Small boat mast climbing

NUTMEG

NUTMEG

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 Sep 2009
Messages
1,923
Location
Essex
www.theblindsailor.co.uk
Evening all. Has anyone climbed the mast of a 21 foot boat (westerly 21)? We need to fit a masthead aerial, have a bosuns chair that came with the boat and a 25 year old son :)

if the considered opinion of the panel is that this is a reasonable idea, then best done afloat or aground? We think aground but...

Any advice or hints would be very welcome

thanks chaps
 
Sophie19 said:
Evening all. Has anyone climbed the mast of a 21 foot boat (westerly 21)? We need to fit a masthead aerial, have a bosuns chair that came with the boat and a 25 year old son :)

if the considered opinion of the panel is that this is a reasonable idea, then best done afloat or aground? We think aground but...

Any advice or hints would be very welcome
Click to expand...

Why not lower the mast? I have a 21' Westerly Jouster with 25'6" mast and have lowered and raised the mast by myself both ashore and afloat ... the latter in order to refit the VHF aerial. With a little preparation it's dead easy.

I'd be awful wary of climbing the mast in a small boat. Ten stone of son at the top of the mast can make quite a convincing argument to half a ton of keel a foot or two below the water ...
 
as people often say when the same questions arises, consider the forces on a sail, and then consider how much force one person could apply with body weight. If in doubt, hang off bosuns chair just a few feet (or inches) off deck, and see what happens - the force is being applied from top of rope, not from where son is
 
BrendanS said:
as people often say when the same questions arises, consider the forces on a sail, and then consider how much force one person could apply with body weight. If in doubt, hang off bosuns chair just a few feet (or inches) off deck, and see what happens - the force is being applied from top of rope, not from where son is
Click to expand...

I understand it's being applied from the top of the mast but surely it's also being applied directly down the mast and through the C of G? If the boat does start to list then the force will no longer be acting straight through the C of G Luke and a heeling moment will be applied proportional to the horizontal distance from the top of the mast to the C of G (OK, not actually the C of G but I don't know the proper name for the centre of the righting moment).

I have a feeling I've missed something but can't see what....
 
Mast climbing

No doubt your 21fter is lighter than mine at 950Kg and mine has a 27ft mast. But only once did I get so0meone up the mast. Quite a light weight lady then only to retrieve a halyard but on water. A small wave started the boat rocking which grew as a pendulum until it was swinging wildly, we pulled her down in a hurry.
If you have bilge keels and it is sitting stable on shore or mud then maybe, but fitting an antenna is quite a job. Best done with mast down.
Either fit an emergency antenna on the pushpit or lower the mast. To be able to confidently and easily lower the mast just makes all sorts of maintenance so much easier plus making other places with bridges accessible. If you have a deck stepped mast then is is easy if it is a keel stepped it needs a hinge in the mast. See my recent photos re lowering a mast without a crane. PM me for more details if you want. olewill
 
we once managed to pull through the rope/wire splice joint on my first yacht - a hunter europa 19 midway through a channell crossing - the next morning safely on our mooring in the orwell the guilty crew member was hoisted to push the joint back through - whilst he was up there the other 2 of us had that very disconcerting feeling of the boat rocking in an entirely different way to normal - slow- long and no longer feeling stable - it was then that we worked out that with a 3ft draft and a keel of 750 lbs - a 150lb crewmember say 15feet upthe mast had considerably more leverage once the boat went far of the vertical - had we gone over - we calculated that his weight 150 x 15 =2250 compared to keel 750 x3=2250 - eeks we were potentially equally stable on our side as upright - in practise nothing happened (and of course the leverage of man up mast has to overcome hull stability (which is significant) before we get to the boat on its side example but we can remember that very strange feeling of the boats roll cycle feeling odd!

long answer - if it were me I would suggest you do it when aground ideally especially as fitting an aerial will take much longer than poking through a halyard,

good luck
 
Well, as often said, I use a ladder to go up the mast of my Centaur.

That said, if you really do not want to lower your mast, how about going along side a high wharf and just leaning her over?

73s de

Johnth
 
......or get her moored between some pontoons and take the halyards off to each side to limit any roll. Not so tight as to prevent any movement, but enough to prevent the weight of the mast-top person passing beyond the gunwhales (if you see what I mean)

I went up the 20ft mast of my 18 foot boat on an aluminium ladder, moored alongside a jetty (ladder foot on foredeck, ladder top tied to headsail halyard). Seemed safe enough to me. You can always fall off into the water rather than hang on and bring the boat over.

Cue: Health and Safety Police.
 
Get the mast down - easier, safer and wont take any longer. Nice long line from the masthead going forward, with someone hanging on the end to steady it as it comes down, and goes back up.

It will be much easier for the job you want to do, too.
 
