Brain Buster- How to use a bosuns chair to reach the end of a cantilevered beam?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

You are in an area where you don't know people, so this may not work easily. But on a day with mild winds, you can do all this work from the deck of a friend's boat. The challenge is to make a "new friend" that will let you do the work from his deck.

Or, you might have better luck paying a lobsterman to use his boat as work service. He may be less worried about tools and hardware and trips around on his deck. He would probably charge you, but far less than the cost of lifting the mast ashore and back. Find a day he's not working, and he'd probably love the $100!

Two shore side places that you might be able to make work.

The first is a little far from where you are, but Old Saybrook on the Connecticut River has a very nice town dock that you could dangle your mast over to work from the dock.

Closer to you is the harbor of refuge at Point Judith. You could probably anchor with your mast a reasonable distance from the breakwater and stand on the breakwater. Only on nice days!

Dutch Harbor Boatyard on the other side of Conanicut Island looks to have some fairly angular piers with few boats tied up and not a lot of water. I'm specifically looking at the smaller structure on the end of the point, not their main dock. You might be able to arrange a tie up that has your mast laying over a dock area. They also seem to be a very small yard that might be more open to diy. As an aside, they have sailboats on the hard and no visible travel lift. They may very well use a hydraulic trailer or even an old-timey marine railway. They could be much more accommodating to lifting your beam than many yards.

Depending on how long you need, you really don't need a proper marina. Especially with your draft, you might be able to make do at a public boat ramp with a dock, or a smaller Yacht club that might be agreeable to having you do the work there.

Now THIS is a good post. Thank you. I will take a look at these options.

And that’s exactly why I’m staying put where I am actually. Because I know somebody that has a boat. A barge crane. And I’m going to see if we can use it to raise the mast.
Doing the stupid stuff like putting on an anchor light isn’t a big deal. I don’t know why everyone is making it into a big deal.

[Chotu]

I looked at Dutch harbor but did not contact them because it didn’t look like they had the ability to do anything but upon closer inspection they have a marine railway. So I am looking closely. Asking them about everything.

I’m pretty familiar with the harbor of refuge and that scares me lol. That sounds like I’m going to damage the boat. But I will take a look at old Saybrook

[Chotu]

Is this the place you were talking about in old Saybrook?

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Now THIS is a good post. Thank you. I will take a look at these options.



And that’s exactly why I’m staying put where I am actually. Because I know somebody that has a boat. A barge crane. And I’m going to see if we can use it to raise the mast.

Doing the stupid stuff like putting on an anchor light isn’t a big deal. I don’t know why everyone is making it into a big deal.

Awesome suggestion regarding asking a work boat with high superstructure to help you for a few hours.

You’ve done boat work before - nothing is as simple as it should be. Depending on what your mast already has and what you want to put up there, you need to accurately position, drill and tap x number of holes for the various items:
- windex
- wind instrument
- VHF/AIS antenna
- anchor light or tricolour/anchor light

You also need for the list above to lead 3 wires through the conduit of your mast. You need mouse lines for each wire and all the rest.

Relatively straightforward sure, but simple and a few minutes work, no.

[Lee Jerry]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Yet you didn’t post a single location. What marinas are they? You posted nothing.

I posted what you posted - pictures of anonymous marinas.

You posted marinas that cannot accommodate your boat (or at least appear so).

I posted two marinas that (appear) can accommodate you. (I stopped looking at two.)

Edit: I think I know what marina is in the first picture. That’s a Safe Harbor formally New England boat Works. Three month wait.

Yes, Safe Harbour NEB.

Second picture could be a good one. But you didn’t mention where it is. Or the name. Or anything. Why not?

See above.

Watch Hill Boat Yard. I know nothing about them, except that they're in Watch Hill, RI.

Originally Posted by Chotu

The latest:

“Unfortunately, we are so busy right now we are not taking any more projects on until the winter months.
I would suggest perhaps trying a smaller boatyard who is looking for some work. I know that NEB is currently booked solid as well.
Not sure if there are smaller yards in the Fall River, New Bedford or Fairhaven area which might have more flexibility.
Sorry we couldn't help with this project. Sounds like a very exciting one!”

