# Best Boat Hook?



## MedSailor (Mar 30, 2008)

The boat hook is often the unsung hero on the boat. Something went overboard? Need to reach a cleat or mooring bridle? It's the extended arm that we need so often, but it's also not the most glamorous item on the boat.

I've never bought one, come to think of it. I made a nice wooden one with a bronze tip for my wooden boat, and my Formosa came with 2. One is a 3part extending pole but very flimsy. Great for the long reach. The other is non-extending and better for grabbing mooring rings or anything that might bend the other pole.

Is there anything new under the sun here? Is there a strong, light, long extending, floating, boat hook that does it all?

BTW in the realm of things to add to the end of the boat hook, this thing looks simple and very cool. dockingstick.com - Home

MedSailor


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## weinie (Jun 21, 2008)




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## Dave_E (Aug 7, 2013)

West Marine... Extendable to 3 sections, relatively cheap to replace.


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## jimgo (Sep 12, 2011)

Med, have you seen Snap Fittings | PVC Snap Fittings The docking stick looks like a piece of PVC pipe with one of the double-sided fittings (about half way down the page) attached.


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## Multihullgirl (Dec 2, 2010)

The one that's still on my boat. Davy Jones has a few of my ex-hooks.


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## RedHorizon (May 13, 2012)

I'm with Dave E on the West Marine boat hooks. Mine have held up pretty well and are decently priced.


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## hopcar (Jul 6, 2013)

I like using a Swobbit brush handle with a boat hook attachment. That way I only have to carry one long pole. The Swobbit handle is stiffer than the more common Shur-Hold handle but it is heavier.
http://swobbit.com/shop/?cPath=5


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## deltaten (Oct 10, 2012)

"Swobbit"!huh?
Pics are a blue ?mark; but I would assume it's very near like the Lowe's extender paint roller handler in use..for near 1/3the $$. $18.95 +$6.99 and done!  5-9' three section anodized aluminum w/plasfriction rings. Add a plastic boat hook for utility over just. a deck. brush. . enough to fendoff the. approaching pier at 5KT it will either collapse or stick in the open position; but that's. what I have a 9' hickory oar for! 
Workswell as a whisker pole on the jib DDW, too . Hook through the gorillaloop at the clew and handlento the main mast Cleat.
Bob *was* my Uncle


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## SHNOOL (Jun 7, 2007)

Best boat hook?
• Simple Interest, Fixed Rate, No Pre-Payment Penalty Financing Programs
• Extended Term Programs
• Stated Income Programs
• Zero Down Payment Programs
• Deferred First Payment Programs

Yep that'd get me hooked on a new boat. What was the question?


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## Sailormon6 (May 9, 2002)

Bigger boats have higher freeboard and need longer boat hooks to snag the hat in the water or the mooring line, or COB. I have two WM boat hooks. One telescopes to 8' and the other telescopes to 14'. The latter would be overkill for a small boat, but it gives me great reach when singlehanding my 35 foot boat.


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## arf145 (Jul 25, 2007)

Another for the WM 3-section extendable. Floats, seems solid, and gets out of the way when you don't need it.


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## hopcar (Jul 6, 2013)

Deltaten, The Swobbit doesn't use a friction lock. It has one of those buttons that pops up through a hole to lock it. I've done some pretty hard pushing on mine and it's never collapsed on me. The handle is very strong because of the shape of the extrusion. I wish it floated but it doesn't. But I haven't lost one, yet.


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## MedSailor (Mar 30, 2008)

jimgo said:


> Med, have you seen Snap Fittings | PVC Snap Fittings The docking stick looks like a piece of PVC pipe with one of the double-sided fittings (about half way down the page) attached.


I haven't seen those snap fittings before, and thanks for that link. I may use them in some projects in the future. PVC can be a fun and cheap medium to play with....

Having said that, even though the docking stick is pretty easy to reproduce/copy I didn't think of the idea myself and I feel obligated to buy it from them to support their intellectual property rights. The fact that it's simple is both a negative for them (too easy to copy) but a positive for the user, ie simple is good.

Nice to hear people like the WM boat hooks. They're easy enough to obtain. I've eyeballed the pain rollers before and may have to look at them again.

MedSailor


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## UnionPacific (Dec 31, 2013)

we got the $90 WM hook. 3 section 16' long, ultra heavy duty. I have yet to bend it or break it, and I have obliterated 3 other hooks, so yeah I am hard on them.


