I used a JY 15 mast from an old boat twice on my J/24. The problem is a lack of a lower set of stays which means the mast bends and looks like it's about to buckle. Also, the rivets in the spreaders (especially on an older JY mast which ours was) can't handle the load. The reasons we only used it twice were because it bent a scary amount and a spreader broke under the strain. I got tired of that show really quickly bought a 20 foot section of aluminum pipe from a friend in the construction industry for $100. I think he gave us a "friend price" because it was a lot lower than other sellers but you could probably still find a piece of aluminum in that price range. The aluminum pipe is heavy but we cut it down to 17 feet to lighten it and make it easier to handle. Having a purpose built gin pole is great because I've preset all the stays so it's simple to clip the stays to a pair of stanchions and the bow. I put a system similar to a boom vang on the fore stay of the gin pole to tension it and keep it stable. If you can find a more durable dinghy mast or an old broken keelboat mast that you could get for less than a strip of aluminum then I recommend because most warehouses sell aluminum in 20 or 25 foot sections, which is several feet more then you need. Either way from experience I strongly oppose the JY 15 mast.I have a scrap JY15 that is 15", do you think I can use that as a stepping gin pole? Or should I get something that has more meat on it than a JY 15 mast?
I plan to trailer launch my boat and I will need to get the mast up and down with only human power.
I would like to see other ideas / designs for Gin Poles to do this. I have found very little online. I assume this is a common practice, and it's always better to learn from someone else's mistakes.
Thanks !