Gin Pole

I’ve just finished building what’s call a “gin pole” that will help me raise the mast on my sailboat. We had to take down the mast when we brought the boat up from Olympia, Washington. So we’ve got to raise it again when we launch the boat.

Here’s how to build a gin pole.

It took several days and a lot of mistakes to build. Frankly, I didn’t think it was going to work… but it does!

There were two reasons for the length of time it took to build. (A) I didn’t know what I was doing, and (B) I had dizzyness some mornings. But… Yay! it’s done!!

I’m going sailing this weekend with my son. We’ll be raising the mast dockside so, hopefully, this method will be safer and easier than trying to do it by hand.

Today I’m putting on the bottom paint. (For all you landlubbers out there, it’s a special paint that prevents barnacles from attaching themselves to the belly of the boat.)

I’ll let you know how the trip goes. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.