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Old 20-08-2010, 20:41   #16
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ATN Top Climber ATN Mastclimber. A comfortable seat with rope ascenders gets me up the mast in minutes. Don't need anyone else around around to do it. I've probably been up my most more than 30 times with the ATN Top Climber.
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Old 20-08-2010, 23:34   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by svcambria View Post
Not really - it takes three tapped holes to mount a step, but the holes don't stay open, they are filled with stainless steel screws so there is no remaining gap, just a solid extrusion again. Coat the screws with lanacote, tuff-gel, or loc-tite so they won't sieze...

Michael
Don't think SS screws is the best solution, given an alu spar. Monel rivets is by far better. SS screws cause galvanic corrosion on the alloy.

Play it safe!
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Old 21-08-2010, 00:49   #18
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Has anyone used a climbing rig for Mast work?

Such as the Black Diamond Harnesses? The only downfall I can think of is a case of numb-butt, however some of the chairs I have seen look so poorly constructed I wouldnt think of slipping into them.

Maybe I am paranoid but in my mind it makes more sense to trust a dedicated and proven harness company rather than a marine company that just happens to also make Boson Chairs.
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Old 21-08-2010, 00:57   #19
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My mast is 40+ years old. The hardware is/was all mounted with SS machine screws probably without any antiseize compound. I've managed to remove almost all those machine screws and the threads are still good in the mast. Otherwise, no appreciable deterioration of the alumininum mast from galvanic corrosion with the stainless fastenerss. I feel safe using SS fasteners tapped into the mast especially if you use an insulator like TefGel, Lanocote, etc.

The only fasteners I haven't been able to remove are those that go through one aluminum winch pad or aluminum cleats. These have a lot of area exposed to the SS. Most of the length of the fasteners against the aluminum is not threaded but, without an anti-seize coating, they have corroded themselves in place. I was able to cut into two pieces and then easily unscrew them from the mast. The one winch pad that I couldn't get the fasteners out of, I just left in place. It's kind of funny that I was easily able to get fasteners out of the winch pad on the Port side but not the one on Stbd of the mast.

Monel rivets may be fine but I don't have a lot of faith in pop rivets, no matter what they are made out of.
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Old 21-08-2010, 06:59   #20
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Patient,
The climbing harness I have is the black diamond "big gun". Very comfortable but leans you back some when you go to work on the mast. This is due to where all climbing harnesses hook into the climbing rope. Get a carabiener or two to connect to other lines or get a daisey chain to wrap around you and the mast to keep you more upright.
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Old 21-08-2010, 07:46   #21
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Iceman...was gonna say that..you guys can save five hundred bucks just by learning the prussik hitch...or any of dozens of other climbing hitches and rigging it right...just don't ever get into an argument with a cliber about which knot is better...trust me..the ford/chevy thing is nothing..
LOL.

Prussik? MUNTER!!! (J/K).

Seriously though, I've always trusted prussiks over ascenders. There's a reason why mechanical ascenders aren't used as safety devices on technical rescues.....(or shouldn't be, some teams are techno-hookers).
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Old 21-08-2010, 09:06   #22
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I'm always amazed that it can be dead calm and flat seas at the foot of the mast but blowing like stink and wallowing gunnel to gunnel at the top. Anyone else have this problem?
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Old 21-08-2010, 12:15   #23
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Anyone else have this problem?
Yes. I'll blame it on that. I used to be able to scamper up the top of a 65 footers mast.... now I get wobbly kneed after the first spreader.....
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Old 21-08-2010, 14:38   #24
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Quote:
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now I get wobbly kneed after the first spreader.....

Like having a pair of spreaders too many?
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Old 21-08-2010, 15:08   #25
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there was a story a few years ago where a crewman was taken up the mast on a megayacht. As he ascended, his weight was less than the halyard on the other side of the mast and he began to accelerate upward and was killed at the top of the mast. Hard to believe that the down side halyard weighed more than him; must have been a very tall mast.
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Old 21-08-2010, 17:01   #26
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Zopi and Healer52,
I've never heard of a Prusik knot. I just looked it up to see what it is. Looks pretty cool but it also says that sometimes it will not release or untie when you want to come down. Uh oh. It seems to be an emergency knot. I did learn something else while up there. Put your glasses keepers on the ear pieces. The spreader rope for the bosuns chair ripped them off of my face. Down they went toward the deck and at the last second, veered off and came down on the inflatable. Talk about luck. Won't be a next time on that.
WD
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Old 23-08-2010, 18:38   #27
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I use a combination, I've got a mechanical ascender, but I don't really use is as a dynamic climber, I use a hitch, with a follower block, and foot straps, slide the ascender up, hang on it, inchworm the hitch up the line, stand in the foot strap, lather, rinse repeat..

I may experiment at some point with an icicle hitch on the spar itself...more likely two or three of them...have to do some exhaustive dead load testing on that mess though.
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Old 23-08-2010, 19:14   #28
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Quote:
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Today I climbed the mast and performed my first job. Scary!!! It took me around 2 hours to accomplish this feat.(of which I'll compaire to doing a job on the outside of the space station ) 25 feet doesn't seem very high. Until you are on the other end of that 25 foot mark. And that still is a ways from being halfway up. Went up 2 other times for practice but didn't like how the bosens chair fit so I made a spreader for it and is now much more comfortable to sit and work in. Not much of a accomplishment for you seasoned cruisers but for someone like me who poops through feathers, it's up there.
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Hi,

I did the inevitable and necessary first for everything trip up mast last week.
Dad and I were having a little leisure sail after i need help docking for head pumo-out. going along nicley at 6.1knots and then FLUNK! boom drops and main starts to flounder. Hey that isn't good. Luckily I am mature and resisted using the f word I mean if there was an english equivalent i would have used it-even in front of Dad. So we head into wind slightly and drop and strap her down. Continue on genny for another half hour. We get back to slip and the wind has increased making an easy choice to save the climb for another day. So last week we do it. Had totake down furled genny(tape small tear anyway)My Dad is 70 and I was worried about the strain even with winch of him cranking my 206lbs up to the heavens(okay my feet only had to go above spreaders half of 33 ft mast). He has complained lately about arthritic feelings in hands, so I knew I had to pull myself in bosun chair as much as I could. He handed me the boat hook-I knew I was glad he was there-my friends wouldn't have suggested anything. Retrieved the main halyard with ease and brought it down. Next job-on the way back down was to attach burgee line with pulley. That went smooth and now my son believes a real pirate must have boarded and put it there. He says I could reach it but I told him it is 15 feet high and we dont have a ladder!.He didn't ask about the club burgee above it.
So going aloft will be like riding the bike. Let's just hope it isn't windy.

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Old 23-08-2010, 20:02   #29
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Zopi,
I have an ascender for the right and left hand with the steps and daisy chain. Stand in the left and push up the right hand ascender, sit in the harness and raise the left one. Repeat. But as I'm getting older, it's getting tougher. Not to mention that just the shadow of my butt must weigh another 50 lbs.
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Old 23-08-2010, 20:41   #30
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Two ascenders (cost about $120) work really well but can kind of chew up your lines. Two prusik hitches (cost about $4) attached to your harness and a loop running down off of each one to step in work fine but not as fast as ascenders. Zopi's system sounds about right. Ascenders do pop off. An ascender and a Grigri will get you up quickly and then you can lower off with the Grigri.

We lost our inner halyard the other day and everything was calm so I soloed the mast maybe 20ft up and that was enough air for me. I snatched the halyard and got the hell out of there.

I don't understand why you would crank someone up the mast when you can fix the line and ascend it all by yourself?
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