Mast Ascending options : recommendation needed

A

AlexKT7

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 Apr 2019
Messages
83
Visit site
Dear all, it has not been long until I realized it's about a time to go up the mast
:)
I looked at a few Mast Ascending options and can't decide what to get.

I have looked at

Force 4 Mast Ascending Grip Handles (Pair) | Force 4 Chandlery TOPCLIMBER® buy now | SVB
Force 4 Fibrelight Ladder | Force 4 Chandlery
Yacht Mast Ladder | Kinleven Marine

Still have not decided, can you please share your experience? something reliable but not very expansive. I liked Mast ladder MastL for climbing on a sailing yacht mast | eBay but not sure how safe it is.


thanks, Alex
 
Years ago I made something like the Ebay job and it worked fine and stowed very small but I had poly tube rungs to hold out the treads, without that, getting your footing is tricky esp in the upper reaches. You would need to be careful that the slides matched your mast.

The unsupported Force 4 effort looks a death trap.

The force 4 rig is based on Petzl type ascenders which are available for 40 quid each should you want to make up your own.

When it became too tough to use my own ladder I went for the Kinleven job. Pricey and stows quite large but extremely well made and presented to order, with your boat name embroidered on the bag so, to some extent, is a long term asset even when you come to sell the boat. Very pleased with it.

No mast climbing is easy. Ladders mean that your legs are bent outwards as you press upwards so if you have dodgy knees it will find them out.

.
 
I have the Yacht Mast Ladder type. Its very steady and durable; its made to order to fit your mast. I bought mine over 13 years ago. As with all mast ladders, none is perfect, they all have their limitations, but this is one of the betters designs.
 
I recommend a Topclimber. You sit in something like a bosun's chair and use your legs to power yourself up the mast in 30 - 60 cm stages. Major major advantage is that you can stop at any point and rest - if you're older and/or less fit, this is a big help.

I had a webbing ladder that fitted into the mast groove and found that (a) I struggled to get my feet into the steps and (b) I have no head for heights and felt very unsafe.

On the other hand, If you're a fit free-climber, then any solution will probably work.
 
AlexKT7 said:
Dear all, it has not been long until I realized it's about a time to go up the mast
:)
I looked at a few Mast Ascending options and can't decide what to get.

I have looked at

Force 4 Mast Ascending Grip Handles (Pair) | Force 4 Chandlery TOPCLIMBER® buy now | SVB
Force 4 Fibrelight Ladder | Force 4 Chandlery
Yacht Mast Ladder | Kinleven Marine

Still have not decided, can you please share your experience? something reliable but not very expansive. I liked Mast ladder MastL for climbing on a sailing yacht mast | eBay but not sure how safe it is.


thanks, Alex
Click to expand...
Alll of those products look expensive. I made my own ascenders using camcleats, lacing eyes and oblong pieces of 10mm ply. It cost me nothing ,as I had all the parts to hand, having won the camcleats many years ago on a Sailing Today crossword!
I used them for the first time just before the lockdown and found them quite effective.
I wouldn't fancy using the Force 4 Fibrelight product, it seems to just swing around rather than being secured to the mast slot as the Kinleven one is. Incidentally, in the photograph, the guy seems to have his safety harness attached to the bottom of the mast rather than to a halyard!
 
I decided to get a Kinleven mast ladder. I like the fact I can get higher than the top of the mast, and stand there looking down at the top whilst I work. I don't believe the bosun chairs allow this. It was about £300 for my boat, and I felt good value as I have been able to climb whenever I need to. I also feel very safe when climbing as the rungs are solid and fitted in the mainsail groove. I use a climbing harness on the spinnaker halyard, and hoist the ladder using the main halyard. I use a shorter length of rope to loop around the mast when I get to where I need to be, and can therefore lean back on that leaving both hands free.
 
Spirit (of Glenans) said:
Alll of those products look expensive. I made my own ascenders using camcleats, lacing eyes and oblong pieces of 10mm ply. It cost me nothing ,as I had all the parts to hand, having won the camcleats many years ago on a Sailing Today crossword!
I used them for the first time just before the lockdown and found them quite effective.
I wouldn't fancy using the Force 4 Fibrelight product, it seems to just swing around rather than being secured to the mast slot as the Kinleven one is. Incidentally, in the photograph, the guy seems to have his safety harness attached to the bottom of the mast rather than to a halyard!
Click to expand...
I have similar. It's great, but of course is not a solution for coming down.
But once they realise they're not required to winch me up the mast, friends are much more available to tend a safety line and lower me down.
I do have a descender I could use, but it's easier to just be lowered on a winch while having an ascender as a safety.

Don't do it on your own if you can possibly avoid it. The firsttime you get up there and have the wrong screwdriver you will think bribing someone to help is great value, and it is much safer with two or more, provided they both know what the other is doing.
 
The force 4 ascenders are expensive and you need a bosuns chair as well ( or better a climbing harness). I personaly prefer to use ascenders and a harness rather than ladders. Always useful to have at least two mast rungs at the top so you can work without swinging around! Fitting them could be your first job aloft!
 
+1 for Kinleven ladder, it's fun just to nip up the mast for the view. I bought a climbing harness which I attach to the topping halyard with a klemheist or prussik loop. When your safety is at stake and cost of lowering and restepping mast once is going to be over £200 it seemed a bargain to me.
 
The problem with a lot of climbing devices is what happens should you become incapacitated up the mast? Who gets you down? In an industrial situation, there is always a second climbing worker to effect a rescue.

