking our way through the non-spinnaker fleet and the wife (who made me buy the boat ) is standing at the mast working the sheet. That was a great day. :dance: