Fall protection when climbing a stepped mast

[EarlWer]

or you could do this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoZK...orianPopaFails

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by er9

... as kids when we were six and seven years old me and my brothers would regularly climb 80ft pine trees for fun. parents cant get away with letting their kids do those things these days but it taught me how to climb properly if im going to do it with steps, so hopefully would avoid any injuries or a fall....

I'm fully into climbing (went rock climbing this morning at the local crag for a few hours), but...


... Those pine trees weren't whipping around in the breeze and waves. You need to expect to get whipped off underway and have a harness (not chest type--OSHA and UIAA banned these decades ago after too many fatalities) that will accommodate this.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by rgranger

This does not directly apply to your situation but it is close enough that it might be useful. I take care of four different houses (large family) and I have done the roofing myself on all of them. I wear a harness tied to a rope that goes over the opposite side of the house and is tied to 150lbs of sand bags. The rope is just long enough to let me get to the edge of the opposite roof line. If I slip, I will still fall... but it will be a very slow fall. My thinking is that I'd rather slow fall than dangle.

I have a mast that I can easily lower (Hunter 26) so I don't climb my mast but I've imagined that if I ever needed to, I would simply tie the halyard to a sandbag or other weighted counter... hoist it up the mast using the winch then tie the end in my hand to the harness. If you were to fall, it would be a slow motion fall... and you won't be left dangling.

I thought I might try the same thing, but after consideration, I realized that it would be dangerous to hoist such a heavy weight up over my head. What would you use for the weight? It must be totally failure proof. No lead weights in a canvas bag - what happens if the straps fail? And you have to clip onto the line after raising the weight, when the weight is already on that line, then release it carefully. Do the reverse before lowering the weight or you'll make a hole in the deck if you don't kill yourself.

And the weight could become entangled in spreaders or other rigging, leaving you hanging.

[rossdv8]

I'm curious about this thread.



Obviously with folding mast steps, a climbing system should not be needed. Only a Falling system (well, falling prevention).



I only lived aboard baby boats. My mast on my last yacht was only 31 feet and my antenna was about a foot from the top. I had no steps, so climbing was a whole other story, and the 26 foot yacht was anchored and swinging with the tide, so I'd hate to think how far I was moving at the top in a gentle swell.


Anyway, to make a long story longer, I needed to repair the antenna and had to make two trips up and down the mast.
In my Emergency Services days we did a lot of vertical rescue training which included abseiling. The training involved abseiling down grain silos (no foot holds). And we did not have someone handling the other end of the rope at the bottom.


While double braid halyard is not as safe as climbing rope, I have towed very heavy vehicles with discarded (worn) yacht lines. So I bought a couple of decent carabiners and whacked on my storm harness and worked out how to climb a smooth aluminium pole. I don;t have a bolt rope on the main so it was easy to have a couple of loops for my feet to climb and a couple of wider loops that clipped to my harness keeping me close to the mast as I climbed, and holding me there when I arrived.


Designing the climbing loops that fed through above the sail slugs and trying to be sure I could not get my whole feet through them was a whole other form of entertainment.



So at the top I did my business (well, it felt like I was about to a few times) and removed the antenna, then easing a wider loop through the gap to the next slug down I lowered myself one slug gap at a time, removing the loop above and feeding it into the loop below the one I had arrived at, then easing the halyard through the carabiner another foot.


I realised I had tools, but not the new antenna with me about 5 foot from the top of the mast! So I had to do the whole exercise twice.


With mast steps and a decent safety harness, it should be fairly safe. I used the harness I got for moving about the deck in waves over a couple of metres (but had always forgotten t0 wear until I realised I was in waves over 2 metres and the harness was below, at the other end of the boat).



If you haven't abseiled, check a YouTube video. You can brake or lock the descent really easily, and you probably don;t weigh more than 100kg (a couple of hundred pounds) so a double braid halyard is unlikely to break under your weight.


I certainly wouldn't want to do it too often, but it worked and because I am comfortable abseiling, it was not overly scary. I would NEVER try this with a BOLT ROPE mainsail though.


I expect a few replies saying how foolish I was (plain STUPID might be more accurate) but I had been up masts before trusting myself to a bosun's chair (a hastily made plank with some old rope) hauled up using a spare halyard by less than sober crewmates when I was miles out at sea in a race aboard a bigger boat. So I have done sillier things.

And oddly, I felt safer with stuff in my own control, except for the worry of my feet going through the climbing loops and me ending up upside down, half way up a mast hanging by my footsies.

[GbmChanty]

I've climbed with two acenders, one on a foot loop and one on the harness, maybe a little less elaborate than yours. For an additional safety line I tie a prussic loop around a different halyard back to the harness. You have to pull it up and down as you move but if you fall it will grip the halyard. I tested it a few feet above the deck.

