Truck (rigging)

For other uses, see Truck (disambiguation).

A truck is a wooden ball, disk, or bun-shaped cap at the top of a mast, with holes in it through which flag halyards are passed.^[1] Trucks are also used on wooden flagpoles, to prevent them from splitting.^{[citation needed]}

Without a masthead truck, water could easily seep into the circular growth rings of a wooden mast. However, the grain in the truck is perpendicular to that of the mast, allowing the water to run off it.^{[citation needed]}

Flagpoles

Flagpoles often have a truck on top of them which often holds a decorative piece above, known as a finial, which is usually a ball. They are usually made of solid metal, however a tradition in the United States is to sometimes put a razor, a penny, or a grain of rice inside.^[2]

References

1. Harold A. Underhill (1946). Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier. Brown, Son and Ferguson. ISBN 0-85174-173-8.
2. Milzarski, Eric (2018-05-15). "This is what is actually inside the top of the flag pole". We Are The Mighty. Retrieved 2023-06-22.