DIY mast steps

[oakleyb]

I need to add some mast steps to my mast, i know people dont like them but having the ability to get up the mast is a must. Having looked on line i'm pretty sure i could make some myself using some of this http://www.metals4u.co.uk/aluminium/anodised-flat/products.asp?cat_id=2076. Has anyone any experience on making these ?

 

[rubbishman]

I need to add some mast steps to my mast, i know people dont like them but having the ability to get up the mast is a must. Having looked on line i'm pretty sure i could make some myself using some of this http://www.metals4u.co.uk/aluminium/anodised-flat/products.asp?cat_id=2076. Has anyone any experience on making these ?

I made mine from alloy checker plate.I got a metalwork shop to guillotine it jnto strips,then made a jig to get a bit of uniformity bend-wise.

 

[NormanS]

I made mine for my mizzen mast from 8mm round s/s. A "U" shaped base, with an angled stay, up from the tip of the U, and small stainless slightly curved feet to rivet them to the mast. While they are good and acceptable, when it came to the mainmast, I bought folding stainless ones.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

For my previous boat, Westerly Centaur, I had made my own out of stainless steel flat bar. A stirrup form was bent on a jig, welded to a stay that was bent to shape and the finished steps were popped to the mast with 5mm monel rivets and some of that yellow gooey stuff (Durolac?) From memory the bar was 12 x 1.5mm.

 

[Billba]

Some possible hints and advice here.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7JmKUcKTWY

 

[sarabande]

Puff, what was the rationale for putting the stay on top, please ?

My old boat had the support below the step. Physically, the loadings are the same figures, except your top rivets pull down and outwards, and mine pushed down and inwards.

Aesthetics, or is there a functionality I missed ( eeek !) when installing mine ?

 

[vyv_cox]

Puff, what was the rationale for putting the stay on top, please ?

I thought it was to prevent your foot from slipping off? If you were ever to go aloft at sea, pretty much essential I would have thought.

 

[NormanS]

Puff, what was the rationale for putting the stay on top, please ?

My old boat had the support below the step. Physically, the loadings are the same figures, except your top rivets pull down and outwards, and mine pushed down and inwards.

Aesthetics, or is there a functionality I missed ( eeek !) when installing mine ?

I reckoned that, from an engineering point of view, the stay in tension was better than a strut in compression. Also, and importantly, it prevents feet from sliding off. The bought folding ones have a little upstand for that, and also a serrated tread.

 

[sarabande]

I wondered that, Vyv, but on a gyrating mast I'd rather be able to stamp my foot down, using the mast as guide, and locate it positively on the tread, rather than trying to insert the boot as on a riding stirrup.


Pros and cons, or is there an outstanding safety or functional angle I have not considered ? Perhaps a top and bottom strap ?


I do note that the steps on BT telegraph poles (telegraph ? A different generation ) have the support underneath, and a very serrated top to the tread. I have a dozen or so in the shed somewhere from some very useful old BT poles.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

Sara, telegraph poles are normally very steady; on a mast that is usually moving from side to side, possibly even biased at an angle, I wanted something off which my foot would not slide sideways. I opted for a stay to serve this purpose. Another reason is that, given the reduced cross-section of the material that I wanted to use, I preferred to have the member in tension rather than in compression. The dimensions of the stirrup part were such that my deck shoes would fit well into the triangular space above each step.

They are still on the boat after some fifteen years and I do miss not having them on my present one... although, truth be told, I don't think that at 68 I could stay for much time working at the top of the mast. When I recently had to replace the masthead unit and the old tricolour it took the young rigger around two and a half hours to saw off the items and to install the new ones. At a cost of €90, rather him than me.

 

[Graham_Wright]

Puff, what was the rationale for putting the stay on top, please ?

An excellent reason for not putting the stay on top is safety. Remember the story about the poor chap who fell off and was left hanging by his feet until his ankles snapped?

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

An excellent reason for not putting the stay on top is safety. Remember the story about the poor chap who fell off and was left hanging by his feet until his ankles snapped?

Of course, the alternative would have been to plummet down onto his deck from aloft. Yes, I suppose that would have meant a quicker end... or worse, a survival with a broken spine.

Neither scenario would have happened had he had enough sense to wear a harness that was attached to a safety line while ascending or descending, or to the mast itself if he was working at the time.

 

[Graham_Wright]

Of course, the alternative would have been to plummet down onto his deck from aloft. Yes, I suppose that would have meant a quicker end...

I believe he did and died. Even with a harness on, it could have been nasty although he would have survived.

 

[NormanS]

Of course, the alternative would have been to plummet down onto his deck from aloft. Yes, I suppose that would have meant a quicker end... or worse, a survival with a broken spine.

