"Top Climber"

[IanGB]

\"Top Climber\"

I'm new to this forum so I'm probably breaking all kind of links I should maintain (I tries to get the help pages e-mailed to me to print but nothing has arrived)

Thanks Tom E, Waterboy and Chris - I'll go ahead and order Top Climber - I like the idea of having rests on the way up - I don't plan to go up at sea and it will never be urgent - normally just fixing the "hawk" - however tight I fix it the b*****d is out of line after a week or so - whether it's the wind or b****y birds I don't know.

Chris can you explain what is involved in "climbing down" - I imagined that would be the easy bit ? - by having someone else to help do you mean having a second halyard to be lowered down - I imagined that would be a good idea anyway as a safety backup if someone was around.

Thanks Ian

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[ChrisE]

Re: \"Top Climber\"

Ian,

Well, I'm not a climber and the device is essentially softer version of what abseilers use to get up impossible climbs. However, I'll try to explain.

To set the thing up you attach a line to a halyard, attach the climbing device and then fasten the line to strong point on the deck and winch the line as tight as you can get it. If, like me, you are no 10 stone weakling this needs to be quite tight.

The device comes in two parts, a seat and a stirrup that put both feet into. Both are attached to the rope via a clutch. To go up you depress the clutch on the seat and stand up on the stirrups, moving seat up as far you can get. Then sit on the seat, depress clutch on stirrups and bring these up as far as possible. Then repeat until at top of mast.

To come down, you stand on stirrups, depress clutch on seat move seat down, sit down, depress clutch on stirrups and move them down. This sound easy but I found that going up was instinctively more simple, coming down less so and just as much effort. It's a lot easier to have someone on the climbing line ease you down via turns around a winch, as you would a normal bosun's chair.

That said it easy to use and has released me from the need for a rigger whenever we need anything done aloft.

Yes, I use a life line for the same reasons I would on a normal bosun's chair.

Best of luck

Chris

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[IanGB]

Re: \"Top Climber\" - reply to Chris Enstone

Chris
Thanks for that - I now have a much better idea of what the Top Climber is - very clear explanation. I'm ordering one immediately on the Mailspeedmarine web-site.
By the sound of it, it would be a good idea to practice coming down before getting to the top of the mast !
Ian

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