A bow pole retro-fit: adding a bow pole for an asymmetric spinnaker to a Cal 39

This is a collection of photos of a bow pole which was fit onto a Cal 39. This system was made possible by the existence of a large stem fitting which encompassed both the forestay fitting and the anchor roller. If you are thinking of doing something like this, you must be sure that what you are fastening the bow pole to has been designed to be pulled up, like a forestay fitting. A stand alone anchor roller is in general not good enough to use for this purpose, because it is often fastened to the deck only using two bolts.

Notice that the pole does a pretty complete job of closing up the anchor locker in the bow. As it turns out, that locker is a poor place to store heavy objects anyway!

The bow pole itself is an aluminum tube with a stiffening sleeve riveted to the tube in the middle. Welded onto the bottom stiffener are two tabs which project down into one of the anchor rollers.

This is a view of the pole from behind. Although it is hard to see, there are 3 channels in the cast aluminum stem fitting. The forestay is in the center one, and the two outside ones were designed to hold anchors.

Here you can see the two sleeve stiffeners riveted onto the tube. The view shows how the tabs, welded onto the bottom stiffener, fit into one of the channels for the anchor roller. Don't be confused by the jib halyard with the red ball on it... it is not the forestay!

This shows how two bolts pass through the tabs to hold it down to the stem fitting. In this picture the bow is to the right, which is different than the rest of the photos.

This is the aft end fitting for the bow pole. When the bow pole is in use this end of the pole is being thrust down into the deck. There must be support under the deck to prevent the deck from bending and cracking.