Climb mast - no ropes!

[ovidiunelu]

Does anybody know it something as the crampons for telephone climbing exist on mast version? It should have rubber instead of the nail for pol and will be making the climbing very ease.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by ovidiunelu

Does anybody know it something as the crampons for telephone climbing exist on mast version? It should have rubber instead of the nail for pol and will be making the climbing very ease.

I can imagine u-shaped rubber coated attachments for boots that would grip the mast when downward pressure is applied (like those things that hold up garden implements on a wall) but would release when lifted up. Next you'd have to have a loop from your waist that will securely grab the mast if you start to fall... that one I am not so sure of.. and then there is the issue of going past the spreaders, something linemen don't have to deal with. I'd want to have some huge inflated heavy duty pillow below on the deck if I was going to try that.

[StoneCrab]

There are mast steps that can be hauled up the track with the main halyard. Mast steps are 2 inch wide nylon straps with foot hold loops alternating sides, allowing you to climb up like you are on a ladder. This is a "no ropes" alternative.


Old school is the fold out steps that are permanently attached to the mast. These are probably the only truly rope free way of going up a mast but you'd be taking your life in your hands if you didn't use a halyard as a safety device.


There are also the ascender based devices which allow you to climb a rope while sitting in a boson chair. You pull with your arms and push with your feet, advancing the ascender and your butt up the halyard.

There are also block and tackle arrangements to hoist yourself up the mast. Both of these require ropes.

[waterman46]

I think your method might be do-able, but never without an experienced person backing you up with a halyard on a winch.

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by redneckrob

My rigger had something that snapped into the mast track that he used to abseil up without using a halyard somehow. Haven't been able to find the commercial product, maybe he made it on his own? It was pretty slick, he was a one man show and was up and down in a minute and was able to get up to well above eye level with the top of the mast

Maybe call and ask your rigger what he was using?
That'd be great info for some here.
SV Cloud Duster

[MicHughV]

this would be a good time to consider installing mast steps...as you install them.....up you go....then they would still be in place, next time you decide to remove the halyards....

I have installed them on my first boat....I actually rather liked having them, as when working thru' a reef, you can climb up for a better view....I had them all installed in a day...

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

this would be a good time to consider installing mast steps...as you install them.....up you go....then they would still be in place, next time you decide to remove the halyards....

I have installed them on my first boat....I actually rather liked having them, as when working thru' a reef, you can climb up for a better view....I had them all installed in a day...

Mast steps are worth the trouble to install.
Only advise is to use the folding steps.
The sails can and do foul on the steps that stick out from the sides.
Especially lite sails during a tack.
SV Cloud Duster

[MicHughV]

All my halyards were external, I'd have to cast my eye up the mast to make sure they were never entangled in the steps, but by and large, can't say I ever had a problem with them. If the halyards were entangled, A simply flip would shake them loose.

Same for the jib/genny, as they'd have to clear the forward lower shrouds in a tack, so never had an issue with the steps getting tangled up in the sail, clew or sheet line.

I rather liked having them, and would shimmy up them routinely.....sometimes just for fun...occasional had to change a bulb in the masthead tricolor, etc...mind you, this was in my younger days.....I don't see myself shimmying up anything these days.

But to get back to the OP's problem, mast steps do provide a solution. Other solutions as previously outlined will also work.

I once saw a guy being lifted by a drystack forklift machine....these devices that lift small powerboats out of the water, with the long fork lift arms. Might be a liability issue for the drystack operator though. I think the steps provide a simple, but also long term solution.

[ChrisJHC]

Originally Posted by jim King

My first thought was with the one reply that suggested getting a buddy with a larger boat to come alongside and have the smallest crew go up his mast in a bosuns chair. Put several fenders between your boats and then connect the two masts with a line. Tighten the line to bring the two masts together and then have the man at the top drop a messenger line down your mast with a small weight attached. You can pull the weighted messenger line out from the base of your mast and then attach your halyard to it from the top. pull the messenger line from the base until you have retrieved the halyard.

I’ve used this method and it is very easy.
You just have to be nice to your neighbours!

[RaymondR]

Not going to read all the posts to see if someones already suggested it but the last time I had this problem I rafted-up alongside another boat with mast steps then used a piece of rope to pull the stepless mast top over to me, on the stepped mast, and re-threaded the halyards.

[lyl]

https://youtu.be/UaGugoJjQdA?t=579

[SVSOLITAIRE]

Nothing to see here

[lyl]

I retimed it. Give it another shot.

[DocBrauer]

If you have angle mast steps as shown above by Stone Crab you can fix it so your lines will not get tangled. I have those steps on my boat. I drilled a small hole near end in top side and threaded a small diameter line through for prevention. Now has been there for 15 years with no problems.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by lyl

https://youtu.be/UaGugoJjQdA?t=579

Can't really count how many ways that is dumb - almost too scary to watch. At least he could have had another halyard in a loop around his body and kept taught on a winch by the young lady.