Climbing the mast. Anything I've forgotten?

[WestWittering]

Try not to eat a full english breakfast 10 minutes before you winch someone up a really tall mast! Agree some sound signals as to keep looking up (are you nearly there yet?) can be demoralising for the wincher…..

Di

 

[Daydream believer]

I keep hearing this, but don't see why.

A friend of mine was asked to go aloft on a boat. The others sat him in the bosuns chair & pulled him up
When he came down he took his weight on his legs & the pin fell out of the shackle.
He went ballistic but the others just laughed. They had forgotten to tighten the shackle only doing it finger tight but it only just engaged in the thread

 

[nimbusgb]

Try not to eat a full english breakfast 10 minutes before you winch someone up a really tall mast! Agree some sound signals as to keep looking up (are you nearly there yet?) can be demoralising for the wincher…..

Di

We have a pair of walkie talkies that are so much easier than shouting!

 

[NUTMEG]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. Roll on Friday, hope it's not too windy!!

 

[nigelmercier]

No good reason as long as the shackle is appropriate. I think most of it comes because of the number of snap shackles found on boats, it really wouldn't be sensible to go up on one of those.

I don't see a problem providing it is secured. I use a cable tie.

 

[Graham_Wright]

We have a pair of walkie talkies that are so much easier than shouting!

……… likewise and the one aloft is voice switched although sometimes wind noise confuses it.

 

[fergie_mac66]

check winch mount fixings it has been known fro the winch to go up the mast!

 

[NUTMEG]

check winch mount fixings it has been known fro the winch to go up the mast!

Thanks. Something else to worry about!

 

[savageseadog]

Done lots. Forget the bosun's chair use the harness only, they tend to force you into a sitting position and it can be difficult to work on the mast head. Suggest he takes a couple of climbers tape loops to use as foot loops to stand in. Fasten to the harness to halyard tie off or something at or near the top of the mast. It will enable him to stand up and work as well as relieving the harness pressure. The trailing line for hoisting bits is essential. Try to have a lanyard on all tools and a roll of tape and some string to hold bits.

 

[GrahamD]

I made a mast climbing device similar to the one in this video.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tLoG0Zg8yOo

I use it with a climbing harness tiedto the main halliard. It runs up a length of abseiling rope tied to the topping lift, pulled to the top of the mast and tied off. Once the device is threaded onto the standing rope, the rope is tensioned using a halliard winch. This is critical to relatively easy climbing.

The system works well, although I have had to replace the cleat as I initially fitted one which wore badly with the abseil rope running through it. The cleat needs to have metal cams or hardened teeth if using abseil rope

 

[Woodlouse]

……… likewise and the one aloft is voice switched although sometimes wind noise confuses it.

That's fancy. Even the riggers I worked for didn't have that sort of set up.

 

[Storyline]

If the anchor winch is electric, be aware that this is usually not advised. The supposed risk is of the control button or relay sticking on and the winch either pulling the climber into somewhere he doesn't want to be, or breaking the halyard or some other gear. Personally I reckon the risk of the winch running away is minimal and the mitigation if it did happen is to surge the line on the drum until the power can be turned off, but ever since a lady lost her fingers a few years ago by sticking them into a runaway electric sheet winch, the consensus against hoisting by power has hardened.

Pete

Take your point about the windlass failing but what about me failing if I was trying to winch swmbo up the mast using a mast winch !
Going to continue to use the powered capstan, it was a revelation the first and only time we used it last season. If, heaven forbid it did 'stick' on, then I could just let the line slip on the drum and lower her to the safety halyard and then go and switch it off.

 

[Graham_Wright]

Take your point about the windlass failing but what about me failing if I was trying to winch swmbo up the mast using a mast winch !
Going to continue to use the powered capstan, it was a revelation the first and only time we used it last season. If, heaven forbid it did 'stick' on, then I could just let the line slip on the drum and lower her to the safety halyard and then go and switch it off.

NEVER, EVER SAY JUST.

Have you tried to let go of your drill trigger when it binds and tries to twist your arm off?

Is there no clutch on the mast? That is what we use.

At exhibitions, we have too many tales of power winching. "I use the anchor winch, - look" he said, pointing to his missing finger.

 

[Storyline]

NEVER, EVER SAY JUST.

Have you tried to let go of your drill trigger when it binds and tries to twist your arm off?

Is there no clutch on the mast? That is what we use.

At exhibitions, we have too many tales of power winching. "I use the anchor winch, - look" he said, pointing to his missing finger.

