best way for a 300lb guy to climb the mast?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by chovy

BOat would be a Hunter 37 Legend. Not sure about weight I wondered about a 300lb dangling from the top of the mast if the mast could even support me. I don't mind hiring a nimble guy to do the work at bay but my concern is if I'm out on the ocean and a halyard breaks or something.

Of course it will hold you, by a hg margin

[barnakiel]

A power winch and double halyard.


But why not you at the winch and somebody small and light in the chair? That's the way we do it here. Big guy grinds, small guy goes uup!


b.

[hpeer]

Perhaps he is single handing? Or the Wife is adverse to heights?

I was 240 (now 200) and as I said before I got mast steps just for the reasons you state.

I took a standard fall protection harness (Lowes or Home Depot) lie roofers wear and added big D rings. I also have a couple of short tethers, I use 2. I scramble up the mast with one tether on and around the mast. I open a step and put the tether over the step, this would limit any fall.

At spreaders I put the second tether around the mast and over the spreader so that I am always on at least one tether. Our air draft is about 63’. I have had the “privilege” of climbing the mast numerous times, it seems about once a year on average, sometimes a lot more. Not aways going all the way up, but enough to use the rig.

Use these folding steps.

https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Dog-32803...45829100&psc=1

There are others that capture your foot, but I dont think they would provide the fall restraint I am looking for.

The only problem I have ever had is that sometimes they jam in the folded position and you need to wack them with something more than your hand to free them.

IMHO and for my sailing profile they are mandatory kit.

PS:
Defender has some nylon ones rated at 310 pounds. I don't see a rating on the SS or AL types.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by chovy

BOat would be a Hunter 37 Legend. Not sure about weight I wondered about a 300lb dangling from the top of the mast if the mast could even support me. I don't mind hiring a nimble guy to do the work at bay but my concern is if I'm out on the ocean and a halyard breaks or something.

If the boat in underway, even more reason to have a nimble guy. Been there, done that. The mast will be swinging. You will need to brace yourself of shrouds. You really need a certain strength to weight ratio. Depending on the angle of heel, a 300-pound mass at the masthead is also an appreciable fraction of the righting moment, though you would probably not go up when she is leaning 25 degrees. Did that once, to clear a halyard wrap.



This is why you have extra halyards. Most cruisers would not climb offshore for any reason. They would try very hard to work around it.

[hpeer]

+2 for extra halyards. Our boat had the sheaves but nothing else. So I put in 2 spare halyards. Use those suckers for all kinds of things.

[psk125]

We had friends who used a power winch to hoist someone up their mast. A few seconds' focus on the hoistee instead of the winch led to a wrap that took more than half an hour to undo safely. Beware of power winches.