Going up the mast (solo) and what to expect at the top...

[NormanS]

As I have said before, I use mast steps, a bosun's chair, and a single halyard for making fast, once in position. As Poey50 points out, if your halyards have extra length, they can easily be checked for integrity before use. Failing that, it is easy to add on a length of mouse line, so that the normally hidden part can be examined. I actually dislike using a second halyard as a "safety" line, as there is then the risk of the deckhand getting muddled with all these bits of line.
When drilling into a mast, or indeed any conduit with cables, ropes etc, always put a piece of e.g. plastic tube on the drill bit, so that the drill bit can only just penetrate the thickness of the material.

 

[Poey50]

When drilling into a mast, or indeed any conduit with cables, ropes etc, always put a piece of e.g. plastic tube on the drill bit, so that the drill bit can only just penetrate the thickness of the material.

Top tip, thanks.

 

[dom]

On my boat I find that once I raise the sail the halyard inside the mast comes out at the bottom of the mast. Anyone wanting to use neglected old halyards is well advised not to use them without backup and preferably not at all.

Again misleading; while the "neglected" label sounds bad, it is meaningless when trying to compare two different activities using very different ropes. Halyards/topping lifts, etc., can be perfectly well maintained for their intended application, but still conceal hidden dangers for climbing/caving applications: stress, jammer damage, compression, etc.

Basically, the tried and tested safety-line system should be retained in the vast majority of applications. There are exceptions such as where running rig is subject to a strict use/replacement regime, but in practice these are confined to high-end racing applications.

 

[Poey50]

Errrrrr .... it doesn't matter how long my main 2:1 halyard is. Inspection of the top 10 metres is not possible until I'm hanging on it. :ambivalence:

Same issue with replacement.

Richard

I beg you Richard, please don't climb your main halyard without backup.

 

[RichardS]

I beg you Richard, please don't climb your main halyard without backup.

See post #93.

Richard

 

[dom]

I tie a separate static line (which us kept permanently threaded through my MastaClimba in a dry environment) to the halyard which has to be brought right down to the deck for that, and thus the sheave wear points are exposed and can be examined.

The problem with all this is the general paucity of available halyards. I have in mast furling which means the main cannot be used. However, I also have a substantial topping lift and a trysail halyard. Others with a string topping lift and no spare halyards abaft the mast can resort to halyards before the mast but only for safety lines.

You can climb the forrad side with the benefit of the rest points;- radar reflector, radar dome, steaming light et al

Lots of good points here - as ever - and BTW is that separate static line climbing rope or low stretch?

Quick point re halyards in front of the mast: in climbing applications the severity of the fall is not necessarily a function of fall length, for the longer the rope the more energy it can absorb. As you have previously noted, this does not apply to low-stretch sailing ropes. One therefore has to be careful when using halyards, etc. in fractionally rigged boats where they exit the mast well below the top.

 

[Daydream believer]

I actually dislike using a second halyard as a "safety" line, as there is then the risk of the deckhand getting muddled with all these bits of line.

If they are so stupid that they cannot tell the difference between 2 lengths of line, then one might question giving them the job in the first place.

 

[Graham_Wright]

Lots of good points here - as ever - and BTW is that separate static line climbing rope or low stretch?[/QUOT

Prestretched.

 

[NormanS]

If they are so stupid that they cannot tell the difference between 2 lengths of line, then one might question giving them the job in the first place.

There's no law against stupidity. Actually, there would be at three lengths of line, as there's the one for the bucket of tools, and maybe even another, if an aerial/wind genny/radar/light etc was being handled. I prefer to keep it as simple as possible. What eventuality is the "safety" rope supposed to guard against? And could the same eventuality not strike the "safety" rope just as easily?
Yours,
Devil's Advocate.

 

[rogerthebodger]

My approach is the same as NormanS climbing folding steps with a bosun's chair, and a single halyard for making fast, once in position. I also have a safety strap attached to my bosun's chair around the mast.

If I slip on the steps climbing up the bosun's chair will stop me falling. If all my weight is on the chair and the halyard breaks the strap around the mast will stop me falling.

Who climbs a ladder with a safety line. I could a have climbed to my lower spreaders without the chair by always have at least 3 points of contact.

I could add another safety line but how far do you go.

 

[Daydream believer]

Who climbs a ladder with a safety line. .

Do you have any idea how many accidents at work there are from people falling from ladders?
perhaps a forumite with H & S background might like to comment

 

[doug748]

I use one of these:

https://kinlevenmarine.com/yacht-mast-ladder/

Very nicely made product. Just sayin.

 

[Seajet]

Daydream Believer,

at Hawkers / BAe, I often had to take photographs of the hangar roofs from on top and below, also the Harrier and Hawk production lines from high up in a cherry picker or vertical Genie Lift - these were quipment owned and maintained by our own Works Engineering Dept so to a good standard.

Then one time some contractors refurbished the inner structure of a hangar, we had to close it off with aircraft and our people removed.

One day a contractor was in their own cherry picker at full height and extension - and a stabiliser arm proved to be corroded, it folded and he was thrown out smack into the concrete floor, head first - and of course hard hats were useless for that.

He was a big guy and thrashed around screaming, it took several of our firemen to restrain him as our nurses did what they could.

This was just before lunchtime, but nobody was very hungry with this poor bloke screaming audible from the canteen !

He survived, but to what standard I don't know - but it reinforced my respect for working at heights.

 

[NormanS]

I have great respect for heights. Indeed in a former working life I was frequently in a situation where if I had fallen, it would have been a drop of 2000 feet. You learn to take precautions, and to operate safely. It doesn't mean that you encumber yourself with lots of "feel good" equipment. By all means, use a safe halyard, but I see no advantage in using two safe halyards.

 

[patrigo]

I have been trying not to succumb to this for months, but have to get it off my chest.
A better, but more lonely, view than the one you had from the deck.

 

[Poey50]

I have been trying not to succumb to this for months, but have to get it off my chest.
A better, but more lonely, view than the one you had from the deck.

Feeling better now?