Another way, that I have seen used. Tie alongside a bigger yacht, son climbs its mast and takes your main halyard with him. He makes it off to the bigger boat mast, you haul your masthead to him, where he does the job. I saw it done on the mizzens of two ketches, which were both around 35 ft.
 
Marginal!

Whilst I've been party to this for a halyard retrieval, I've also seen it go nearly badly wrong, albeit in a boat with quite shallow draft and limited ballast. With a bosun's chair you cannot get down quickly if it starts to roll, so I would want something to prevent the boat rolling, such as being alongside a highish quay, also be away from any chop or wash.
Alternatively putting the keel in the mud damps rolling very well!

All the usual safety thoughts, on this size of boat there is not so much margin in the strength of halyards cleats etc etc, so test everything with a fat bloke 6 inches off the deck!
 
I've seen a J24 rolled over by having a chap climb up the mast as far as the spreaders. There was some other horseplay going on - which gave the boat an initial list - but not very much.

If the boat stays bolt upright it can be done - but it is very fraught. Much safer to get alongside something high and just list the boat so you can reach.
 
If you have a handy free pontoon, you can fender up alongside, take the main halyard and pull the boat over sideways to work on the mast head, with a couple of people fending off with care. Seen it done, its no big shakes on a 21 ft boat..wouldn't like to go much bigger though. Its quick as well, but you need some good 'anchors' leaning/gently sitting on the mast once its down to stop it whizzing back up, so as always, care and common sense required.

Tim
 
JohnTH said:
Who are you calling fat?
Click to expand...

No one in particular, but I like to test the halyards with twice the weight that's going up, unless there's a better way. I have one or two 'larger' friends who are quite handy for this and don't mind helping 'cos it's obvious we won't be winching them up the mast.

You can use two smaller people instead! :-)
 
I have mast steps and have helped a number of people by climbing up my mast and pulling their boat over to work on it. Maybe if you look around locally you may find a boat to the same from.
I also used to have an Etap 22i and would not have considered going up the mast as I could get it down in 15 minutes.
Allan
 
I think that lowering the mast yourself now will give you future confidence when having to do it for rigging, laying up etc.
Take your main halyard or spinnaker halyard and run it through the bow roller and back to the winch,adding extra rope if needed at the mast end of the halyard so that the knot does not have to pass through the roller. Take up the tension on the halyard winch and release the forestay fitting, or lowest part of the furler.
Arrange to have an aluminium ladder in the cockpit secured to the pushpit rails at about the head height. Slacken both port and starboard shrouds,marking their original positions and tension, but leave attached and able to move fore and aft freely on their chainplate or fitting, this will keep the mast from falling or moving sideways as you lower it.
Assuming that your mast has a bolt fitted to the foot to allow it to pivot you can lower the mast until the cockpit assistant reaches up and guides it onto the ladder rung. This may be low enough to allow you to carry out work alongside a pontoon on the aerial, without actually detaching the foot of the mast or rigging. Just be surethat back stay and shrouds are free to move as the mast is re-stepped ,and becomes almost upright, - or bent bottlescrews may result.

An alternative way of lowering is to set up an 'A'Frame tackle ,you can find this via Google.
Other yachts in my club have had masts lifted by going alongside one larger yacht and using its large spinnaker pole as a mast lifting device, and they've been doing it for years without problems, (and a bottle of S. M. passed across as the 'Thank you' !.

ianat182
 
Last edited:
Mast access

As you are in Essex have you thought about Bradwell Marina, the fuel berth has a gantry which is at quite a height over the pontoon. maybe they would allow you to work from there? (at the right time of tide!)

Lowering the mast is relatively straightforward. I am on a mudberth, and arrange for 2 stout assistants to hold on to ropes attached to the main and jib halyards.

They stand so that they are at about 30 - 40 degrees to the mast. They then control the mast as it comes down, after disconnecting the forestay and forward lowers.

This way I reduce any twisting on the mast foot.

Regards

Ian
 
Thanks chaps.

Thanks for the advice and comments, as always, very informative. My last boat, a Seawych displaced only about 850kgms, whereas the current boat displaces 3.52 tonnes (and is only 2 foot longer) so we guessed mast climbing on the mud would be ok. However, the alternative of dropping the mast or popping into Bradwell this w/e for a chat sounds good. Thanks again all.
 
Sophie19 said:
Evening all. Has anyone climbed the mast of a 21 foot boat (westerly 21)?
Click to expand...

Sophie19 said:
Thanks for the advice and comments, as always, very informative. My last boat, a Seawych displaced only about 850kgms, whereas the current boat displaces 3.52 tonnes (and is only 2 foot longer)
Click to expand...

According to the WOA website, a Westerly 21 should weigh - or originally weighed - 3,695lb, which is 1.68 tonnes. That factor of two could make a fair old difference in this case ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top