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New barge pole and boat hook


MrsM

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11 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Very handy little hook that is. No longer made but worth looking out in boat jumbles. about 5ft long plastic covered aluminium handle with a 8mm diameter stainless shepherds crook type hook on it.

 

Try looking at a sea fishing "Gaff"

 

 

Available from a 'couple of feet long' to about 10 feet (used when fishing off high sided boats)

 

See the source image

 

 

Image result for gaff

 

 

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2 hours ago, The Gravy Boater said:

The other other kind of hockey stick... I like.  Where'd you get that thing?

Ebay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224017160517

I did hope the blade was bolted on, to make it easier to store, also if I needed to replace the blade, but its riveted - I know, but I don't keep the tools on the boat to sort that, and all my stuff from the house has gone since we sold. Still does not take up much room, and as I said, don't need it as long as I've got it!

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47 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Try looking at a sea fishing "Gaff"

 

 

Available from a 'couple of feet long' to about 10 feet (used when fishing off high sided boats)

 

See the source image

 

 

Image result for gaff

 

 

 

Yes but it would be no good for picking a rope up from above.

 

You need something which can be slipped under the rope.

 

I will always leave a little bight in a rope if intending to pick it up from lockside as boat is coming in (going up) but with the boat crook you can get one which is lying flat on the deck. I think they were issued to Thames lock keepers. The keeper who gave me mine was retiring and emptying his shed.

Edited by magnetman
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This hook was made by a working boatman and when we sold the narrowboat I took it to France. Never used it to get anything off the prop but handy for hooking mooring rings etc. Madam used an extending aluminum pole with a plastic hook on put the noose over the bollards as she never really got the hang of lassoing them

2678394C-90B7-47C0-A183-6B149BB5BC63.png

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4 hours ago, LadyG said:

I found a boathook on board, a telescopic thing, pretty useless...

 

Do you mean one of these? They are useful for light duties, that said i did manage to use ours to hook a feckin great branch out of the cut on the approach to Rose Narrowboats the other week, was amazed it held out. Never have found out what the threaded bit under the red cap is for though?!?!

 

 

AP-144-1643882165.jpg

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Thats one of the big ones. I have one of these. Someone once told me what they are called but I forgot. It was a specific name. Might be able to find it with a bit of googling. Snagging hook? I think it might have been @davemoore who knew the original name for these.

 

Pics of boathooks always nice to see !

 

IMG_20220816_171841.jpg.7fe03c94fed2f0f3d14728b93a84d346.jpg

 

Oops those pesky wooden handles...

 

IMG_20220816_172152.jpg.649f58569812256df9573071e4036943.jpg

 

Not sure if there is such a thing as "hoarding boathooks"

Edited by magnetman
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4 hours ago, The Gravy Boater said:

Slightly unrelated but does anyone know the name of the tool boaters used to use to clear props before weed hatches were a thing?  Not quite a scythe... It's like a sickle on a stick.  Always struck me as a much simpler solution... also, good for Halloween parties. 

Billhook possibly?

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Some of the  boathooks I have had out with the magnet have the inside of the crook part filed down to a blade. Also the part between the spike and the hook can be forged in such a way as to provide a cutter.

 

You get both options. Pull it or push it.

 

Of course yars ago one would not have seen much plastic around and one would not have had a weedhatch.

 

 

 

 

Edited by magnetman
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6 hours ago, The Gravy Boater said:

Slightly unrelated but does anyone know the name of the tool boaters used to use to clear props before weed hatches were a thing?  Not quite a scythe... It's like a sickle on a stick.  Always struck me as a much simpler solution... also, good for Halloween parties. 

I have been told these are handy if you dont have a weed hatch 

image.png.b19508b304bc36c3c12e56e0c7524ae9.png

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6 hours ago, The Gravy Boater said:

Slightly unrelated but does anyone know the name of the tool boaters used to use to clear props before weed hatches were a thing?  Not quite a scythe... It's like a sickle on a stick.  Always struck me as a much simpler solution... also, good for Halloween parties. 