If you're sailing singlehanded, then this is yet another of the risks you have to bear. But if a second person is available, then some system where they provide an unweighted safety 'top rope' through a clutch and winch and an independent climbing system, like a ladder that you would fall off cleanly, or a way of lowering the climbing system back down to deck level.

An awful lot of sailors are 'getting on in years' and not that fit, and thinking about what to do if they 'have a turn' is not unreasonable. I even see a lot of people who get winched aloft then secure themselves when they get to the mast head. I appreciate it 'feels more secure' but could make things far worse.

Working safely 'on the ropes' is a high skilled activity. Simply buying a pair of ascenders from the chandlery is just a very minor part of the deal.
 
You don't mention if you have access to a helper, but you should note that there are no truly safe ways to climb a mast on your own. If you become stuck, exhausted or incapacitated you will not be able to get yourself down safely.

You should try to have two independent things holding you up, neither of which is your arms so if climbing a ladder you would want two lines. You need to actually be attached via your harness/chair to both items, otherwise they don't count.

There are various options that allow you to ascend a fixed line, including diy solutions. These can work if paired with a helper taking in a safety line around a winch. It is helpful to tie off the fixed line at the base of the mast, and essential that the fixed line can be lowered by the full mast length if you get stuck. Whichever method you use to ascend, think carefully about how you will release it at the top. How will you get your weight off the ascender to release it? If you are pushing up with your legs then it may be possible to stand up, have the helper take in the safety line, and then sit back so your weight is on your harness.

The simplest way to ascend a fixed line will be to buy an ascender (eg from petzl) a carabiner, a short and a long sling. The short sling goes from the ascender to your harness, and you use the long sling to stand up. Progress is captured by the helper taking up on the safety line.
 
pcatterall said:
The force 4 ascenders are expensive and you need a bosuns chair as well ( or better a climbing harness). I personaly prefer to use ascenders and a harness rather than ladders. Always useful to have at least two mast rungs at the top so you can work without swinging around! Fitting them could be your first job aloft!
Click to expand...
I found that I had to keep reminding my cockpit crew to follow me closely with tension on the halyard holding the bosun's chair, as I felt very insecure when it seemed to be hanging down behind, even though I also had a climbing harness on.
 
I have similar problem. I used to simply shin up my mast and securemyself with a harness (Im a climber). But that was 35 years ago and i am weaker and quite honestly more nervous. It then made up a rope ladder using doweling and polyprop rope.

Problem is that afloat it womble around all over the place even if you tension the foot. Use of this then is to secure safety harness to halliard and while someone keeps a hitch round a winch or better still uses a proper belay place. Now even that is to much for me.

The use of mast slides to stop the ladder dancing about would help that but by locking rungs near the mast would reduce foot room.

My dear navigator was unable to haul me on Bosuns chair up even on winch so I gave up for the moment and I paid yard to change my tricolour light bulb. Sadly they then got in lockdown and when I get back on water changing of filament bulb to LED will not be my priority.


Whatever you do, never work at height without an assistant or lookout
 
AlexKT7 said:
Dear all, it has not been long until I realized it's about a time to go up the mast
:)
I looked at a few Mast Ascending options and can't decide what to get.

I have looked at

Force 4 Mast Ascending Grip Handles (Pair) | Force 4 Chandlery TOPCLIMBER® buy now | SVB
Force 4 Fibrelight Ladder | Force 4 Chandlery
Yacht Mast Ladder | Kinleven Marine

Still have not decided, can you please share your experience? something reliable but not very expansive. I liked Mast ladder MastL for climbing on a sailing yacht mast | eBay but not sure how safe it is.


thanks, Alex
Click to expand...
Just looked at the ebay offering and (despite non solid rungs) thought it could have a place in the alternatives, especially with the track slugs In place. I guess that the webbing is effectively double as the rungs seem to be a continuous run?
The space between rungs looks excessive to me though, 45cm (plus the drop when the webbing rung is pushed down.
 
pcatterall said:
Just looked at the ebay offering and (despite non solid rungs) thought it could have a place in the alternatives, especially with the track slugs In place. I guess that the webbing is effectively double as the rungs seem to be a continuous run?
The space between rungs looks excessive to me though, 45cm (plus the drop when the webbing rung is pushed down.
Click to expand...

450mm is a hell of a step while swinging in place and my homemade one was nearer F4s 300mm. Its value depends what you need it for. If in mid ocean or somewhere remote that £250 is worthwhile but my yard was going to charge £98 to do it with cherrypicker and much less bother to me if they hadmanaged
 
Although I have mast steps, I always also use a bosun's chair or harness, depending on what I'm going up to do. My wife takes up the slack on the halyard on a winch, and belays when needed. So far, she has always let me down on request. ?

I often see telecom workers, working up telegraph poles, completely alone. They use a ladder for the first bit, up to the fixed steps. I wonder what safety precautions they have?
 
NormanS said:
Although I have mast steps, I always also use a bosun's chair or harness, depending on what I'm going up to do. My wife takes up the slack on the halyard on a winch, and belays when needed. So far, she has always let me down on request. ?
Click to expand...

That exactly how I go up my mast with folding steps.

I have tried several rope/tape ladders. I made one with braid on braid rope with hard wood steps attached to sail slides but found not easy to climb due to steps movement and rope stretching making it not easy to get feet onto the treads.
 
I was about to make a webbing ladder with slides to keep it from moving away from the mast but found a Topclimber barely used on ebay for £50, I would not pay £250 for one. I had a real battle with it first time but if you take your time and don't try to get too far each time you move the ascenders it's actually not bad. Mast steps are far and away the best, used to just climb up & clip on but they do get in the way...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top