Yes, take your point but during the process of using the capstan my brain was completely engaged in what I was doing. Even spent quite a few minutes whilst swmbo was harnesssd up so I could get in the zone and focused. I still think the system I used was on balance a lot safer than using a manual winch with someone tailing. Am no spring chicken these days and think that the manual effort of alternatives would take up 'brain space' and as such are not as safe. Should i be a gym toned muscular young man I might feel differently.

 

[Woodlouse]

NEVER, EVER SAY JUST.

Have you tried to let go of your drill trigger when it binds and tries to twist your arm off?

Is there no clutch on the mast? That is what we use.

At exhibitions, we have too many tales of power winching. "I use the anchor winch, - look" he said, pointing to his missing finger.

I've never had nor seen any problems with taking people up masts with powered winches. As long as you concentrate and understand the potential problems then nothing should be disastrous. You might be able to get manually winched or haul yourself up to the top of a 50 foot mast but try doing that up a 150 foot rig. I don't see why what is necessary for big rigs shouldn't also be equally applicable for small ones.

 

[PITCAIRN]

Electrics and motors go wrong and sods Law dictates they go wrong just when you dont want them to - I would never ever go up a mast using the Windlass/capstan.
A manual winch is the way to go, with 4+ turns on the winch even if you, the Main winch man 'failed', your crew mate is hardly likely to drop like a stone and anyway thats why there is a backup halyard attached to the person up the mast... on a totally separate harness, with another person on another winch 'following' as the mast man is taken up on the Main halyard. And dont forget the safety halyard crewman has the second halyard wrapped around their body i.e. not passing the halyard only through their hands, that way they can instantly break and arrest any fall, the strain being taken first at their winch and thereafter across all of their upper body, not just skinny little fingers.
Yes its all bit of a performance but you don't get any second chances from 60' up.

The problem of working on the top surface of the masthead is a real one since as has been pointed out, the bosuns chair will stop short by a good meter + as the halyard reaches the sheeves. I bought a pair of stirrups (yes as in riding a horse stirrups) and have them attached to webbing straps and I take them up with me. When I get to the top of the mast I attach the webbing straps to fixed points and can stand up on the stirrups to work on top of the masthead (it takes a bit of trial and error to sort out the exact system for your boat as the back/fore stays start to get in the way of your efforts. I now have a helmet which I wear after forever banging my head on something on the way up or down.
You definitely need a bucket lift for taking items up to you.
Find a system that works for you and then most importantly dry run practice it all with the crew before your full ascent. I get the crew to take me up 2 meters and then do a mock 'fail' on the Main halyard.

 

[Storyline]

Food for thought on this thread re electric winch mast climbing.
Thinking about it, what happens if you get a riding turn if the winch did stick on ?
Actually, does not bear thinking about .....
Time for a re-think ?
Anyone else got any thoughts ?

 

[Woodlouse]

Food for thought on this thread re electric winch mast climbing.
Thinking about it, what happens if you get a riding turn if the winch did stick on ?
Actually, does not bear thinking about .....
Time for a re-think ?
Anyone else got any thoughts ?

Lots of if's there. It's very hard to get a riding turn on a powered winch since the lead onto the drum is generally well worked out so only gross mismanagement would allow it to happen. If you're so worried about about buttons sticking then have a person ready next to the breaker to kill the power. Powered winches are used to haul people up rigs every day in the superyacht industry and accidents are so rare as to be unheard of.

 

[Storyline]

Lots of if's there. It's very hard to get a riding turn on a powered winch since the lead onto the drum is generally well worked out so only gross mismanagement would allow it to happen. If you're so worried about about buttons sticking then have a person ready next to the breaker to kill the power. Powered winches are used to haul people up rigs every day in the superyacht industry and accidents are so rare as to be unheard of.

Earlier in the thread I was convinced the winch was, on balance, the safest way but am now having second thoughts. At the very least I will dismantle the remote up/down switch and copper grease/service it before the next time. Might also rig up a way of being able to disable the power from my position on the foredeck. Usually sail with just the two of us so a person at the circuit breaker is not often a possibility.

 

[Woodlouse]

Earlier in the thread I was convinced the winch was, on balance, the safest way but am now having second thoughts. At the very least I will dismantle the remote up/down switch and copper grease/service it before the next time. Might also rig up a way of being able to disable the power from my position on the foredeck. Usually sail with just the two of us so a person at the circuit breaker is not often a possibility.

Unless your winch buttons have already proven to be troublesome then I really wouldn't worry about it.