I have the pole length but in ali what is the best section diameter and thickness?

twin poles normally 1 1/4 inch I think, and single probably 1 1/2 in the middle section

guessing 1-1.5 mm wall thickness

Scott, if you haven't bought yet use carbon, it's well worth it for the extra cash.  Check out all the threads on here, plus there will be some for sale somewhere.

If you are making twin poles then 27mm OD (25mm ID) section is sufficient.  For a centre slung pole you really need a tapered section with a much thicker centre section - 42mm?.

Thanks for the feed back does anyone know of a supplier carbon sections for the financially astute as I plan to turn or mould my own nylon/carbon ends for the launcher/flyaway systems.

P&B will sell you the tubes though they definately won't be the cheapest source/

Julian Parry did the bare poles for £130 last year...

GGGGGGGG

Many thanks to all I think i'll be sticking with ali the weight savings ver's cost argument is lost on a 17stone helm

Try
www.carboncopyuk.com
www.carbonfibretubes.co.uk

On the first site, go to products, then R/C aircraft parts, then carbon tubes. length seems to be a max of 900mm, but they might do longer sections?

It's not about weight saving.  Ali poles are noisy, painful, bendy, weak shitty things that should be removed / replaced at the earliest opportunity.

Cheers roger - think I know where my new tiller is coming from!

Also www.fibretechgb.co.uk

How much performance will I loose with a new rules kite on 2m poles? is it all about keeping the kite clear of the jib while reaching? or is there a more fundamental reason in the long poles.

is there any second hand twins poles out there?(Aluminium)

Answer is you will be piss poor on a tight reach ( kite too full and too close to jib)but kite may set better for the deep stuff. Never got my head round the 7ft pole thing because it was totally unsuitable for the old kites, so much so that I cut my carbon lovelys down by about 1 1/2" each end to match that horrible hankerchief they call a downwind sail. Consequence was a much much better downwind set, sail lower, faster etc so always a good position to be in coming to the bottom mark, assuming there is anyone near you. Also chuck the rig over the front of the boat and cant her over to neutrallize helm.As for reaching should never be a problem, bigger problem is if you are sailing with all the monkies they sail too high on the reaches, especially the ones behind you....they just don't get it so I would suggest you take a bunch of bananas out with you to chuck at them if they mis behave........ oh how I miss the merlin fleet!!

( or were they gibbons or chimpanzees?)