Could anyone please point me in the correct direction to get my hands on a twin pole system. None of that Carbon stuff for me, the bugets a bit tight. |
Have you asked Alan F? He may have some broken ones. |
broken ones are no use - I want brand spankers so that I can blame my crew when it all goes Pete Tong !! |
Any decent size chandler will be able to supply you with Alloy tube. A guy at our club got some from P&B and they fittd them out for him too. |
Hamish, |
I used Tony Blackmore at SailSport. He knows one end of a Merlin from another, and has FREE POSTAGE! http://www.sail-sport.com/cgi-bin/ss.cgi?referrer= |
If the budget is tight you can always go the DIY route as it's really easy. Chandlers will have you believe you need anodised aluminium but the only advantage is that straight ally poles acquire a cosmetically not brilliant powdery coating of oxide. If you get your pole from a metal merchants you will save loads of cash. Fit a good quality hook on one end with a collar to trip the catch, on the outboard end you need an eye for the uphaul and a hole in the bottom of the pole for the downhaul. You put a lined deck bush of the right size into the end of the pole and thread it through to a stainless steel ring. Downhaul MUST be minimum stretch - multistrand Vectran is good but you don't want the covered one as the cover will fray. Fit either a small block or another stainless steel ring on the top of the inboard end of the pole for the takeaway elastic & that's it. Your uphaul attachment point needs to be as high as possible, under the jib box with a space to avoid drilling too many holes, or even attached with a deck loop on the lower screw of the jib box. |
P.S. I had approx 1" diameter poles - they didn't break but they did bend alarmingly on occasions and if I were doing it again I would have gone for slightly thicker ones - 28?mm in new money 1 1/4 ins in old |
P.S. I had approx 1" diameter poles - they didn't break but they did bend alarmingly on occasions and if I were doing it again I would have gone for slightly thicker ones - 28?mm in new money 1 1/4 ins in old |
In November, Superspars quoted me £110 for two ally poles with fittings excluding carriage. |
Blimey - P&B will do you two ready made-up carbon poles for about 200. |
Be really kind to your crew and get carbon poles - much easier to handle and also they do not do as much damage to the helm when the crew throws them back in a picque! |
Thanks to all who have given advice. |
Thanks for the plug Mags. Hope they're working OK... |
Cheers Hamish, Does that mean John and I can send you our beer list for lending you our carbon last season. |
Does anyone know of a good cheap source of 25 / 28 mm diameter 2.3M lengths of carbon that can be DIY'ed? |
Pinnel & Bax their catalogue arrived yesterday. |
I have recieved my new Pin bax cat. Nice new cover same old inside !!! |
No it's not. The prices have gone up! |