My 3 extension boat hook had a broken mechanism for tightening one of the extensions. After playing with it for a couple of hours I felt 'enough is enough' and decided to just lock it off at a good length. I extended the pole in what I felt was the strongest position, drilled holes through the tubes and put some sheet metal screws in to lock it off ending up with an 8' very strong pole. To finish it off I made a rubber tip (for fending off), a good handgrip from wet suit material and added a wrist band to help from loosing it in the water accidently.

What was looking like a piece of equipment that might be thrown out is now a great boat hook. The plus side is that I never have to mess with extending or compacting it. It's now a 'grab and go' pole that stows under the bimini.