gin poles

robert mcarthur

New Member
im new to the class bought an oldee but goody hull #53 need proper measurements to make either single pole with stays or 3 poles, planning to use mainsail sheets and blocks to pull mast thank your for your help
 
Robert I unfortunately don't have the length of the gin pole tube off hand, but a lot of people have either straight aluminum tube (ie industrial tent pole, maybe 2" OD, thick wall aluminum), or a remnant of an old J24 mast or preferably smaller spar section (hobie mast cut down). Light weight but strong enough to take a few hundred pounds in compression without too much belly dancing is fine. J24 rig isn't all that heavy all told, but I wouldn't recommend a star mast.

This is a good excuse to update you spin sheets and rear spinnaker sheet turning blocks on your boat, better to just dedicate a spin sheet and blocks than to have to rig/unrig your gin pole every time you use it. Strongly suggest going with NON RATCHETING and 2:1 purchase setup, with three stays (either wire or high grade dyneema) with clips to speed the process (repeatability is king for this process, clips attach to aft stanchion bases and genoa tack shackle). Small dinghy style 3:1 purchase with fiddle-v-cleat on the forward stay makes it easy to put the whole rig under tension.

I use to have a PDF drawing of this, but if you reach out to your local fleet or competitors I'm sure you can find a few exampes for pros and cons.
1) easy to lift and rig on the boat by the smallest crew member
2) easy for your smallest crew member to haul up the mast OR ability to step/pull your mast single handed
3) dedicated parts/fixed length stays for repeatability and no need for disassembly
 
The ideal gin pole is 19 feet above the deck, though you can have it a bit shorter at the cost of having to lift the mast from below its balance point.
 

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