So are you talking about a "project" requiring their help for several weeks or do you just need a crane for a few hours? IIRC, you're a bit all over the place (I'm not looking back at the thread). What are you telling them? If the former, then I can see the issue w.r.t. scheduling, but if the latter, I would think someone should be able to fit you in for a half day of the crane (but maybe not).

[Chotu]

Marina number 22:

“ The boat is to wide to fit in our lift slip.”

Then I pressed the bulkhead idea…

“ Our crane is on the travel lift and we have no additional bulkheading for a crane to approach the boat.”

Several others have not responded at all, including the one in Jamestown.

I’ll add the one in watch hill to the list but this is all getting rather stupid at this point.

If I had put as much time into doing the work as I have calling marinas, I would be done already.

[wingssail]

Well Chotu, I've read this thread carefully a couple of times, and each of us has our own way of doing things, but, based on my experience, there is no way I would work on my mast while suspended on any lines or rigging. I would only work on it if I could stand there (and walk away for a different tool, etc). (although I have worked aloft, I replaced my standing rigging in Tonga, hundreds of miles from a boat yard or crane. It was not fun but doable).

No matter how hard it is to find, what I would focus on is getting the mast on stands.

Maybe standing on a boat superstructure or some land you could get next to would be OK.

I also think shifting the mast so that you can reach the end of it while standing on your own boat would be possible (after all the Easter Islanders moved and raised up their Moia without cranes).

Just don't get angry with us for not accepting your self imposed constraints. We do read, but maybe we don't fully accept all the things you pose as limitations or impossibilities. We are free to think.

Good luck, I know, from following your work so far, that you will solve this. In your own way.

Fred

In my case I had to hire a crane and he had to lift my mast and move it 40' to a place where I could work on it, then come back later and put it back. (and I had to teach him about moving masts. And putting it back he was at the end of his horizontal limit and almost tipped over, we had to carry the mast closer, but we did it.)

That work, though, was one of my most enjoyable boat projects ever. I cherished that time in my life.

[wingssail]

I want to add, Chotu, that I think you can build and install the standing rigging while the mast is down. The lengths can be calculated with some simple math, and turnbuckles will allow several inches of adjustment.

[s/v Jedi]

A floating crane is fine, or just a barge with a mobile crane. Even an excavator with a boom attachment on a barge would work.

Salvagers all have these. When one anchors, you can tie up and do it all. Put your mast on the barge to work on, then step it.

[s/v 'Ale kai]

I see 4 possible solutions (in order of preference):
1) Motor or sail your boat to a dock high enough at low tide to reach out and deal with the cantilevered mast at eye level. You say you're in the Northeast. If there's not harbor with a dock like that within 100 nm, you must be in an isolated part of Greenland. Try one of the next two suggestions.

2) You didn't mention the size of your boat. If the keel is less than 500 lbs, and your dock is at sea level, borrow the winch on a boat on the other side of the gangway. Winch your main halyard down, tilting your boat until you bring your cantilevered mast to eye level. If your keel is to heavy for that, try the next solution.
3) Side tie your boat to another that has a mast as tall as, or taller than your cantilevered mast. Use your bosun chair to go up your friend's mast until you can reach out and deal with your cantilevered mast head. (Install a block for the future). If you have no friends nor are anchored anywhere near any other boats, go to plan 4.

4) Practice throwing a weighted line and pitch it over the end of the cantilevered mast. Once on, you can either pull the rigging to you on the dock/shore if it's light enough, or pull yourself up with your bosun's chair. (Note: learning to throw a weighted line with accuracy is one of the top skills to learn for sailing - right up there with tying knots).

Suggestion: Once you get access to the mast, install a block on the end and run a line back to the main mast so you don't have to do this again.

[dfelsent]

I don’t know about availability but marblehead trading company, and fj dion in Salem have cranes and docks that could work. Both yards pull rigs with separate cranes. Trading company pulls boats and rigs with the same building mounted crane. Dions pulls rigs at the dock then moves the boats into the pit for the travel lift.
There are some commercial yards in Fairhaven that if available could certainly do the job. Fairhaven shipyard for one

[AKA-None]

Just a note
Often we would use a floating barge when we needed to work under something that was unreachable from shore similar to using someone else’s boat concept
I wonder if close by there is a working yard has something similar nearby?

