How Do You Climb the Mast ??

[Tomahawk]

I use a Pretzl accender and "grigri" together with a climbing harness. I go up by putting the grigri on the belt loop of the climbing harness and putting an Accender with foot loops about head height.. I ratchet up on the accender and grigri ... Then take the accender off the rope for the decent which I control with the grigri which then acts as a decender.. That way I can do it by myself.. But I much prefer to have my wife at the bottom with a secondary rope for safety..

[svHannabel]

I detailed my mast climbing method here in this blog post: http://www.sailfarlivefree.com/2011/...latitudes.html

[Me-and-Boo]

I bought a Top Climber which uses a static line. I will be ordering one very soon. Which shackles would be best to use with it? Would the halyard end use a different shackle than the deck end? In one of the video the user clipped a shackle the base of a stanchion, I could not make out the shackle he used though.

[ovrmyhead]

I pray, sweat, shake profusely and if you stuck a lump of coal up my a$$ I could bring you down a diamond... that's probably not what you meant eh?

[roverhi]

Use a static line if you must with your TopClimber but you don't need to. As long as you have a free end of a halyard, you can use that. I'd probably want a shackle with a 1/4" pin just to be doubly safe. Imagine smaller would work though.

[roverhi]

A Top Climber on Ebay: Bosun's Chair ATN Top Climber | eBay

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

For you and everyone else with the ATN, I thought you had to have a permanent line rigged and not just use a halyard? Not sure if I have a spare line that goes all the way up that I could always keep dedicated.

If your halyards don't fit the cams in the ATN then use a halyard to hoist a line of proper size. The whole lot stays in the bag ready to go.

[Andrew G]

I've installed two fold out mast steps (one each side) about 4' from the top of mast so that, however you get there, you can stand safely (and comfortably) and even service the pulley that got you up there. Handy to service items on the very top of the mast.
Always maintain a load on the bosun's chair and tie yourself around the mast as well as to its top. Andrew

[Timsh]

I am currently dealing with a situation where a bosuns chair won't work. Both halyards are seized in their sheaves and the only way I could think of to fix them was to either climb up there or pull the mast. I took 2x4's and cut them to 12" pieces, drilled two holes in each 7" apart and used bolts to sandwich them around the mast. Now I can go up and down as I please to get things fixed (using a safety rope atound the mast of course). I got the sheaves all taken apart and am waiting for all the new Garhauer stuff to replace them with. I think I'll put a new wind vane and light while I'm up there. If I had working halyards a bosuns chair would be my first choice.

[cruisingdog]

Guys, I have a question as I need to ascend my mast soon. On my boat the jib is a roller furled jib and it has been hard anchored at the top of the mast. The jib halyard is still connected but is at the top of the mast. It was used to hoist up the jib and then just locked off.

So this leaves me with just the main Halyard (and maybe a topping lift - need to check).

What I want to do is jumar my way up the main halyard but realistically I would like a backup. Any suggestions for backing it up ????

And once I get up there I will take my spare rope and drop it down in the mast so that I always have a backup!

TIA.

[susswein]

I think the easiest backup would be a prussik around the mast.

If it were me, I would just "bounce test" the main halyard and then just go for it without a backup, but that's just me.

[Jd1]

Originally Posted by cruisingdog

Guys, I have a question as I need to ascend my mast soon. On my boat the jib is a roller furled jib and it has been hard anchored at the top of the mast. The jib halyard is still connected but is at the top of the mast. It was used to hoist up the jib and then just locked off.

So this leaves me with just the main Halyard (and maybe a topping lift - need to check).

What I want to do is jumar my way up the main halyard but realistically I would like a backup. Any suggestions for backing it up ????

And once I get up there I will take my spare rope and drop it down in the mast so that I always have a backup!

TIA.

I am not exacly sure what you mean by 'hard anchored' but I have never seen a jib that was set up in a way where you couldn't lower it. Bring the jib and the attached halyard down and there is your backup.
I believe that taking two or three wraps around the mast with a line and attaching that as a backup should work. Obviously try it out just above the deck before you depend on it up high.

[Tomahawk]

I have a Petzl fall arrester.
I think it is called a stop.. It attaches to the safety rope and slides up and down whilst you are climbing/decending under control.

If you fall, it locks within about a foot or so.

[cruisingdog]

Ok, so as far as climbing is concerned I get that stuff as I am a climber.

Firstly, prussiking the mast is not a smart move. A prussik knot depends on friction between the 2 ropes. Ie the prussik and the climbing rope. Bad idea. A mast is smooth and the prussik will slide down it. Whatever you do, DO NOT prussik the mast as a back-up.

Now to answer you about the jib halyard. It looks like there is a spindle at the top where the roller furled jib is anchored to the masthead. The jib halyard is tied into the anchor. I will verify this but this is my understanding from the guy who installed it - but he can't remember exactly what he did (he's the co-owner of the boat and did this job when the boat wasn't ours!!).

Anyway guys, I really appreciate your advice. I'm really wanting to make an ascent where there is redundancy as there should be in all climbing systems where there are unknowns (like an old-ish halyard!). Top ropes are OK because the ropes are known to be good.

Here's what I'm thinking of doing. Jumaring (lefty and righty) up the main and using a grigri as a backup on a second rope (might use an ATC with a autoblock so that can rappel down quickly since Grigris aren't meant for rapelling). Will probably use a fifi hook at the top to keep me stable whilst I do the work at the masthead.

[Tomahawk]

Cruisingdog...

I am no climber ... so I am not understanding your terminology

What is prussic and prussing?
Jumaring?
ATC?
Rapelling?



One bit of advice I can offer to a climber is to make fast the bitter end of the halyard by using a bargemans hitch round the winch.. It is not that I don't trust clutches... but it is my body going up the stick..

For other advice, I use an ascender with a long pair of foot loops and a grigri for goung up. I have found that I get better control and balance if I pass the line from the foot loops to the ascender through the climbing harness. That way you affectively anchor your effort close to your CoG.

Using two foot loops allows you to use your feet to guide yourself close to the stick whilst going up.. Tnink about mast rake and the effect of your weight at the top of the rig. I can also stand on the foot loops to give myself the extra few inches right at the top if I need to do anything to the lights Etc.

To come down I remove the ascender and use the Grigri as a decender clutch.. The STOP on a separate rope is the backup.. You need to hang a bucket full of water on the safety line so the STOP can work...