"Adrian Stott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > "Julian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>Call me modern but for the last 10 years I have used 2" thin wall ali tube >>bung up the ends with wood so it floats and there it is. >>Never breaks, bends or warps, provided you don't use it as a lever which >>is >>what the gangplank is for. >>Much lighter then wood and easier to handle the only problem is you do >>have >>to force it down into the water as it is so buoyant. > > Yes. This is the preferred approach for many working craft (not > meaning narrow boats), including the river tug I worked on in Canada. > Excellent under tension. However, my impression is that it can be > rather easy to bend them (permanently) a little under compression, > which then leads to their being bent more in a subsequent use, which > then leads to them suddenly folding up subsequently under compression. > > Have you found that, Julian? > > The lack of having to paint them is a definite advantage though. I > get around this with my mop sticks by, er, not painting them (except > where I hold them, to avoid splinters) and throwing them away after > five or six years when they start to rot. If you paint towards the > business end, the paint just gets scraped anyway in use, which looks > dreadful.
The only one I have bent was by using it as a lever. Never managed to bend one by using it in compression, as I said I have had them for at least 10 years J
