Mounting a High pole

Hello Guys

I have an old 1970s ski boat (15 foot 350 chev) that I would like to put a high pole in. I am a pretty competent welder etc so I will make one up myself however I am unsure where to mount it. I have two hull beams running along the length of the boat (of which the engine brackets are bolted to) the obvious place is to mount my bracket just over the front keel and in front of the engine onto the wooden beams. However as these beams are surrounded by fibre glass I can not get to the other side so would not be able to run a bolt through them. I am wondering if some heavy duty wood screws would do the job or would this put too much strain on the wood.
I have attached a rough sketch of what I want to do ? the pole would be 2inch by 6 ? 7 foot.
Thanks

Tim

Re: Mounting a High pole

As you can imagine, any time significant force is to be applied to a fitting you really want through bolting if at all possible. I do see that you've got what looks like a (metal?) stay at the front to help disperse the load but I would still consider cutting out a section between those floor stringers in order to create some sort of bolted foot mounting. Perhaps some kind of plate cross bolted horizontally through the stringers on either side? Hard to describe but essentially anything you can think of that creates an integrated mount would be good.

Of course you could see if you can get a look at a "factory" made kit to see what they do for the floor mount.

Be sure that forestay is anchored well and won't allow your cap to pull away from the hull under pressure.

The

Re: Mounting a High pole

Your picture looks pretty good. Try to keep the pull point close to the front of the engine. The forward stay is critical, as scoutabout pointed out. I assume you are making it so the pole can be removed easily when you want it out.

Re: Mounting a High pole

T bolts. They sell them for mounting pedestal seats right here on iboats. http://www.iboats.com/Garelick-Togg...43623681--**********.181296578--view_id.38770

Re: Mounting a High pole

Thanks Guys
scoutabout. If I cut out a section (and it would not need to be large) so I can get a bolt plate in there - would you guys advise that I need to re fibreglass as this would be under the seats and no one would see the holes?.
Also do I need three pull points (one down the middle (Deffinitly), and two down each side) for when I wake board or knee board out the side of the boat?
Yes Bob - I have thought about T Bolts the only trouble with them is one needs to drill the hole bigger then the bolt so there may be some movement..
Yes pole will be easily removed..

Re: Mounting a High pole

You could put fixed guy lines to the side and back a bit that could clip to links on the gunnels. The the bow line can be a single tension point. That's the easiest but a hard brace at an angle part way up might be less to catch your head on as you walk about. (a tower might also work and then you could store stuff on racks out of the way)

Re: Mounting a High pole

Timbo123 said:

Thanks Guys
scoutabout. If I cut out a section (and it would not need to be large) so I can get a bolt plate in there - would you guys advise that I need to re fibreglass as this would be under the seats and no one would see the holes?.
Also do I need three pull points (one down the middle (Deffinitly), and two down each side) for when I wake board or knee board out the side of the boat?
Yes Bob - I have thought about T Bolts the only trouble with them is one needs to drill the hole bigger then the bolt so there may be some movement..
Yes pole will be easily removed..

Click to expand...

I'd say generally you'd want to make sure you don't expose any wood to the elements or water that might splash around down there, and of course any fibreglass that was structural should be maintained. (Certainly any cuts in the floor should be sealed all around. My SeaRay floor rotted to pieces as the floor hatch for the fuel tank had raw edges from the factory :facepalm

Sounds like you are a much more experienced fabricator than me so you would know the complexity of such a thing but I was thinking if you boxed in a section using cross members between the stringers, then fabbed a foot plate that could be mounted securely a half-inch lower than the surrounding floor, you could then make up a floor blank that could be dropped into place when you're not using the ski pole. If the foot plate had a snug fitting pocket incorporated in it that allowed you to just drop the pole down six inches (or maybe threaded on the end?? or fabbed with a pin on the end that could be dropped and turned, bayonet style???) it would make install and remove simple for skiing.

As for the stays, perhaps adding two more on 45 degree angles forward might not be a bad idea...

With all of this you want to make sure you don't have any rot in the structure anywhere or the entire works could pull right out of the floor no matter how it's bolted...

Good luck and post pics!