Use and abuse of boat hooks.

FullCircle said:
Mrs FC has surprised and delighted with the variety and technique of disposing of boat hooks. One can never tell if it will be the full Jettee, or the folded boat hook and gentle drop. We have disposed of aluminium, wood and moorfast.

Trying to lever the bow of the boat down to the mooring buoy by using the bow roller as a fulcrum always had predictable result.
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Thank you FC for helping me start the day with a laugh.
 
Elessar said:
+1

Its only other use is retrieving inadvertent jetsam.
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Also laggan and flotsam; although if it's your flotsam you may be distracted by other more pressing concerns... :D
john_morris_uk said:
You have my complete sympathy but its the bending bit that I don't get. How on earth do you bend a boat hook?
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By using it as a lever instead of as a hook; the clue's in the name.
 
prv said:
The heavy buoy was suddenly no longer supported by the water.

Pete
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Sorry to pursue this, but I was always taught to use the boat hook to pull things towards me (or very occasionally and in completely benign conditions to push things like a harbour wall away) . No bending moment at all in the pulling in action. If the weight of the buoy was no longer supported by the water and was too great, you either would break the hook on the end of the boat hook or you wouldn't be able to hold on and the boat hook would slip through your hands.

If I haven't explained that very well, then perhaps it would be better to say that the force should always be in line with the handle of the boat hook. ie never like a fishing rod, always as if the boat hook was a very stiff length of rope you are pulling with. If you want to pull a pick-up buoy inboard you work your hands down the boat hook lifting the buoy all the time with the boat hook going vertically (or whatever) into the air until you can grab the buoy.

If your mooring technique involves hanging onto a heavy buoy with the boat hook while you faff about with lines, might I respectfully suggest you are using the wrong technique?
 
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john_morris_uk said:
Sorry to pursue this, but I was always taught to use the boat hook to pull things towards me (or very occasionally and in completely benign conditions to push things like a harbour wall away) . No bending moment at all in the pulling in action. If the weight of the buoy was no longer supported by the water and was too great, you either would break the hook on the end of the boat hook or you wouldn't be able to hold on and the boat hook would slip through your hands.

If I haven't explained that very well, then perhaps it would be better to say that the force should always be in line with the handle of the boat hook. ie never like a fishing rod, always as if the boat hook was a very stiff length of rope you are pulling with. If you want to pull a pick-up buoy inboard you work your hands down the boat hook lifting the buoy all the time with the boat hook going vertically (or whatever) into the air until you can grab the buoy.

If your mooring technique involves hanging onto a heavy buoy with the boat hook while you faff about with lines, might I respectfully suggest you are using the wrong technique?
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I agree. And this could turn into an anchor type thread if i whisper the word "lasso" for when you cant hold the weight. But I've never broken a boat hook........
 
john_morris_uk said:
Sorry to pursue this, but I was always taught to use the boat hook to pull things towards me
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Sure, but nobody's claiming that Camelia was using the One True John Morris Boathook Pulling Technique. Unless he comes back with more details, the way I picture it is the boathook being levered against the toe-rail - either deliberately or momentarily and inadvertently as he staggered backwards as the boat moved. Combined with the buoy suddenly trying to drop away while being held on the hook, result is one bent boathook stave.

john_morris_uk said:
If your mooring technique involves hanging onto a heavy buoy with the boat hook while you faff about with lines, might I respectfully suggest you are using the wrong technique?
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You can suggest it to people who break boathooks, not to me :)

Pete
 
prv said:
Sure, but nobody's claiming that Camelia was using the One True John Morris Boathook Pulling Technique. Unless he comes back with more details, the way I picture it is the boathook being levered against the toe-rail - either deliberately or momentarily and inadvertently as he staggered backwards as the boat moved. Combined with the buoy suddenly trying to drop away while being held on the hook, result is one bent boathook stave.
Pete
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Hmm - I was just interested (and if I sounded like the self proclaimed saviour of boat hooks then I will refer you to some of Brian's lines in the Life of Brian.)

However your description might sum up how it happened perfectly.

My original post was because several people admitted they had broken boat hooks (sometime more than one!). I really did wonder what they were doing?

However I confess I did not lie awake at night worrying about it too much.
 
john_morris_uk said:
A trough went under the boat? What's a trough? I assume its a typo but can't guess what you meant to type...
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Sorry I was using a word from my physics days, a trough is the bottom of the wave, a crest being the top but you really knew that. :D
 
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prv said:
Sure, but nobody's claiming that Camelia was using the One True John Morris Boathook Pulling Technique. Unless he comes back with more details, the way I picture it is the boathook being levered against the toe-rail - either deliberately or momentarily and inadvertently as he staggered backwards as the boat moved. Combined with the buoy suddenly trying to drop away while being held on the hook, result is one bent boathook stave.
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john_morris_uk said:
However your description might sum up how it happened perfectly.
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Pete's description sums up the situation exactly, a very bouncy foredeck and boat hook and toe rail connected. A falling spring tide and the skipper considering our options if we could not get on the moorning.
 
john_morris_uk said:
Perhaps I should start a special charity for abused boat hooks? I have noticed a couple of threads recently where people complain of breaking their boat hooks. One person mentioned their new aluminium boat hook 'folding'. With the greatest of respect I wonder what they were doing with it? I always was taught that boat hooks should be used to pull things in hand over hand, NOT to pull things aboard as if its a fishing rod with a large fish on the end. The weight of a mooring chain might be enough to break even the toughest wooden boat hook if it was abused in that way...

Or is it just me? Have I been sailing too long and become a grumpy old sailor?
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I always tell crew, to use any aluminium boat hook, to lift any line/chain up 'vertically', so they don't get suprised when their "fishing rod" bend in the middle. The tensile strength is better than the bendy strength.

Also 'never' to be used to fend off, since the ends could turn them into a kebab very easily.
 
alant said:
I always tell crew, to use any aluminium boat hook, to lift any line/chain up 'vertically', so they don't get suprised when their "fishing rod" bend in the middle. The tensile strength is better than the bendy strength.

Also 'never' to be used to fend off, since the ends could turn them into a kebab very easily.
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Sort of sums it up nicely... I was beginning to feel I was the only one.
 
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