Boat hook

[markpageant]

Anyone know where I can buy a boathook with a hook that won't bend, a spike that will not snap and a pole that doesn't need to be telescopic ? The kind that for the last hundred years or so has been absolutely fine, made of wood and with a strong , metal business end ?

 

[andygc]

Davey and Co still have them

http://www.davey.co.uk/pdf/deck_hardware.pdf

But you need to get the wood for the handle from your local timber merchant. Do you really need the spike - they do a nice double hook version.

 

[jswindel]

I bought a galvanised boat hook head and a broom handle from Glynn's hardware store in County Mayo, Ireland for about £3.00, 20 years ago. Knowing Glynn's, they will still have them at the same price, if you happen to be passing! It still works fine and I have marked it as a sounding pole, and that works fine too. With my boat, broom-handle depth is plenty, but less than that and I need more precise detail than a depth sounder can give.

 

[old_salt]

Here's one on ebay, It looks as though it will do the job.
Click on the link.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BOATHOOK-BOAT-STAINLESS-STEEL-NEW-7-inch_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZQ7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a200QQ_trksidZp3286Q2em63Q2el1177QQhashZitem4ce1a59b20QQitemZ330203241248QQptZBoatQ5fPartsQ5fAccessoriesQ5fGear

 

[Kukri]

Much does depend on what you want a boathook to do.

I carry two - one has a galvanised hook and spike on the end and is ten feet long with the pole marked in feet. This is for fending off lock walls and sounding the depth with, and it lives up a shroud. It is fairly useless for picking up a mooring with.

The one for picking up moorings with is six feet long and has a double hook at the end.

The Davey Grabit boathook is the ideal present for the Classic Boat That Has Everything...(check the price...)

 

[cliffordpope]

I've always wondered what the spike is for. Do you want it to get stuck in the lock gate or make a hole in someone else's boat?

However, I do remember a very windy out of season river trip on a Thames ferry in about 1960, and the crew used one with a fearsome spike to salvage driftwood that had fallen off ships loading in the docks.

 

[laurance]

I could not find an off the shelf, ash shafted metal head boat hook when I looked recently. Since the modern alternatives are an abomination I bought a secondhand galvanised head, though lots of swindleries do seem to keep these new, and the minimum amount of 1 1/2 ash board my local 'specialist' timber merchant would sell me. The result is a stout 7' beast fit to shunt ice floes and enough ash left over for two or three more.
I bought a bronze head last year that snapped even before I had had a chance to abuse it, I have seen the same one repackaged by a couple of different firms but I would be wary that these were as badly cast. Serves me right for not suppressing the magpie instinct at the sight of shiny bronze.
BTW a Classic Boat forumite did recently explain the function of the pointed boat hook fitting: to help maintain purchase on clean GRP, as the point is able to penetrate the gelcoat rather than simply slide across it.

 

[Romeo]

I find the spike and hook shape best for getting purchase in the crevices of our old stone built piers. You might consider fitting a piston hook type thing at the other end, so your boat hook can double up as a whisker pole: two items that are rarely required at the same time.

R

 

[Kukri]

I've always wondered what the spike is for. Do you want it to get stuck in the lock gate or make a hole in someone else's boat?

However, I do remember a very windy out of season river trip on a Thames ferry in about 1960, and the crew used one with a fearsome spike to salvage driftwood that had fallen off ships loading in the docks.

It is for jabbing into a stone or brick built wall to get some purchase when fending off, just as Robbie says.

 

[markpageant]

Problem solved

Old whisker pole still in shed, though now with piston removed from one end. New and AWB unfriendly galvanised hook and spike on order.
Good idea Robbie.

 

[Romeo]

BTW a Classic Boat forumite did recently explain the function of the pointed boat hook fitting: to help maintain purchase on clean GRP, as the point is able to penetrate the gelcoat rather than simply slide across it.

lol. Must get one for the end of my bowsprit.