Is there a preferred location (distance from bridles, or measurement from either end) of the snuffer hoop on the pole? We're finally mounting our mid-pole setup...

Put the bag on see how far you want it under the tramp, that'll tell ya. I put mine pretty close to the bridles and let the bag run under the tramp.
Todd

word on the street is if you put it further away from the bridles then it makes it easier to snuff. I forewarn you however that I don't have any firsthand confirmation of this.

The one boat we have to compare with right now has it about 21" from the bridle. It makes it so the hull tangs for the whisker stays line up just aft of the middle of the hoop (if that makes any sense). That makes it so the end of the bag just reaches the main beam. It would seem to make sense that having it further out would help snuffing. Pictures of other boats seem to have the hoop closer to the bridle, though. That would seem to help with windage and waves.

When I swapped mine, the reason I was getting rid of the endpole was windage,so I put it back as far as I could to cut down on windage. I have seen some pretty far forward too. I have no problem snuffing mine with it back, tiller feels the same either way.
Todd

I had one tight to the bridle and a second one further out. If I had it to do again, I would stick with the "further out" position as I believe it does snuff a little easier with the spinnaker further away from the bridle. Mount it far enough out on the pole so you can still tie off the sock to the mast post under the beam with a little tension...21" sounds about right.

If the end of the sock is just at the front beam, you have the option of bringing the retrieval line over the front beam which stops the [full] sock dragging in the drink.

I have an mid pole snuffer.

i had real issues with the spin halyard getting wrapped up in my jib when i furled or unfurled my jib when the hoop was about 6" in front of the furler.

I moved my hoop about 1.5' in front and it greatly reduced this. My bag ends under the front beam (tornado sized bag)

Pic is from before i moved it...

we used to have that problem with the F18 all the time...spin halyard had to be tight when furling the jib or it would twist with it.

Nothing worse than having a successful douce only to get your jib fouled with the spin halyard. Even with moving it forward.. it still happens if i forget to tell crew to snug up the spin halyard.

The reasoning for putting it a bit further out is just to help prevent everything from bunching up on top of the forestay when snuffing. If I remember right this was started by the Tornado guys.

When I was new to snuffing I had a Guck all carbon snuffer scoop on a homemade pole. We put the scoop as close to the bridle as possible. Sailed it for a season with all kinds of trouble durng douses. Tried all the usual tricks (adding sections to the sail loops to spread out the douse line patches; tons of sail lube, etc etc). We finally solved it by moving the scoop 1-1.5 ft forward along the pole. It all came down to the distance from the tack to the first patch. Sail should be entering the snuffer BEFORE the tack is pulled towards the snuffer. This makes for a smoother entry without a big blob of cloth forming before entry. With the scoop at the bridles, the blob of cloth would form before anything had started into the scoop. Big difference in effort need to snuff.

Mike.