Neither scenario would have happened had he had enough sense to wear a harness that was attached to a safety line while ascending or descending, or to the mast itself if he was working at the time.

+1. Perish the thought, but I think I may hear the sound of an axe being ground.

 

[prv]

Neither scenario would have happened had he had enough sense to wear a harness that was attached to a safety line while ascending or descending

If he'd been wearing a harness on a halyard, or an ascender on a static line, he would have been safe from the splatting-on-deck one but quite likely still susceptible to the broken-ankles option. There's a lot of stretch involved when a person's bodyweight comes onto the system, you don't just hang where you are.

(Not suggesting that the stays-on-top design is wrong, mind you. It's stronger, and 99.9% of the time a secure footing is desirable, not a risk.)

Pete

 

[NormanS]

If he'd been wearing a harness on a halyard, or an ascender on a static line, he would have been safe from the splatting-on-deck one but quite likely still susceptible to the broken-ankles option. There's a lot of stretch involved when a person's bodyweight comes onto the system, you don't just hang where you are.

(Not suggesting that the stays-on-top design is wrong, mind you. It's stronger, and 99.9% of the time a secure footing is desirable, not a risk.)

Pete

I've no wish to start an argument about this, but as a user of mast steps, I do have some first hand experience. When I go up my mast, using my steps, I either use a harness or a bosun's chair, depending on the expected duration of the job. Ascending, my wife constantly takes up the slack on the halyard on the winch, and once I am in the required position on the mast, she makes it fast. On descending, she allows the halyard to surge on the winch, as I pull it. Therefore at no time is there any slack on the halyard.

I am intrigued as to when my body weight is going to "come on to the system", and where the stretch that you mention, is going to come from.

 

[prv]

When I go up my mast, using my steps, I either use a harness or a bosun's chair, depending on the expected duration of the job. Ascending, my wife constantly takes up the slack on the halyard on the winch, and once I am in the required position on the mast, she makes it fast. On descending, she allows the halyard to surge on the winch, as I pull it. Therefore at no time is there any slack on the halyard.

If she's belaying you so tight that she's almost on the point of winching you up the mast, then you're correct, there would be no downward movement if you were to fall off. Otherwise, there will be, the degree depending on how much tension is being kept in the halyard. Mostly when people are belaying a self-propelled climber they don't take any significant load on the rope, just keep the slack out of it, because it's uncomfortable to have your full bodyweight in the harness the whole time.

I am intrigued as to when my body weight is going to "come on to the system",

When you fall off.

and where the stretch that you mention, is going to come from.

From 20 metres of braid-on-braid suddenly having 100kg applied to it.

Plus whatever straps, carabiners, etc on your person suddenly adopting a dead-straight vertical line rather than the gentle curves they may have previously been describing. Obviously this depends on exactly what rig you're using, but for example my full-body industrial harness would have the rope attachment level with the bottom of my sternum at rest, but more or less in front of my face when supporting me.

Pete

 

[NormanS]

If she's belaying you so tight that she's almost on the point of winching you up the mast, then you're correct, there would be no downward movement if you were to fall off. Otherwise, there will be, the degree depending on how much tension is being kept in the halyard. Mostly when people are belaying a self-propelled climber they don't take any significant load on the rope, just keep the slack out of it, because it's uncomfortable to have your full bodyweight in the harness the whole time.



When you fall off.



From 20 metres of braid-on-braid suddenly having 100kg applied to it.

Plus whatever straps, carabiners, etc on your person suddenly adopting a dead-straight vertical line rather than the gentle curves they may have previously been describing. Obviously this depends on exactly what rig you're using, but for example my full-body industrial harness would have the rope attachment level with the bottom of my sternum at rest, but more or less in front of my face when supporting me.

Pete

Mine doesn't work that way. I think my wife must value my life, 'cos she tends to keep it uncomfortably tight. Halyard is tight all the time, so there is no danger of my weight being suddenly applied to my non-stretch halyard.

 

[macd]

"From 20 metres of braid-on-braid suddenly having 100kg applied to it"

I doubt the stretch of a braid-on-braid halyard would amount to very much. It certainly doesn't when you bounce on one. In that respect a climbing analogy isn't particularly relevant (assuming the comparison would be with dynamic, rather than static climbing rope).

 

[lw395]

"From 20 metres of braid-on-braid suddenly having 100kg applied to it"

I doubt the stretch of a braid-on-braid halyard would amount to very much. It certainly doesn't when you bounce on one. In that respect a climbing analogy isn't particularly relevant (assuming the comparison would be with dynamic, rather than static climbing rope).

I have seen a surprising amount of stretch, few inches typical?
I think the stays on top design will be good for avoiding things catching on the little upstands on many steps.