The floating boathook

[landlocked sailor]

I did a search on this to no avail. I got a nice ABI bronze hook from Hamilton and wish to shape the staff so that it floats upright. I have some nice straight locust that I could use. Has anyone made one like this? Thanks, Rick

[hikingchrs]

http://www.woodenboat-ubb.com/cgi-bi...=1&t=008572&p=
edit to fix link

[ 03-25-2005, 03:08 PM: Message edited by: hikingchrs ]

[Bruce Hooke]

There was a good article on exactly this topic in WoodenBoat magazine a few years ago...I just checked and it was issue #71.

[landlocked sailor]

Thanks fellas. I KNEW there was a past dicussion about this but I could not find it. Rick

[David Tabor (sailordave)]

And one of my boating catalogs has just the bronze fitting for sale at a reasonable price; don't remember which one.

[rbgarr]

As a child on Cape Cod we used to play 'harpoon' with those 'floating upright' boathooks from rowboats. Great fun.

I made one at the WB School during the evenings in the workshop where a class on canoe restoring was taking place. I helped stretch some canvas covers on the canoes when a hand was needed, and learned something about that in the process. I was officially there for a daytime surveying course conducted in the upstairs of the boathouse, but as long as I stayed out of the way and asked the instructor, I seemed welcome to do other projects like the boathook.

I know mine floats handle up as planned (or by luck worked out), but wonder whether locust might be too heavy? Black locust is @49 lbs. per cubic foot, while ash is lighter at @41 lbs. The weight of the hook head and amount of handle taper govern, too.

Good luck, it's a fun project.

[landlocked sailor]

Update. I made this thing with locust as planned. I tested it in the neighbor's pond which wasn't quite deep enough. Went sailing in the Chesapeake and tried her out In Lake Ogleton. She sank to the bottom with no trace. I guess locust was too heavy. Rick

[StevenBauer]

Bummer. And now ABI is gone, too. But don't forget Harry Bryan's all wooden boathook.




Steven

[skuthorp]

Fortumite Mike Field at wooden boat fittings makes and supplies them, he's a good bet for information.

[almeyer]

I ordered a boathook fitting from our sponsor; the boathook was made by WC. When shipped it came with a reprint of the article on how to shape the shaft.
Al

[Bob Smalser]

Try Douglas Fir, instead.





A groove milled into the underside insures you can index the hook on even the darkest nights.

[Bob Cleek]

The groove in the handle is a piece of inspired brilliance. I'm not so sure about the leather wrist strap, though. I'd be a bit concerned about hooking onto something solid while the boat was moving and being pulled overboard. Not a problem on a small row boat or the like, where the boat could be easily brought up short by simply holding on, but with a boat of any size where you can't simply stop it by holding on...

[Bob Smalser]

... I'm not so sure about the leather wrist strap...

I figure hooking onto the Queen Mary with the hook tied to your body falls under the purview of Charles Darwin.

Lanyards are placed on boat hooks so they can be recovered by other boat hooks.

I copied the idea of the groove years ago from Ian McColgin.

[landlocked sailor]

I do have a nice length of DF left over from my Windward 15 birds mouth mast. Just have to buy another hook. Rick

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

.
When you get your new bronze head, Rick, take my advice and get one with sharp ends. The round knobs have a tendency to slide off surfaces like wooden piles and so on, whereas the spikes dig in.

Also, don't be tempted to get a double-hooked head like the one on the left here, spiked or knobbed --

-- they're too easy to snag between mooring lines or in tree branches.

Mike

[rbgarr]

A recent boat hook story that might come under the category of 'too much information':

Last week I was sailing from Cape Cod to Nantucket aboard a Herreshoff Fisher's Island 31. She had no lifelines. After we raised sail in a brief but heavy downpour I sat down on the forward end of the cabin top coiling down so others could pass by.

When I stood up to go aft, the boathook lying unprotected next to the cabin top handrail hooked me (on the scrotum #%*^!) and did a bit of bloody damage. It's taken a week for the bruise and scabbing to go on by.