 

I think that device is called a "wife" or a "Girlfriend".

 

 

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1 hour ago, Hudds Lad said:

 

Do you mean one of these? They are useful for light duties, that said i did manage to use ours to hook a feckin great branch out of the cut on the approach to Rose Narrowboats the other week, was amazed it held out. Never have found out what the threaded bit under the red cap is for though?!?!

 

 

AP-144-1643882165.jpg

 

 

I think the Bulgarian secret service may have known (Sadly) 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-04/gerogi-markov-bulgarian-dissident-umbrella-assassination/100084600

 

  

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7 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Short boat hook pole. I've got one with a roughly 4' long aluminium shaft, with a rubber grip on one end and a plastic rope hook on t'other. Very useful. Passing ropes up to lock keepers from the depths, picking up ropes from boats to help them moor up. The plastic hook means minimal risk of scratching paint. Light enough to be wielded one handed. Looks a bit naff and not very trad narrowboaty, but gets much more use than the 8' ash shaft.

 

You could always scumble the aluminium shaft... 😂🤣

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14 hours ago, The Gravy Boater said:

Slightly unrelated but does anyone know the name of the tool boaters used to use to clear props before weed hatches were a thing?  Not quite a scythe... It's like a sickle on a stick.  Always struck me as a much simpler solution... also, good for Halloween parties. 

Are you perhaps thinking of Bargee Bill's Prop Cleaner? No longer made though.

 

 

6a00d83451b11469e200e54f54c21c8834-640wi.jpg.20740e981f8d3c75e9e3a3c96d791ff2.jpg

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1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

Thats for use through the weed hatch. I think he means the way working boats use to do it

 

 

Given most weed hatches are under the counter with about 18" of headroom in thr gloom, I can't imagine how Bill's invention can possibly be used through them. 

 

Interestingly, weed hatch designs on both my boats give me easy access to the blade from on top of the counter which is totally brilliant. Thanks to Richard at Orion for both. 

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On 16/08/2022 at 17:20, magnetman said:

Thats one of the big ones. I have one of these. Someone once told me what they are called but I forgot. It was a specific name. Might be able to find it with a bit of googling. Snagging hook? I think it might have been @davemoore who knew the original name for these.

 

Pics of boathooks always nice to see !

 

IMG_20220816_171841.jpg.7fe03c94fed2f0f3d14728b93a84d346.jpg

 

Oops those pesky wooden handles...

 

IMG_20220816_172152.jpg.649f58569812256df9573071e4036943.jpg

 

Not sure if there is such a thing as "hoarding boathooks"

My  Dad always called  them "Itchers", when he worked on the barges out of Brentford, I may have miss heard him and he said Hitchers. The one in bottom picture left looks like the type of one he used.

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1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

 

Given most weed hatches are under the counter with about 18" of headroom in thr gloom, I can't imagine how Bill's invention can possibly be used through them. 

 

Interestingly, weed hatch designs on both my boats give me easy access to the blade from on top of the counter which is totally brilliant. Thanks to Richard at Orion for both. 

So does my boat and I would suggest a majority of others as well

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1 hour ago, MtB said:

 

 

Given most weed hatches are under the counter with about 18" of headroom in thr gloom, I can't imagine how Bill's invention can possibly be used through them. 

 

Interestingly, weed hatch designs on both my boats give me easy access to the blade from on top of the counter which is totally brilliant. Thanks to Richard at Orion for both.

We used to have a lovely weed hatch. Marvellous it was for the previous 40 years of its life. 

 

I should have listened to my inner voice the day the insurance driven surveyor powered welder added extra height to it. 

 

It's now not fit for purpose. I can barely get my arm down there anymore. 

 

Still, it all in the name of progress innit. 

Edited by rusty69
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