Boat Hook Keeper

Recently, one of our esteemed members (Loren) viewed an array of 2018 Lake Michigan racing footage captured from our O-34 and although his analysis was accompanied by some self-admitted 'snarky' commentary , Loren culled 2 items from the footage that we'd instituted years ago and had completely forgotten: (1) was how/where we stow our boot hook (pike?) and (2) was the 'slug keeper plates' to secure/install the main slugs at the mast.

After reading Loren's reply and observations, I found a representive picture of the boat hook keeper to include with this submittal. I'll keep looking for the 'slug keeper', 'cuz I know I have pics of it...somewhere.

The Boat Hook Keeper is a simple system (usually the best), using (2) dead-end bungie fittings, a short length of bungie and an easy drill/tap procedure into the boom to accept the appropriately sized SS machine screws. 15-minutes, tops, if all the pieces are in hand. And easily replaced when (not if) the components degrade. And it serves it's intended purpose very well: to keep the Boat Hook in a convenient location that's out of the way for use when it's needed.

Multi Purpose Kenyon Spar

If we copy that neat idea, I have to wonder if we would still have to stuff an old rag into that opening every spring for several months to keep the swallows out during their nesting season.
(Finding an 'angry bird', upset over having its home disturbed, can be unexpectedly entertaining. And then there is the mess of straw bits to clean out...)

Keep the birdies out!

Loren: The gulls we have on lake Michigan, and other avian species are mighty powerful!

I have stuffed rags.....covered over the end of the boom with duct tape...both silver, white and black....they always seem to be able to get into the boom (and when I stored mast down in to the bottom of the mast) tearing through the tape.....jerking out very tightly packed turkish toweling......

The Cure? A large plastic Skippy Peanut Butter jar......forces in with doing any damage and pulls out quite easily.....the birds can't get a grip on it.....

Rube Goldberg rides again!

Reproduction. Literally.

Stowing our boat hook(s).

Fellers, I stole Larry Pardey's trick for boat hook management aboard our boat. I attached two bronze rings to a shroud, one just above the turnbuckle and the other near the top of the pole. The gaff fits into the lower ring and the upper one secures the pole end. Removal is simple, lift the gaff from the ring and guide the pole end out of the upper ring, photos attached. Cheers, Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey CA

Howling Predicted

Yes, the vertical stowage at a shroud meets many positive criteria, but I can already hear the howls and questions of sanity if this option was broached, all focused on the esoteric topics of 'windage', 'disturbed air' and 'effects of/on laminar flow'.

Full confession: it required the analytics of a Theoretical Physicist with a career of attempting to weigh Dark Matter at Fermi Lab (you know who you are) to convince 'The Howlers' that the weight in ounces of the aluminum boathook will NOT adversely affect main sail shape if stowed in the aft end of the boom.

And yes, I had to confirm 'esoteric' was the applicable word choice. 'Howlers' I know is correct from experience!

Even better if that's the location it gets used from. I tried leaving a boat hook inside the hand rail, where it could be reached from the cockpit or the side deck. But it disappeared from there in the marina.
However, the boathook is only the beginning. I have quite an inventory of long skinny items that are difficult to store.
Boat hooks
SUP Paddles
Kayak Paddles
Dinghy Oars (no longer in inventory)
Fishing Rod

No elegant solution has yet emerged.

I strap long stuff on the stanchions. Port is 10x13 cockit cover. Strb is whisker pole with dinghy mast on top. Each is in a Sunbrella bag.