Ejecto Hook

The hook is made of stainless steel, and apparently needs to be that thick, as a lardy boy bent a thinner one.

There are various versions available besides the spreader bar, including one for the Banks skiff harness. Banks are or were at one time offering them as original equipment (albeit unadvertised - the market is so small).

I 'encouraged' my crews to adopt it mainly to preserve the boat's topsides having suffered from damage from a conventional hook on my Winder Fireball, but the non-tangling aspect is a serious benefit - I nearly copped it myself once while righting an old FD (the hook locked onto the gunwale lip so that the boat came over on top of me while I was still stuck there, pinning me under water). Another time, my crew's conventional hook got hooked on the underwater shroud in a capsize... scary.

I'm not at all convinced by the releasable hooks. Besides wrecking your topsides, I've also heard they can be tricky to release under load.

i have to agree with you there, unhooking from things when you are in the water shouldnt be a problem. the only time it might be is if you are caught on something that you get your weight on, e.g shroud or perhaps kiker. simply shoving down off your hook normally clears it. having a little retainer thing doesnt help this though.

I've had two RWO QRH hooks.  I used to test it every few weeks stood on the shore and the first one stopped releasing unless I leant over to the left.  That's not "got a bit tricky to relase", that is a "would not budge now matter how hard you pulled".  Apparently it was "a one in a million weld failure".  When my new hook then became number two in a million I gave up and went back to a conventional hook...