[Icarus]

I wear a harness and clip in when on top while I sit or stand up in my Mast climber gear.

I am not worried about falling after all when abseiling a mountain cliff you only have one 10mm rope with a breaking strain of 1.5 tons so my 85 kg surely wont snap the halyard

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by EarlWer

or you could do this...

That's even better..

[Traumerei]

Originally Posted by Wideocean7

Hi All.

There have been many posts about mast-climbing systems and methods but I can't find one that answers my topic.

I have some jobs to do with the VHF aerial and anemometer and fortunately I have fold-away steps to the top of the 50ft mast. That's my climbing system and all steps are rock-solid. I'll be solo and am hunting around for fall protection (not climbing assistance), using the main halyard and possibly also the topping lift as protection lines.

One device I've read about is the Petzl Grigri. I will be focussing on holding onto the steps to climb and descend so wonder if this device will follow me up without adjustment? Any ideas on this or suggestions of other devices? I don't feel confident enough to rely on friction knots such as Kleimheist/Prussic.

Whilst I'm on the subject, does anyone have experience of using this harness (Razorback Treehog)? It's a hybrid between a climbing harness and bosun's chair, which I like as there's sort of a seat when working aloft for a while. It's been recommended/tested in some sailing sites. Please feel free to make other suggestions.

Attachment 226995


Cheers

Any soft climbing harness will prove an asset. The one you mentioned (Razorback Treehog) is excellent but pricey. Spinlock makes a similar harness for less.

A friend gave me one of my most cherished pieces of safety equipment that I never go up the mast without. It’s a Gibbs free running ascender. Tethered on a short line attached to your harness then attached to a clear running halyard to the top of your mast, it’s simple you use with one had and provides the safety redundancy to go up the mast.

With the addition of the Gibbs, a friend can hoist me up the mast and a third person is not required to take tension on a safety line. With mast steps you could go up and down by yourself.

https://www.rocknrescue.com/product/...p=109585003901

[Bill_Giles]

I am not keen on mast climbing although one does get used to it. There has been a lot of good advice here but there is one thing that I would add. Don’t rely on a shackle or soft eye on the end of the ascending line, tie a bowline onto the eye on the harness then clip the shackle on somewhere else. My most recent mast visit was with a bosun’s chair and is uncomfortable, although handy with pockets for tools etc. I think I might look for an new harness suggested in the other posts.

I always ascend with someone winching the main halyard and using another line as safety attached to my lifejacket which is also a harness. This is also bulky so a secondary harness is needed. A friend also used his lifejacket as a secondary fail-safe, as he arrived at the top of the mast the thing went off, so he could not do the job he went up for. He also said that it frightened the s..t out of him.

[er9]

Originally Posted by thinwater

I'm fully into climbing (went rock climbing this morning at the local crag for a few hours), but...


... Those pine trees weren't whipping around in the breeze and waves. You need to expect to get whipped off underway and have a harness (not chest type--OSHA and UIAA banned these decades ago after too many fatalities) that will accommodate this.

good point.

[Fdattwell]

I have a double purchase system , for 50 foot mast you ll need aprox 150 ‘ of rope , 2 blocks with ratchet system then you attach it to main halyard , it’s great to work alone .

[Wideocean7]

Originally Posted by jrau18

I think you're overthinking this. You say you aren't finding the info you need for how to ascend the mast safely with steps built into your mast, but I would suggest you have. The steps are just a convenient means up ascending quickly. They do not replace a safety harness, etc. You should follow whatever method you would feel comfortable using if you had no steps, then use the steps to make it all faster/easier.

Jrau - I wasn't asking about a climbing method. I know what that is. My post was enquiring about fall protection.

With some great guidance from this forum (and thanks again for that), I have opted for a rope grab which I've bought from the US. I chose it because it caters for rope dia 8-13mm so I can work from the main halyard or topping lift. If anyone's interested, it's an Xinda rope-grab Protecta. I'll use a prusik as back up 'till I have full confidence in the rope-grab.

Cheers

[waterman46]

If you use any type of yacht halyard braid with an ascender or other gear that grabs the line, be sure it doesn't damage the line or worse, get hung up by pulling out a single strand from the braid. I could not use my ascenders with any halyard and had to buy a second hand mountain climbing rope. Very smooth and finegrained outer braid, never hangs up when passing through opened ascender jaws.

Just as important, the climbing lines are very stretchy, which is what you want if it's going to brake your fall. You can get used ones in like-new condition, since rock climbers need all 200' to be pristine and will sell if there is one worn spot, where we only need 60' of good length.