What Length Whisker Pole? Thread starter FullCircle Start date 8 Aug FullCircle Well-known member. Joined 19 Nov Messages 28, I have been bimbling around up and down this year, and I have a Cruising Chute. As we all know it wont go dead downwind, and is pretty poxy in very little wind, also over degrees downwind. Diameter of pole? Any end fittings particularly recommended?
Has anyone tried telescopic units? These tracks are also not your standard deck T-track. Instead, they have a curved mounting surface designed to be riveted to the forward side of your mast. Using a drafting compass, I, therefore, traced out a 54mm half circle on a sheet of paper and then cut out the inside of the circle and held it up to my mast to ensure it would, indeed, fit. Would you like a telescopic pole or a fixed-length pole? Telescoping poles are great when working with large genoas, but they are heavier and can be more prone to failure.
My own boat was close to exceeding the maximum recommended size for a telescoping pole, so I chose to go with fixed. To do so I visited seldenmast. Specifically, an end-for-end pole gets jaws on either end with a bridle for the topping lift; while a dip pole has jaws on the outboard end and a socket fitting inboard end that clips into a bayonet-type of fitting.
I eventually chose to use a dip pole for greater control given its large size. Finally, you need to select the hardware you want to use to control the inboard end of the pole.
I chose to go with a ball-bearing type of car with two small blocks on it that allowed me to set up a advantage control-line system. By consulting the catalog again, I looked over the standard layouts and worked with my dealer to select the exact size and model.
I also purchased two opposing cam cleats to install on the mast, thereby making the adjustment of the inboard end a piece of cake, even when under load.
I had snap shackles spliced onto some new polyester line for this purpose. Your dealer will also help you make sure you have all of the necessary mounting hardware. When my kit finally arrived, I was pleased to find a surplus of rivets and matching machine screws for each piece of hardware that required them.
From left: checking the curvature of the mast extrusion; fitting the car on the track; tapping another hole for the track end pieces; drilling holes for one of the cheek blocks used to help adjust the inboard pole height.
One of the nice things about the pole installation on my boat was the lack of any serious removal. Often a big rigging upgrade includes some difficult extractions. However, aside from removing the existing pole, its car and vertical stowage mast mounts, there was little to prevent us from beginning the installation right away.
The most labor-intensive part of the project was the installation of the aluminum track, which had to be riveted to the front of the mast. The track was supplied in two sections and at 16ft was just a bit shorter than the total length of the pole. Of course, because the top of the track needed to end up more than 18ft above the deck, it was necessary to go aloft. As always when working on a major boat project, start with a plan, but be ready to change and adapt.
In my case, these tools included a couple of cordless drills, extra batteries, sharp drill bits of the right size for the zinc-coated monel rivets, a powerful rivet gun, Tef-Gel, electrical tape, a thread tap set, screwdrivers, climbing harnesses, tethers and a big ladder. We started with the lower track section and carefully measured for the correct distance from the deck before we began fastening.
It is also potentially dangerous and while we have done it, we are no longer using that technique. Whatever you do, if you find yourself looking down the pole from one of the end fittings, you are doing it wrong. Of course, if you do not have a line control pole, you must extend it first and then put it out either to the sail behind the main, or on the lazy sheet. To put a pole on a loaded sheet, stand between the mast and the sail and pull the pole to the mast fitting.
Whatever you do, do not try and put a pole on a jib that is not behind the main. The next thing we "learned" was that if you let the pole hit the water, it will be forced into the rigging and will bend one of the tubes.
A little cleaver arrangement of your topping lift can help make that occurrence much less likely and make handling the pole much easier. You won't find this idea anywhere else so listen up. The topping lift goes from the outer end fitting on the pole to about half way up your mast then back down usually fed aft to the cockpit area where it is cleated.
The problem with line control poles is that when they are short, the setting for the topping lift that was correct when the pole was long is no longer correct. That means you need to adjust the topping lift depending on the length of the pole.
Adjusting the topping lift with the pole out over the water means that if you mess it up, the pole goes in the water and bends. The trick we came up with is to have a bridal on the topping lift, but not a conventional bridal with legs going to the inboard and outboard ends of the pole.
One leg of the bridal goes to the end fitting of the pole. Set the topping lift for the correct height with the pole fully extended. That second leg of the bridal goes to the wire loop on the end of the larger pole section which will be mid pole when the pole is extended but near the end when the pole is short.
Adjust the bridal so that the pole is held off the deck and clears the pulpit without changing the setting of the topping lift. Now, regardless if the pole is long or short, one of the bridal legs is under tension and the pole can never hit the water. We have the lengths set so that we lift the pole to a height that clears the pulpit and the forestay with the pole at the correct height on the mast.
The pole will be slanting down so the tip will be below normal working height. The outer topping lift section is the correct length so that the pole is level when extended without adjusting the topping lift. This way you can set and cleat the topping lift with the pole over the deck and not touch it except perhaps to make slight adjustments.
I mentioned the foreguy. It is very important to have the foreguy sung. This prevents the pole from "skying". Experiential observations I have a line control whisker pole, of course I bought it years ago when it was about half the current price. The whisker pole is in compression when in use, not tension as you might think. I had a twist lock pole on a smaller boat and the twist lock mechanism is not very reliable. Think of those twist lock boat hooks and would you be comfortable putting a large compression load on it?
I love using the whisker pole. The difference in downwind speed and ability to sail downwind closer to 0 degrees makes a big difference.
I've never tried it but with twin tracks on the roller furler you should be able to fly twin headsails and drop the main. Kind of a quasi spinnaker. If you want to get a shorter pole, consider rolling up the jib or genoa part way or switching to a smaller headsail. Having the pole will still make a huge difference in performance. They do take some wrestling around with so it is definitely a task that you want a crew on board.
High risk of getting hurt or falling overboard so make sure you are connected to the boat with a harness for foredeck work like this. A pole long enough to be worth the trouble will be way too long for convenient storage so an adjustable length is a feature you'll want. It takes some work putting it up and getting the lines adjusted right so I only use it for fairly long stretches of downwind, usually 10 miles or more. I've also used it in a few races in the long island area and it made a big difference.
See if you can find a used one of the right size, maybe from a wreck or derelict vessel. Stu Jackson. More practical considerations Roger Long said:. I'm not concerned with maximizing sail area or boat speed. After discovering the problem with my sail hanging up on the radar, I rolled it up and was surprised how little speed I lost even in moderate winds.
Stu Jackson said:. In lieu of dealing with a pole, why not just drop your main? Then why not forget a pole entirely Very slacked slippery sheets as its the sheets that put the pressure on the leech.
This is the technique I use on my racing boat that has a huge overlap of a full battened mainsail vs. RichH said:. Jan 1, Atlantic 42 Honolulu. Wondering if a cheap solution might be to make an arc to guide the sail around the dome. On the horrid side of things a bit of PVC tube with a line through it lasted to you uppers shrouds and running around the front of the dome might work.
I've got a SS tube that does much the same thing in a more "yachtie" way and price.
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