MacGregorSailors.com

Just another way for you to consider.
On my X I removed the black plastic winch bolt onspection cover plate after inadvertantly breaking it in half. Even though I had previously installed the boat hook holder clips just aft of the head door hinge, I now simply hang the boat hook from the hole under the portside winch. It is super easy to access from the cockpit and it never falls out.

Cost = nothing.

johnnyonspot wrote:I do not have a boathook. I have done alright without it seems, do I really need one?

A Boat Hook in my Opinion is one of the essentials on my MacX. Stuff overboard, hooking to a pier, line grab, retrieving, etc.
Ive had a few encounters coming into the slip when the boathook saved a few scratches too.
Theyre a great invention.


edit add: Im amazed at the number of us Mac X folks that store the boat hook at the same site: attached to the cabin wall, aft of the head door.
It definately must be the best place.

Wow! Thanks for all the replys. Of course now I'm on brain overload and can't decide which method to use

Thanks again,
Harrison

Yep, me too. Vertically along the head door hinges.

Not putting down the boat hook which usually is esential to pick up the PFD that "fell over the side" but you can grap a mooring ball with a loop of line tossed over it in high seas a lot quicker, tie one end with a bowline or similar knot and cleat the other end off. Then when things die down, untie or cut the line free.

on edit - oh yeah, ours lays loose in the aft under cockpit jumble till its needed and usually till well after its needed.

Our telescoping boathook hangs from clear, soft suction-cup "tool holders" that we got from Linens 'n Things http://www.lnt.com/product/index.jsp?pr ... age=search nearly 3 years ago - and they have never fallen off the liner [even though we trailered during our first season]. You can see the hook end in the upper-right corner of this photo --- readily at hand from the cockpit, but not in the way of anything.

Seems as if us M owners use the same 'spot' a lot also - above the ladder, clipped horizontally, just inside the cockpit door. I think a boat hook is a valuable tool, particuarly when docking as it gives you a much longer reach and it is something to push off with if necessary.

We keep ours in two hooks clipped to the port side lifelines (because that's the side I dock on). That way it's easy to reach quickly and I don't have to go below for it. It's out of the way and has never fouled any lines.

My dock lines are permanently set so the boat is always in the same place where I want it - - - so I use the boat hook mostly to retreive the lines and bring them onto the boat for connection to the cleats. The telescoping boat hook was the FIRST piece of equipment I added to my Mac.

Rick

The telescoping boat hook was the FIRST piece of equipment I added to my Mac.

It was the first piece to go over the side on my Mac, followed quickly by a 7/16 wrench and the pin for the mast raiser. The cabin top does'nt do a real good job holding what is put there on an

2 boat hooks, whisker pole, man overboard flag pole et al store horizontally on portside hull liner wall. Aft end portions are received in 3 short lengths of 4 inch thin wall plastic pipe, bolted together in a triangular array. The array is hung up snug in the waste space between the hull and the back of the cockpit seat. The front portions of the poles are loosely and removably supported in rope loops of different lengths. The loops upper ends are knots trapped between the lower edge of the upper cabin liner and the upper portion of the hull liner. The loops are spaced a few inches aft of the galley. Bend the loop forward a bit to release the front of the pole and pull the pole forward out of its plastic pipe and the pole is free to use. Cheap easy and no holes drilled in the boat. Ron

My old sailing instructor always told us it is a boathook and if you hook and pull it won't slip, if you push using the hook it could easily slip. But if you really need to push, then push with the handle end forward not the hook.
Cheers
Morris

Boat Hook on our M is mounted in 2 clips on the hatch slider retainer strip on the port side. That way the Admiral can just grab it on her way forward to pick up a mooring. Also it's in easy reach of the cockpit for emergencies. It doesn't ride there when trailering,however.