Just tossing ideas out there for the work doesn’t fix the issue with stepping the mast but does move this part of the work

[bobnlesley]

The first thing i find myself asking is why you'd want/need a fixed 20' beam sticking out from the side of a yacht's mast? Do you not forsee any problems in hoisting sails?

Originally Posted by Chotu

... I was hoping to do it sitting in a chair somehow. Using sophisticated rope setups that maybe rock climbers know or some technique I’m not aware of....

There are no end of alternatives once you have a spare rope out to the end of i#that beam, so I and i suspect most other rock climbers would first reassure ourselves as to how structurally sound your beam looks to be and if it passes that test, harness-up, shimmy out to the end, fix a suitable rope(s) and bring it back to the mast. Once you've got your breath back and had a beer, you can secure a bosun's chair or for preference the climbing harness and shuffle back and forth to your heart's content.

[Chotu]

If this thread is a train on some tracks, it looks like it has unexpectedly hit a switch set the wrong way. A couple wheels have jumped the track. Lol

All advice and suggestions are being taken into account, however. At least the advice that’s applicable to the situation.

Marina #23 said maybe, so that’s a big surprise today. There is some hope. Waiting to hear back from thei crane operator.

Meanwhile, after my lady friend comes out for the week, I will get back to this one by just going to the end of the mast and getting to work while waiting.

[notoldbilbo]

I'll contribute my tuppence worth from the sunrise side of The Pond. Much depends on the mental picture one gleans from Chotu's #1 and #3. I picture, from the pencil sketch, an essentially horizontal spar with 'obstructions', and presume it is fixed sufficiently such that Chotu's weight on the end won't tip it down.

I draw on 2 decades of rock-climbing ( last century ) and 4 decades of working often at height with ropes, slings, harnesses - and I still have all my fingers! It seems to me that what Chotu seeks to do is quite standard in the arborists' world, so I will take his thought of using a 'pair of slings' and expand that a bit to utilise THREE slings plus his Bosuns Chair. ( I'd prefer to use a proper Fall Arrest/arborists/climbers/foredeck grunt's body harness 'cos there's less of a chance of falling out of it )

The idea is that he makes up his THREE slings - each as a loop - around the accessible base of the spar. He ensures his Bosuns Chair is secured to the Middle Sling/loop which is temporarily adjusted short so that, seated, the spar is about shoulder height or lower. We'll call that the Chair Sling.

The other two loop/slings we'll call the Forward and the Rear Foot Slings, 'cos he'll pass them between his thighs, round outside each leg, and he'll put a foot in the bottom of each loop/sling.
These are adjusted such that he can stand up a few inches using them, raising his ( what d'you call it in The States? ) butt/ass/fundament off the Bosuns Chair sufficiently loose for that Chair Sling to be lifted over the obstructions to the far side.

He then sits back down into his Bosuns Chair - weight on the Chair Sling again - and advances his Forward Sling about an arm's reach. He stands up, moves his Chair Sling forward, sits down again..... and so on....
In this way he progresses ponderously but safely secured, to the business end.... where he discovers, as do all 'prentice riggers, he's forgotten something ( but, having read Brion Toss's ebook 'Falling' he's craftily brought with him a couple of messenger lines.... )

This process depends on making up then using three slings progressively AND being able easily to adjust their effective lengths while in progress. How does he do that?

The answer is to borrow a simple and well-proven rigging construction from the arborists' trade.... the Loopie Sling. This is not much known in yottie circles, but is a fundamental everyday ropework device in pro treework, both Yooropeen and Murricain. It is extremely easy to make up, requiring only a length of adequate hollowbraid ( times 3 ) and a suitable splicing fid. Have a Google Search at 'loopie sling vs whoopie sling' and e.g.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwXs3OQ1lo0

It's all there - just do a trial run.

Each Sling is formed in place around the base of the spar. That would take about 1 minute each. The Bosuns Chair is secured to the Chair Sling. Carabiners can help with that. So also can small 'soft shackles'.

Once Chotu has his three Slings in place, he'll find he can adjust the lengths to suit, unladen, in seconds.




Afterthot: The Slings could be made up in doublebraid or laid rope, but tying one end around the 'standing part' in a Prussik or similar friction knot. That's unlikely to be as secure as the 'chinese finger trap' effect used in the Loopie Sling construction.