I'm just glad the hook wasn't one of Mike's sharp ones!! Eeeek! Shades of The Spanish Inquisition!

[Bob Cleek]

I figure hooking onto the Queen Mary with the hook tied to your body falls under the purview of Charles Darwin.

Lanyards are placed on boat hooks so they can be recovered by other boat hooks.

I copied the idea of the groove years ago from Ian McColgin.

I'm with ya, Bob. I'm a strong believer in evolution culling the idiots from the gene pool. The next thing we'll see are the shafts of boat hooks covered with consumer warnings just like ladders. It was a sad day when they started putting idiot notices on ladders. It's been downhill ever since.

[seo]

I've been told that the groove on the underside is an innovation of Rod Stephens. He was Olin Stephen's brother, and a relentlessly inventive guy. I have a boothook that came with a Nevins-built boat, with the groove, oak shaft, barely floats. For a smaller boat I made on with a spruce shaft, which floats fine, but I worry about it's strength. Doug Fir might be the ideal compromise. I've always been surprised by how strong and springy Cypress is. Someday I'll replace the spruce shaft, and see how it works.
I hate to say this, but the more expensive telescoping aluminum boathooks work really well.
A spike-point pike pole might be good for workboats, or repelling boarders, but I wouldn't want one on a yacht that has good paint or brightwork.

[Figment]

:

Last week I was sailing from Cape Cod to Nantucket aboard a Herreshoff Fisher's Island 31...... the boathook lying unprotected next to the cabin top handrail hooked me (on the scrotum #%*^!) and did a bit of bloody damage.

Sounds like the good still outweighed the bad, you lucky slob!

[John B]

.
I hate to say this, but the more expensive telescoping aluminum boathooks work really well.
.

I have one of those, its called Mike.

[Ian McColgin]

I make mine to float upright by fitting the hook to the pole and then balancing it vertically in the water. I mark the float point and plane a nice thinning curve below that down to where it needs to thicken again where it meets the hook, and plane another thinning taper above the mark to the end. The longer removal is to reduce buoyancy below the waterline. The upper taper is to reduce weight aloft. Every now and then I put the hook over the side and just keep working away till it floats upright.

First time I was showing off how well it floated I tossed it in the water like a lobbed spear and it stuck in the bottom. Had to dive for it. Somewhere on the forum are some pix of a couple of my hooks floating handles up.

Edited to add: Here - http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...light=boathook

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

Doug Fir might be the ideal compromise....

A spike-point pike pole might be good for workboats, or repelling boarders, but I wouldn't want one on a yacht that has good paint or brightwork.

Douglas fir (oregon) is what all our boathooks are normally made of -- it combines strength with relatively light weight, and can be made to float upright almost automatically. (The only exceptions we've ever produced are the two pictured, which were made of Burmese teak.)

I've had spike-point boathooks on two boats with painted decks and on one all-bright dayboat, and in no case did any of them damage the finish. It's all a matter of where and how you stow them and how carefully you use them. I had deck chocks with turnbuckles on Sanderling (where I also stowed the deck mop,) and simply slid their boathooks under the thwarts in Aileen Louisa and Serenity. It was no hardship whatever.

I feel for Dave. But "the boathook lying unprotected" would seem to explain it. As I said, it's a matter of how they're stowed.

Mike

[David W Pratt]

I made Truth's from a DF 2x3
First squared, then 8 sided, then rounded
100 grit sand paper glued inside a piece of PVC pipe rounds it a treat
end tapers to match socket
Epoxy and screws hold it on
Painted red for visibility
Two turksheads to keep red paint off deck, big crutch tip on back end for the same reason
Floats nicely
BTW if you have to hook and lift/pull something heavy, small bowline around point, half hitch on shaft
Good luck.

[rbgarr]

Oh yes, the 'boathook lying unprotected' was definitely an issue! And a sharp barb had been lifted on the hook by hard contact with something harder still. Nasty enough and could have ripped a sail badly as well. Sails don't heal on their own, either.

[JimConlin]

The last boathook I made started from a DF closet pole. I planed a flat in it.