Granny Bars?

[Terra Nova]

Mast pulpit. Very useful. Keep 'em.

"Granny bars" is a cute name for granola bars.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Sorry, but they are only fife rails if they have belaying pins for belaying the halyards.

Not even close!

The term 'fife-rail' is first recorded after 1721 (no precise date of publication given in the first printed work using the term) and the works using the term from 1721 to the late 1880s just regard them as rails on the quarter deck (but also around the poop deck) of warships.

And the only reference to the origin of the term is that the ship's fifer sat on the fife-rail to play a tune while the foredeck crew worked the capstan to weigh anchor.

The use of 'fife-rail' for a rail holding belaying pins and acting as a temporary attachment for running rigging is a later development.

I have trouble imaging a fifer sitting on a rail with several belaying pins!

Check your Merriam-Webster or your OED: both give the two usages with the older (rail around the bulwarks of the quarterdeck) first and the newer usage (rail to which running rigging is belayed) second.

Al

[Jim Cate]

I have trouble imaging a fifer sitting on a rail with several belaying pins!

Well, it would help keep him in place if the ship was rolling a lot! Might be uncomfortable, but hey, those were iron men!

Jim

[Rustic Charm]

I'm a grand dad. just thought I'd clarify that first.

Well, regardless of what they are called I'd like them. There is a boat on the slip next to mine and he's got them and they look wonderful. I've almost come a croppa several times so far whilst at the mast. A cheaper alternative than running all the lines back to the cockpit, which I intend to do one day.

[cpa]

I really like them.

[El Pinguino]

When you start doing 'granny gybes' its probably time to fit 'granny bars'.

[barnakiel]

I love them. Had them on a couple of bigger boats sailed.

Our own boat to small to mount them but if we ever go for a bigger ship, I will have them too.

b.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

Not even close!

The term 'fife-rail' is first recorded after 1721 (no precise date of publication given in the first printed work using the term) and the works using the term from 1721 to the late 1880s just regard them as rails on the quarter deck (but also around the poop deck) of warships.

And the only reference to the origin of the term is that the ship's fifer sat on the fife-rail to play a tune while the foredeck crew worked the capstan to weigh anchor.

The use of 'fife-rail' for a rail holding belaying pins and acting as a temporary attachment for running rigging is a later development.

I have trouble imaging a fifer sitting on a rail with several belaying pins!

Check your Merriam-Webster or your OED: both give the two usages with the older (rail around the bulwarks of the quarterdeck) first and the newer usage (rail to which running rigging is belayed) second.

Al

As with all things nautical.. there seem to be various meanings. From Wiki:
"
When surrounding a mast, a fife rail is sometimes referred to specifically by the name of the mast with which it is associated: the main fife rail surrounds the main mast; the mizzen fife rail surrounds the mizzen mast, etc. It is one of a dozen or so types of "rails" often found on such ships.[1] Fife rails are typically horizontal strips of either wood or iron and are joined and fitted to the tops of a series of stanchions. The term apparently derives from the location where the ship's fifer would sit and play his fife at heaving of the ship's anchor.[2]


A fife rail surrounding a ship's mast will contain a series of belaying pins corresponding to the sails on that mast which they belay. A mast will either have a single horseshoe-shaped fife rail surround the base of the mast on the fore, starboard, and port sides, a single straight rail directly before or directly behind the mast, or a set of two fife rails, one on each side (fore and aft) of the mast.
Each sail associated with a given fife rail will have several corresponding belaying pins set into that rail.
Although a fife rail is a kind of pin rail, the term "pin rail" is often used to specifically denote those rails containing belaying pins that are attached to the hull. Unlike these, fife rails are freestanding"

[onestepcsy37]

We call it a "leaning post" and I'm glad I have it. Moved the halyards back to the mast where God intended them to be, use it to secure lines and gear, stow a small rolled up inflatable between the mast and the post. AND, its one of the anchor points for my jackline, which gets it off the deck and at an easier to use height.

[Terra Nova]

This is what we call a leaning post.

[onestepcsy37]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

This is what we call a leaning post.

Thats why I call mine a leaning post. Its something to lean against while I'm working at the mast. But I dont have, and wouldnt want, the padding.

[Steadman Uhlich]

I like them. I Would want them on bigger boats or boats where more time is needed at the mast while underway.

I think the proper name is "mast pulpit" on modern boats, without the belaying pins. That is what I call them.

Some designs have two pulpits, one for each side of the mast.

Other designs have a single wraparound pulpit that is U shaped.

[onestepcsy37]

Mast pulpit sounds more correct. Mine is only on the stbd side where all my lines except the jib halyard are located. And with roller furling jib that line doesnt get used much.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Here is another example.

[Terra Nova]

Those "belaying pins" would tend to be line catchers.