Lone mast climbing?

Hi Pablo - see http://www.baselinemarine.com/mw/mastwalker.html for folding mast steps. There are many variations on that theme.

There is also a sort of 'upside down' abesail device that lets you 'walk' up a halyard.

Young, fit folk who have spent far too much time sailing just shin up the mast and shrouds.

I should prefer a stair lift these days. Might have a bit too much windage though.

Jeff
 
I use a Topclimber for most of the work. I have mast steps to the first spreaders though, but I find them difficult to work from.

I have used the Topclimber at sea too ..... but it's not to be recommended due to the pinches and bruises sustained when swinging into the mast, stays and the rest ...
 
I use a mast ladder from George Deffee which has slides to fit the mainsail slot, together with a petzl ascender and climbing harness as a safety backup.
 
TradewindSailor said:
I use a Topclimber for most of the work. I have mast steps to the first spreaders though, but I find them difficult to work from.

I have used the Topclimber at sea too ..... but it's not to be recommended due to the pinches and bruises sustained when swinging into the mast, stays and the rest ...
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+1 for topclimber. i bought one after they were reviewed in PBO or YM (i forget which) and gave a try last weekend. it works well, but my experience is to put the main halyard down the mast right up against it and anchor securely to the bottom and tension hard. Then when you climb you can wrap your legs around the mast that helps reduce the 100kgs of flailing human being battered against the mast syndrome.
 
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I have done the shin up style recently but as i am now near my first half decade I also find hoisting a pulley to the top and attaching one end of the fall to a sit harness and the other to my hands (and a lock off point on the harness) means I can pull myself up hand over hand because I am only lifting half my weight. :)
 
I just use a pair of blocks (tied to the main halyard) and another pair and a cam cleat on the bosuns chair at my waist. I add another fall of rope for each decade of my age. I have ~75m of 12mm rope just for the purpose. Any less than 12mm you can't grip and any more won't go through my blocks. The main thing to watch is twist in the rope - lay it out first and coil it up carefully. I have a pair of fold out steps 1.2m from the very top to work from. I still use a spare halyard as a safety line and tie it off every few meters (top is 16.3 above the water).
(My preference is an experienced/trustworthy crew at my electric windlass - 45 seconds bottom to top - if you're insane).

Andrew
 
Andrew G said:
................(My preference is an experienced/trustworthy crew at my electric windlass - 45 seconds bottom to top - if you're insane).

Andrew
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Just don't let them use it in self tailing mode. That caused a horrible accident some time ago in which two people lost hands or fingers. The use of the electric winch is safe if the operator tails the rope by hand. I go up that way, with an additional safety line. The reason for hand tailing the rope is that going up you can get an instant stop just by letting go, whilst the clutch holds the load. In self tailing mode the winch can overrun and jam the halyard knot into the masthead sheave.
 
Andrew G said:
(My preference is an experienced/trustworthy crew at my electric windlass - 45 seconds bottom to top - if you're insane).

Andrew
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You need to be worse than insane - you need to be prepared to lose bits of your body. At demos and exhibitions we have heard too many tragic tales of electrically powered ascent accidents and seen a few examples of truncated body members. DON'T DO IT!
 
I use prusik knots (loops). Make sure you have checked the halyard for chafe at the mast head where it goes through the sheave. I carry a spare strop that can be wrapped around any parts of the rigging as a safety when you stop to do some work. It needs to be what ever you understand and are happy with, the prusik can be made up quickly with spare line as a back up if you loose or break a climbing aid system.
 
Andrew G said:
I just use a pair of blocks (tied to the main halyard) and another pair and a cam cleat on the bosuns chair at my waist. I add another fall of rope for each decade of my age. I have ~75m of 12mm rope just for the purpose. Any less than 12mm you can't grip and any more won't go through my blocks. The main thing to watch is twist in the rope - lay it out first and coil it up carefully. I have a pair of fold out steps 1.2m from the very top to work from. I still use a spare halyard as a safety line and tie it off every few meters (top is 16.3 above the water).
(My preference is an experienced/trustworthy crew at my electric windlass - 45 seconds bottom to top - if you're insane).

Andrew
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+1 or alternatively wait until alongside and use an ordinary domestic ladder, hoisted on the main halyard, perhaps with break whilst you waited on the spreader base, and overhauled the ladder up again.
 
I was contemplating going up the mast on the colvic but because of the amount of jobs to do I decided to make a gin pole and lower the mast. Glad I did as I have just about every thing to replace. Took three hours to make it err and a few cups of tea to plan it, but now we have the option to lower the mast any time
cheers
mick
 
I found a topclimber useful and effective but as Puggy says above do not lead the ascent rope to the toe rail as the video shows. I take mine through a block at the bottom of the mast and then to the toe rail and then via another block to a sheet winch. No matter how hard you tension the line you will always sag backwards as you climb and need to pull yourself forward before going up the next 'push' with your legs. Plus side is that I'm afraid of heights but felt totally secure in the top climber harness. I didn't do it single handed though I had a friend on a spare halyard as a safety line. THe secure harness was the selling point for me but the mastaclimba combined with a climbing harness would probably be just as secure although the cost for the two combined might be more than the topclimber.
 
PabloPicasso said:
How do single handed sailors safely climb their masts when needs be?
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I use PETZL caving SRT ascenders and descenders. Have a look at caving srt videos in you tube.
(SRT = single rope technique).

One thing you should be aware of is that use of ascenders can wreck 'soft' halyards- I always pull up a 'hard' caving rope on an existing halyard and ascend on that.
 
I use a pair of Petzl ascenders though if buying again would use one ascender and one chest clipped ascender(forget its name)but these days they are pricy £40 each and you shouldnt really use them for going down the rope as the cams are designed to lock against the rope as you load it and clipping them loose and sliding them down creates a possible loss of grip.
 
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