Folks; About a year ago I put out a message regarding carbon spinnaker poles and in the end acquired some aluminium ones from another Merlin which had gone to a single pole system... but after some heavy winded racing in the Solent last season I find I am limited by the amount of bend in the poles in heavy airs.  Any source new/cheap sources out there for tube, Carbon or Aluminium; two poles and not the £40/metre type!  Might also be the problem of having a Skiff sailor on board.
Sorry if this is old ground....
Cheers - Guy

These are ebay at the moment

Many thanks for that - I had spotted these earlier but are a bit on the short side (1.8m).

Key question being how much you want to pay, carbon coming in around £100 a pole or so, try Tony Blackmore's sailsport site (link), P&B etc.  DIY is possible and can be reasonably cheap in aluminium.  Ally poles shouldn't bend too much if set up right, the load is almost all in compression, but if your downhaul allows the ring to pull out of the end of the pole then you will get a lot of bend, remedy is to get enough purchase, low stretch string and a cleat that is tough enough not to slip.

Andrew 3511

many thanks Andrew I will try and sort out the spinnaker system properly this year (and not round the windward mark) and see if I can survive with what I have got... I will follow up on the other avenues too if budget allows.
Guy

What length poles would you use for an old rules spinaker? I have 3 spinakers and a pretty rubbish system at present with on one pole that needs new ends, to be honest we hardly use it as it is such a terrible system.

When you say "old rules" spinnaker it's not exactly clear which set of old rules you mean.  Probably not the 5ft pole and spinny sheeted inside the forestay.  The penultimate rules (i.e. just previous to the present measurement rule) are designed for the same length pole.  Spinnys from before 1996 were designed for a 2m (or was it 2.1??) pole but in practice can still be flown from the present length even though it looks a bit funny.  As you can always lop a bit off a spinny pole but can't easily stick it back on why not just go for the 2.3m?  You will need to revise where the uphaul attaches to the mast and get much longer sheets.

Thanks Andrew, 3190 is an NSM 1 (high tank) without a forestay and my spinaker was measured 12/08/92 so would this be the 2 / 2.1 m pole variant then? I have an unmeasured one in the bag that must be vitualy unused it has that new sail feel! and they both have numbers on them.

Prior to the 1996 change to the current 2.3m pole, the length was 1830mm (6ft).

GGGGGG

Whoops - my memory is not what it used to be I think...

Could have sworn there was an intermediate length

So two six foot poles are what I need and lots of close up photo's showing me how to rig it!

For rigging try the rigging guide on this site, follow the link ;)
I have been look to see if 1 or 2 poles is way forward...  Also there is a company called Bayswater tubes in South Wales, very near me that make the aluminium tubes for Selden spinnaker poles, tapered and parallel.  they have a minimum order of �50, so if you know anyone else in the market for plain tube fir diy jobs let me know and a 'joint' order can be placed...

If you are interested I have a pair of tapered alloy poles with or without ends. Tube is 38mm and tapers down to 28mm. They are approx 2.2mts, I can check the correct measurement if it helps.

Craig, If Guy is no longer interested, then I might be depending on the measurements.....

The tubes are 2.22, I have four to sell.