T&T: PFD for a boat hook.

[Kirwood Dirby]

My boat came with a classic 6' wood boat hook. I was grabbing a
mooring on a very calm day and wasn't holding it very securely and it
went over board. D'oh. So, I followed it. Thankfully it floated and
was easy to retrieve. I decided it would be a good idea to have a
spare aluminum hook to retrieve the boat hook, so now I have a spare
:)

SO, I was doing my winter cleaning and thought "hey, the boat hook is
old and grimey, better clean her up!". So I did. I purchased some wood
cleaner from West Marine (I dont recall the brand) and it made the
boat hook several shades lighter. Then I rubbed tongue oil into it.
Several coats worked in by hand. OOOOH, it looked nice!

Uh huh. then it fell of the dock. Well, no problem, it floats
remember? Well, not this time. It sank like a rock. Son of a ....

SO, now I am going to purchase a nice new replacement wood handeled
boat hook but I dont want to loose it to the sea. Is there such a
thing as a boat hook flotation device? :) Something small for the end
opposite the hook?

as a side note. For those who use aluminum boat hooks, try a wood one.
I thought it was a bummer but no biggy to loose my wood hook, I could
just use the aluminum. Uhh, no. The aluminum isnt very strong, and the
hook itself is bigger and gets stuck in mooring rings, most
unsafe/uncool.


-- 
PaulC
http://www.teampaulc.org/