Whisker pole mounting height?

[Shawn]

I had West Marine price match Defender's sale price for the Forespar 7'-15' whisker pole. I went with the longer pole to be sure it will be  enough for when I am using the 170% drifer.

For those using a whisker pole do you have a padeye mounted on the mast or a track and car? If you have the track do you end up really using it much or do you tend to stay at the same height anyway? If I could I'd like to save money and go with the padeye but would like to get opinions on those that have done this already.

Anyone bother with a topping lift? I could use my spinnaker halyard for that if needed.

Thanks,

Shawn

[CaptRon28]

The real advantage of a track and car to hold the pole is that you can dip the pole to jibe the genoa (by raising the car). The height of the track should be enough to allow the pole to pass thru the triangle. A padeye attached pole would require the pole to be detached on both ends and then passed thru the triangle and re-attached to the sail and padeye. This could be critical on a large boat offshore, but a 23 sailed on a bay or lake could work either way.

I crewed on a 42 foot Sabre on numerous offshore races around 20 years ago and I wound up as the guy who had to pass the approx 25 foot and 60 pound pole thru on every jibe. No one else could do it?  Considering the 5 foot plus seas on many days this was probably the worst job on the boat.

You can probably use the halyard for a topping lift on the 23, and maybe the lazy sheet as the guy. But note that a jibe will require a little more work.

[Shawn]

Ron,

Thanks, I hadn't considered using the car to aid in jibing. That would need to be a fairly long track to be able to handle the drifter as I think the pole is going to be most of the way out for it.

Thanks,

Shawn

[brackish]

Shawn I just mounted the pad eye that came with my 6/12' adjustable pole.  It is right for my 135, a little low for the 110.  I expect it to break eventually, then will decide what to replace it with, maybe a track and car.  I only use my pole in light air conditions, so it is no problem to jibe but rarely necessary. 

[Shawn]

Thanks, I figure I will just be using it in light air too. The 7-15' doesn't come with a pad eye. I'm thinking I might pick up two SS eyes so that I could have a couple of options for the height of the pole depending upon the headsail.

Thanks,

Shawn

[CaptRon28]

I hadn't considered using the car to aid in jibing. That would need to be a fairly long track to be able to handle the drifter as I think the pole is going to be most of the way out for it.

On a larger boat you really have no choice. On my Catalina 400 the Forespar line control adjustable pole was normally set at around 25 feet or so, and if I remember correctly the track went a good 28 feet up the mast. The pole was 27 feet fully extended.  I probably used around 25 feet of track, with a heavy duty line control gooseneck car to hold the inboard end and a 2nd car near the bottom of the track to hold the pole vertically if I was planning on using it again soon. The pole weighed a good 60 pounds or so and would have been a real handfull for anyone to handle it while sailing. A few years earlier I had the job of handling a similar pole offshore while racing on a 42 foot Sabre. Owner had no track and it was a giant totally unsafe pain in the _____.

Your 23 is probably OK with a padeye but I think I would use a short track instead. Maybe 2 or 3 feet long? It's much stronger and you can use an articulated car to snap it to. A padeye wont really swivel when the pole wants to move around. You can also fine tune it based on conditions. But note that if you plan on using this thing in heavier seas the longer track could be safer. End-for-end pole jibes are not really save on any boat in rough seas. It takes 2 hands to pass it through and remember the old saying - one hand for the ship and one for yourself!

[Salty19]

Go with the track, can't regret it and since you have a drifter and smaller sails, you may need to adjust it. You know, it's also a nice place to clip other things...sail cover, harness, anchor light, bow awning, etc) so you might use it more than you think.  We use a rolling furling so the jib and genny are up high.  But the drifter will be attached near the deck with a lower foot.  I would bet the tack is a foot lower, but that's a guess as I haven't use it yet. 

Think we used this ring on the 19. There is a slightly larger one that fits 1" track
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1%7C118%7C312064%7C846725&id=116666

There is a pole holder available for a few dollars to mount it on the mast when not in use, I've not installed it but might someday. Quick deploy and storage.  I had resisted as I wasn't sure about airflow changes over the sail with the pole on the mast,  leech wear, sheet issues and other tradeoffs I probably wouldn't have considered at the time.

[Shawn]

Whisker pole arrived today, fully extended that thing is big but still pretty lightweight which is nice.

A marine consignment shop near where my dock is has a roughly 4' long 1" track with a spinnaker car for $35. I'll be installing that on the mast this spring.

Shawn