The humble boat hook

Little Dorrit

Little Dorrit

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Possibly one of the most basic, simplest and cheapest items I have aboard and I'm ashamed to say a piece of equipment I rarely use. However, last year having to manoeuvre astern between two fishing boats and with just a few inches to spare in order to leave Lyme Regis they were invaluable. It was a revelation to me at just how easy it was to extract myself from what looked like an impossible situation.
 
I agree. Also, size matters.

I forgot to load our normal boathook (which had been in the workshop) when we went for our summer trip in 2019 so stopped at Largs on the way and bought what we refer to as the "comedy boathook". It's at least 8' long (I suspect 2.5m), lives bungied onto a shroud and looks a bit silly. On the other hand, it makes picking up buoys and fending off things a doddle. It also, as my crew discovered one evening at Salen, makes a good mast for an improvised dinghy sailing rig.

We carry the original as well, now, but the comedy one gets more use.
 
fredrussell said:
Extendable ones are the work of the devil though.
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I think they are one of the finest tools made in the history of the universe.

Simple to use in a variety of situations and you don't accidentally ram it up your left nostril as it is too long while you are stowing it.
 
Sandy said:
I think they are one of the finest tools made in the history of the universe.

Simple to use in a variety of situations and you don't accidentally ram it up your left nostril as it is too long while you are stowing it.
Click to expand...
And they fly apart so beautifully under load. Happy times snorkelling for the end half until I boringly bought a solid one.
 
With high freeboard at the bow I adjusted our adjustable boathook the the correct length for catching a pickup buoy.

Once adjusted and our stowage system fixed, a simple system of 2 S/S rings welded to bulldog clips and clipped to a backstay. They are spaced just under length, the end of the boathook slipped through the upper, the spike through the lower and a bungy loop around the pushpit top rail slipped over the hook. Never shifts and is always ready for use.

Once happy with the length, to stop it extending/contracting a S/S self tapper was added to hold it at the right place.

Ten years now, no trouble at all.

The stowage system was copied from a PBO tip. From, IIRC, a Kiwi sailor.
 
I have a collection of boat hooks. A massive bronze two pronged Admiralty job that came up with the anchor in the Medway, probably original equipment for a Dreadnought, and two Grabits, one the original lightweight pattern as supplied to Imperial Airways flying boats and one regular Davey & Co. pattern. Ash poles courtesy of Classic Marine. So, nothing made after around 1930...
 
rotrax said:
Once happy with the length, to stop it extending/contracting a S/S self tapper was added to hold it at the right place.
Click to expand...
Agreed the infinitely variable length ones are not to be trusted. But only a few length choices would be adequate. So it should not be so difficult to engineer a positive length choice mechanism. Having a whole repertoire of fixed boathook lengths is all very well, but you would need a caddy wheeling them round the deck at your elbow to permit optimisation...
 
fredrussell said:
Extendable ones are the work of the devil though.
Click to expand...

Each to their own, but our extendable boathook has given excellent service and used most trips. Better for pulling than pushing, and it didn‘t enjoy getting trapped in a ladder rung at the Trollhatte Kanal as the water rushed out, but straightened the end and has continued to work perfectly for the following 3 seasons.
 
RupertW said:
And they fly apart so beautifully under load. Happy times snorkelling for the end half until I boringly bought a solid one.
Click to expand...
As I have posted before (sorry) I was once transiting the Crinan Canal with a very smart French registered RM when he decided to use his extending boathook to pull my bowline away from his sternline. Unfortunately this required rather more force than the boathook could withstand, and the end section shot neatly, like a javelin, over my boat, over the boom and into the lock, never to be seen again. It's possibly a good thing that I wasn't in the way.
 
mjcoon said:
Agreed the infinitely variable length ones are not to be trusted. But only a few length choices would be adequate. So it should not be so difficult to engineer a positive length choice mechanism. Having a whole repertoire of fixed boathook lengths is all very well, but you would need a caddy wheeling them round the deck at your elbow to permit optimisation...
Click to expand...


Mine is optimised.

Any shorter and I could not reach the water level from the bow - the highest freeboard.

Never needed another length in ten years of owning two high freeboard boats.

I took the boathook and holder with us to the new vessel, leaving a seviceable one on the sold boat.

It is tricky to use alongside our huge pilothouse, but then even a short on would be so.

Our one works for me, on our boat, for the use I use a boathook for.

It is used to signal First Mate in the pilothouse who is I/C steering/throttle. I hold it out at arms length in my left hand vertical and I lean it in three directions, Port, Starboard and Ahead.

She turns in the direction indicated, if I lean it ahead she increases speed as the vessel is on course but stationary. Back to vertical she reduces throttle.

We dont have to have two attempts at picking up a mooring very often.

The other use is lifting the pickup buoy by the connecting rope.

I am only really interested in my use, as others will have different scenarios in their sailing.
 
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