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## juggleandhope (Jun 4, 2012)

A friend at the yacht club has a double hook on his - makes picking up the mooring line way less stressful. Haven't been able to find one for sale, unfortunately.


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## MedSailor (Mar 30, 2008)

juggleandhope said:


> A friend at the yacht club has a double hook on his - makes picking up the mooring line way less stressful. Haven't been able to find one for sale, unfortunately.


How does that help pick up the mooring line more easily? I'm having trouble picturing this....

MedSailor


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## miatapaul (Dec 15, 2006)

These are awful nice looking. But they are pricy:

Wooden Boat Hooks - Shaw & Tenney


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## bob77903 (Nov 10, 2008)

Another vote for the West Marine 3 section extendable. Works great extended all the way to put dock lines over pilings my old shorter ones wouldn't reach


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## Classic30 (Aug 29, 2007)

miatapaul said:


> These are awful nice looking. But they are pricy:


..and they're ridiculously easy to make, so why would you buy one?

It's easy enough to make a boot-hook from a length of hardware-store dowel rod and a suitable hook... and it gives you the opportunity to practise some fancy rope-work. 

FWIW, our 2 shiny wooden boathooks double as a boom-crutch.


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## MedSailor (Mar 30, 2008)

Classic30 said:


> ..and they're ridiculously easy to make, so why would you buy one?


+1 Buy the bronze end fitting, a length of wood and a little beeswax and you have a really nice looking stick. That's what I did for my wooden boat and the stick was a thing of beauty! Until I started using it... then it wasn't, but I'm hard on my tools.

MedSailor


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## miatapaul (Dec 15, 2006)

Classic30 said:


> ..and they're ridiculously easy to make, so why would you buy one?
> 
> It's easy enough to make a boot-hook from a length of hardware-store dowel rod and a suitable hook... and it gives you the opportunity to practise some fancy rope-work.
> 
> FWIW, our 2 shiny wooden boathooks double as a boom-crutch.


Well yes, but these come all shiny...

I would likely make one or get a more practical one like the West Marine. I do like nice varnished wood, to look at though.


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## tempest (Feb 12, 2007)

Saw this at a boat show thought it was neat.

Bazooka Bailer - Taylor Made 18549


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## MedSailor (Mar 30, 2008)

Tempest said:


> Saw this at a boat show thought it was neat.
> 
> Bazooka Bailer - Taylor Made 18549


That's a good idea for the tender.... I had seen it before, but forgotten about it completely. Thanks for the link.

MedSailor


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## RocketScience (Sep 8, 2008)

I went through three or four WM, or WM style boat hooks. Junk IMO. They don't like water, especially salt water. Their cheaply anodized surface will start to corrode, making it difficult to slide their telescoping sections.

Instead, I recommend either the Swobbit (previously mentioned) or Shurhold's line. Their telescoping handles gained fame in washing boats (they were *designed* for water intrusion), and have a multitude of nifty accessories you can clip on the end, a boat hook being one of them. And another plus if you're a cruiser; one less item to stow.

Shurhold


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## Multihullgirl (Dec 2, 2010)

Along the lines of squirting boathooks, is the Bridgenorth Bailer. I haven't managed to lose it although it's been on two boats now. I don't use it often as a hook but it's fun to soak racers at a start line


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## UnionPacific (Dec 31, 2013)

RocketScience said:


> I went through three or four WM, or WM style boat hooks. Junk IMO. They don't like water, especially salt water. Their cheaply anodized surface will start to corrode, making it difficult to slide their telescoping sections.


was yours the $100 heavy duty, or the $35 cheapy. I bent a cheap one myself in a lock.


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## davidpm (Oct 22, 2007)

UnionPacific said:


> was yours the $100 heavy duty, or the $35 cheapy. I bent a cheap one myself in a lock.


I've learned that they don't do double duty as a Spinnaker pole even in very light wind with just the jib.

They fold in half.

So maybe if someone could make a titanium or carbon fiber pole that could do double duty.


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## Group9 (Oct 3, 2010)

davidpm said:


> I've learned that they don't do double duty as a Spinnaker pole even in very light wind with just the jib.
> 
> They fold in half.
> 
> So maybe if someone could make a titanium or carbon fiber pole that could do double duty.


I've never used one as a spinnaker pole, but I had a home made wooden boat hook (with a bronze end), that I made extra long, that I used as a whisker pole for years with no drama. And, the best thing was, it floated!


