Spinnaker Pole - i550 Sailboat

Recently I started rigging the spinnaker pole. I intend to basically copy the setup on Tokyo Trash Baby. Because the pole will articulate, I decided to build it out of aluminum rather than carbon fiber. A little heavier than carbon but I think it should be able to take a little more abuse than a carbon pole. First I cut the pole to length. Then I cut a small foam plug to fit tightly inside the pole and using a dowel, pushed that plug down inside the pole to approximately 1½ inches past the location at which I would later drill for the axle. I then clamped the pole upright and poured a slightly thickened mix of epoxy, cabosil and graphite powder into the pole to fill approximately three inches inside the pole where the axle will ride in order to make a bushing for the axle. After that cured, I drilled a 5/8 inch diameter hole through the pole and the poured "bushing" for the axle to go through. I intend to lash on a tack line pulley and port and starboard brace control pulleys on the outboard end of the pole. For that reason, I installed a dog bone across the outboard end of the pole to hold the lashings. The dog bone is just a short piece of ½ inch aluminum tube that I had left over from the hull bobstay fitting at the bow knuckle. In order to lock the dog bone in place and finish off the end of the pole, I cut another piece of foam to tightly fit inside the pole and pushed it down past the location at which the dog bone will be mounted. Then I poured a mix of cabosil, epoxy and graphite powder into the end of the pole around the dog bone to hold it in place. When that cured, I filed and sanded it smooth and coated it with thinned epoxy to give it a shine. The same process was used to make the other end of the pole except the fitting for the inboard end of the pole is just a stainless eye bolt stuck through the foam plug before it is inserted into the end of the pole. That plug/eyebolt contraption was then bonded in place by pouring a thickened mix of cabosil, epoxy and graphite powder so that the eye of the eyebolt just barely protrudes from the aft end of the pole. A little sanding and a final coat of epoxy makes it shine.