Mast Ladder

[carstenb]

Anyone ever try one of these? a roll up mast ladder that has slides that fit into your sailtrack and the ladder is hauled up using your mainsail halyard.

It looks fairly simple and should work.

practical experience anyone??

Kinleven Marine

carsten

[HappyMdRSailor]

I commented on similar before being something akin to the impossible carnival ladder, but those don't have track slides...

This being the case, it looks like it is a super product... IF we find out from a user that it's not crazy wiggly !

I'll wait with you C...

[Badsanta]

I've used the mast climber several times. It goes up the track with foot loops off set on either side insted of the style you showed. Mine works well. I clumb it with a waist belt around the mast and also use an mountaineer asender on a separate halyard and move it up as I go. If you slip you can't fall more than a few inches and the belt keeps you close to the mast. I felt very safe. I'm sure your style will work fine, but use backup safty lines. On another note you have to remove the sail from the track to use this. So if your sail gets stuck you cant use this. I would run a new halyard to this mast ladder and keep it in the bag with this. You don't want to put your life on a 5 year old sun soaked halyard.

[JPA Cate]

Carsten,

Folding mast steps. Use heat shrink at the hinges so they don't rattle. Then, if you come to the South Pacific, it will be easy, when entering coral atolls to climb to the spreaders for better visibility into the water. This is one use the take-the-sail-out-of-the-track-first steps just don't meet. Our Insatiable (the first) had them to the spreaders, and we liked them a lot, it helps you con the boat in. [For work at the masthead, a matched pair, so you can look down on the mast crane really helps.] The additional height of eye really helps, because the water is clear enough to see into, and at first, you don't really get what you're seeing means, but it's more obvious for the eyes aloft.

Ann

[roverhi]

Probably work fine if you can live with dropping the mainsail slugs out of the mast track and limited to climbing on the backside of the mast.

Personally have a Mast Climber. It's a lot more versatile and you climb with your chair. Nice seat when you get up there and want to work. Bit pricey but quick set up, not having to wait for someone to help winch me up the mast and ability to swing out to spreader ends or around mast has been invaluable. ATN Mastclimber | Single Handed Bosun Chair | Climbing the Mast You can assemble your own out of mountain climbing gear if you have the time and inclination.

[exMaggieDrum]

Looks like they might work. All the other comments are good. I really like the kind bolted to the mast but there are pros and cons to all of the.

The one concern that you may want to address is whether the ladder will tend to rotate in the direction of the step when you put your foot and then your weight in to it. There is almost always a force added on the horizontal plane when you lean back from the ladder, so that the ladder will attempt to rotate around its vertical center. The more you lean back the worse it would be. It is very difficult to keep your upper body close to a vertical ladder. It would be completely impossible with a flexible ladder with an incline to it, i.e. not straight up and down. You would spin to where the step was at its lowest point towards gravity.