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## pdqaltair (Nov 14, 2008)

in 30 years, never bought one. I keep finding other peoples floating in the water!

I prefer the simple aluminum non-extending tubes for day-to-day use. Nothing to break and lighter. You should have no use for the long pole a regular basis. But I keep an extending one for the odd slip.


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## RocketScience (Sep 8, 2008)

UnionPacific said:


> was yours the $100 heavy duty, or the $35 cheapy. I bent a cheap one myself in a lock.


I don't know if any of them were HD or not, but IIRC, the last one was around $75, telescoped to around 15 feet, and was somewhat of a beefier build than the previous WM versions I had. This didn't stop the anodized coating from corroding however. I never bent it, but it was still junk IMO.


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## MedSailor (Mar 30, 2008)

Group9 said:


> I've never used one as a spinnaker pole, but I had a home made wooden boat hook (with a bronze end), that I made extra long, that I used as a whisker pole for years with no drama. And, the best thing was, it floated!


Yup, I did this too with the wooden one I made. Used it on the genoa in light winds, never in heavy air. Worked fine.

MedSailor


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## Classic30 (Aug 29, 2007)

Done that with mine too - plenty of times - but:



davidpm said:


> I've learned that they don't do double duty as a Spinnaker pole even in very light wind with just the jib.
> 
> They fold in half.
> 
> So maybe if someone could make a titanium or carbon fiber pole that could do double duty.


..then it's a shame that the racing rules in most parts of the world specifically *prohibit* the use of something as simple as a boat hook for spin pole/whisker pole duty. For some reason ISAF think a large sail attached to a boat hook attached to a person is a good way to get said person badly injured.. 

Carbon fibre spinnaker poles are the norm on racing yachts I've been on. Yes they're light(ish) but given the diameter and length they need to be to take the strains imposed by the sails and do the job they're designed to do, there's no way I'd even contemplate using one as a boat hook - it'd be physically too unwieldy on anything bigger than a dinghy.


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## Capt Len (Oct 9, 2011)

I've always had a 12 ft aluminium pike pole on board.Sharp steel business end. Loggers use them and I often find them floating. In the Beaufort, indispensable for pushing big chunks of ice off the anchor line.In more temperate zones useful for picking up lines ,fending off floating drift wood and the occasional mishandled yankee vessel. Stores along the cabin side Pointy covered in a housing made from defunct white fender material (good stuff for many projects) and the 8 footer stores upright thru a rope eye on the mizzen shroud


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## wrino (Jul 9, 2016)

The double hook boat hook that you may be looking for, is the wRino boat hook mooring system, a boat hook with mooring features for attaching lines to most docking and mooring fixtures from the deck of a boat. A winner of the leading marine awards in USA (NMMA), Europe (DAME - nominated finalist) Australia (Aust Marine) for it's simplicity, speed and ease of operation.
For availability Google wrino.


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## fred1diver (Aug 17, 2013)

I use a painter's pole, extends to about 12ft, strong, sturdy and does the job has a brush handle at the same time


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## roverhi (Dec 19, 2013)

Have West Marine 3 section pole but seldom use it because it collapses when you try and push off with it. Probably should see if it still extends and hasn't corroded up. Went back to the old wooden pole which is stowed vertical on the cap shrouds using lashed on rings.


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## Gary Roe (Apr 29, 2021)

I have just bought STAR BRITE Telescoping Boat Hook. This works great for my needs. I no longer own a boat, but I do have a pick up truck where stuff slides forward in the bed. The tonneau cover makes it difficult to reach the stuff at the front of the bed, but this hook allows me to grab onto stuff and pull it to the rear of the bed.


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## pdqaltair (Nov 14, 2008)

Gary Roe said:


> I have just bought STAR BRITE Telescoping Boat Hook. This works great for my needs. I no longer own a boat, but I do have a pick up truck where stuff slides forward in the bed. The tonneau cover makes it difficult to reach the stuff at the front of the bed, but this hook allows me to grab onto stuff and pull it to the rear of the bed.


Davis Instruments. It is the only one with a head profile slim enough to snatch lives of a dock. I also find it lighter and longer lasting (I tested pretty much every brand for a mag once--I have the Davis hooks on my boat). Also less prone to slipping or jamming. There are stiffer poles, but you shouldn't use it as a lever!


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