Spinnaker pole jaw stuck and proper orientation

[felizcortez]

I have an Amco Spinnaker pole on my boat that I have never used. One of the jaws is stuck and I am currently unable to open it.

The jaw that is stuck is the one with the larger diameter slide (picture with my finger in it). There are also two metal lines that go around pulleys and then appear to go forward. Neither of these are moving either. Do they both trip the front (larger jaw)?

Also which jaw should go to the attachment point on the mast, the larger one or the smaller one? The way things are oriented right now it appears the smaller one would go on the mast.

Any tips to unfreeze the jaw? Can I just hit it with a hammer and punch or am I missing something?

[roverhi]

Heat the pin area, soak with penetrating oil liberally, repeat the process multiple times. If that doesn't loosen up the pin, use a drift of almost the diameter of the pin and try driving the pin back large hammer bwill probably be best rather than small hammer used with more force. The wires are probably control lines for the pins. Lift lines are external attached to the ends from the pictures.

[jamhass]

Roverhi has it correct ... almost.

If you look carefully at the jaw end, you will see that there is a small hole perpendicular to the pin. There is a split pin in this hole that keeps the main pin from exiting the pole. You will need to remove the split pin before you will be able to drive the main pin out.

I did a full rebuild of a Forespar pole for the same reason. Forespar was really great, they provided a new set of internal parts, even the lines, at no cost to me. Check with your manufacturer, maybe you too will get lucky.

[felizcortez]

Originally Posted by jamhass

Roverhi has it correct ... almost.

If you look carefully at the jaw end, you will see that there is a small hole perpendicular to the pin. There is a split pin in this hole that keeps the main pin from exiting the pole. You will need to remove the split pin before you will be able to drive the main pin out.

I did a full rebuild of a Forespar pole for the same reason. Forespar was really great, they provided a new set of internal parts, even the lines, at no cost to me. Check with your manufacturer, maybe you too will get lucky.

Does it make sense to try to remove the entire end to make it easier to work on? I would only need to remove that pin if I can't get it freed up moving towards the inner section of the pole.

[jamhass]

Originally Posted by felizcortez

Does it make sense to try to remove the entire end to make it easier to work on? I would only need to remove that pin if I can't get it freed up moving towards the inner section of the pole.

Depends. Is this a fixed-length spin pole or an adjustable whisker pole?

If the former, there is no internal mechanism, so go ahead and disassemble to make work easier.

If the later, there is an internal mechanism. If the pole works well (extends, contracts smoothly) I would tend to not disassemble. If it doesn't work well, you will want to take it apart and rework as needed.

Note that the ends are likely cast aluminum, so be gentle and take your time, they can break. If you must hammer on anything, back up the piece to take the load. Frequently, a lot of gentler hits (with penetrating oil -- not WD-40) works better than massive force. It's corrosion between the SS pin and the aluminum body you are trying to free up.

[witzgall]

Before taking the steps to take it apart, Try immersing it in very hot water. They often can get stuck due to salt.

[dfelsent]

I had a similar pole with a stuck pin. I had to drill out the screws holding the end casting to the pole. Got the pole end off and worked the pin loose. Retapped the holes and reassembled with loctite.
Normally both control lines operate the outboard end of the pole. That way you can trip it from the mast or the bow.

[felizcortez]

Originally Posted by dfelsent

I had a similar pole with a stuck pin. I had to drill out the screws holding the end casting to the pole. Got the pole end off and worked the pin loose. Retapped the holes and reassembled with loctite.
Normally both control lines operate the outboard end of the pole. That way you can trip it from the mast or the bow.

Thanks. That makes sense for the control lines.

It is a fixed length Spinnaker pole. I tried removing the 4 screws holding the end cap on, but they wouldn't budge.
The problem is that the pole is currently stuck on the mount since I can't get the jaw to open. So even if so remove the 4 screws, I am still stuck to the deck.

I sprayed with some PB Blaster today and will try again tomorrow.

[Moontide]

The end that is in the deck fitting is a Barient fitting and the end for the spinnaker. The other end (one in the air) is for the mast. Prior owner spent $ to upgrade the Barient end. Its designed for dip pole jibes. When you open the jaw there is a lever that holds the pin back until you place a line in the jaw and push it down on the lever. Pin is then released (don't get you finger in the way).


To free the mast end try lubricating it and letting sit for a while. Then you might be able to drive the pin back. Problem is usually due to stainless pin going into aluminum jaw. Once free should be fine.


Bill

[Don C L]

Aerokroil! Love that stuff!

[skipgundlach]

That's a horrible situation; we have much the same on our vertical mount (which can't give access to the bottom/your horizontal end for drifting loose).

Constant tapping and soaking with penetrating oil (the most effective we have found - serious stuff - is Torq - CB by Kimball-Midwest) eventually made ours loose enough that we could grasp it with vise grips and rotate as far as the cable-end attached to it would allow.

After that the only way (and we're likely frozen again, having not done it in some time, being trapped in Velcro Beach FL) is to keep it lubed and exercised. Every time you pass it on deck, give it a pull (cause it to release) and let go. If it doesn't bang the aforementioned pin on the way back, exercise it and lube it until it does. SS and aluminum don't play well together, let alone salt, so it's a constant battle, but you'll have to do it if you don't want to have to buy a new end (as we did, early on, from a rigger in Annapolis where we were at the time)...

[felizcortez]

Originally Posted by Moontide

The end that is in the deck fitting is a Barient fitting and the end for the spinnaker. The other end (one in the air) is for the mast. Prior owner spent $ to upgrade the Barient end. Its designed for dip pole jibes. When you open the jaw there is a lever that holds the pin back until you place a line in the jaw and push it down on the lever. Pin is then released (don't get you finger in the way).




To free the mast end try lubricating it and letting sit for a while. Then you might be able to drive the pin back. Problem is usually due to stainless pin going into aluminum jaw. Once free should be fine.


Bill

Thanks. The Barrient end is the one that is jammed.
The mast side works okay. Since the lever comes down can I just use a drift on the sliding pin or do they have to move in conjunction with each other?

[SurlySailor]

Had this happen to me mid race last summer! We tried various methods to get it unstuck while racing what ended up working was lots of penetrating oil, and then pouring boiling hot water into the pole from the hole where the trigger line exits. After that I liberally applied some lube that we use for everything that moves on deck and it worked.

[felizcortez]

I was able to get the pin unstuck today. I had to take the end off to push it back out, but was eventually able to free it up.

One of the machine screws that held the end in place snapped off the head so I tried to drill it out. Unfortunately, my bit wandered so now I have a wallowed out hole that I can't tap with a piece of the machine screw still in there. I guess I started off center and the drill drifted into the softer aluminum.

So I have to deal with that now. I was considering just drilling another hole further forward and tapping that one. What do you think? Or is 3 machine screws okay for the end of the pole?

[Don C L]

Tapping a new one is fine. Don't forget the goop.