Up the mast!

[Rosie1963]

Still preparing for my voyage and I think I really need a way to get up the mast on my own as I will be singe-handed much of the time. Wooden mast, so dont want steps. I also have wire halyards, so quite hard to prusik knot it. Add rope halyard? Climbing gear? Never tried any of these....

 

[Hypocacculus]

You'll want a decent climbing harness. I think you can use your existing halyards to pull up a rope that's suitable for prusiks.

There are mast climbing courses too.

 

[pmagowan]

Ladder?

 

[Rosie1963]

The ladder will need to be 43ft high, and stowe on deck when not in use..... oh, and the deck is 35ft long....

 

[old_salt]

Make your own Rope Ladder.

 

[Georgio]

Either replace the wire halyard with rope or pull up a dedicated climbing rope that is kept with your harness, but you will still want a second rope halyard to have a prussic on for safety.

This video is useful showing the use of a GriGri and ascender although his kit is expensive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g18O_ffBRko

I have put together a very similar kit have bought the bits from ebay as and when they come up. It's worth buying a decent "sit harness" rather than a climbing harness as it is much more comfortable for extended visits to the masthead.

 

[Steersman]

I once had a yacht rigger on my boat (something to do with the masthead light I think). He came aboard with a bucket which contained a simple block and tackle and a bosun's chair.

He hoisted one end up the mast with the main halyard (the double block end I think), attached the bosun's chair to the other end, then hauled himself up with the tail end of the rope.

I've never tried it, but it just seemed a very simple solution to a problem that all yachtsmen face.

 

[Glisferox]

I once had a yacht rigger on my boat (something to do with the masthead light I think). He came aboard with a bucket which contained a simple block and tackle and a bosun's chair.

He hoisted one end up the mast with the main halyard (the double block end I think), attached the bosun's chair to the other end, then hauled himself up with the tail end of the rope.

I've never tried it, but it just seemed a very simple solution to a problem that all yachtsmen face.

It's called a gantline, details from the Pardeys below.

http://www.landlpardey.com/cruising-tip-working-aloft-%E2%80%93-the-gantline.html

I have the blocks and just need the rope to try it.

 

[Steersman]

I have the blocks and just need the rope to try it.

Make sure it's a long one!

 

[Kukri]

To my shock and surprise I find myself disagreeing with the Pardeys.

The gantline is not the block and tackle, it is the one part fibre rope which is left on the mast when all other rigging is sent down, and which is used to haul up the upper block of the bosun's chair. Having owned for may years a gaff cutter where the mast was left standing over the winter with the running rigging sent down I am familiar with leaving a mast "stripped to a gantline".

British practice as enshrined in the Code of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Seamen is to use a double sheet bend to secure the gantline to the chair and to seize the tail to the gantline.

I am horrified by the idea of passing the tail through the lay of the standing part. To do this cripples the rope.

The Code of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Seamen expressly bans the practice of using a hook, unless it is of the lifeline type which cannot be accidentally opened.

The Code of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Seamen requires that the chair, gantlines and lizards should be tested to four times their working load. It further specifies that a person being hoisted aloft by a man or men on deck must be hoisted by hand hauling not by the use of a winch.

Curiously, the linked article from the Pardeys does not show the bosun's chair hitch, also called the lowering hitch, which is the safe way of lowering yourself down from aloft - and neither does the Code.

I will see if I can find a picture.

Edited to add - there's a picture in Danton's Seamanship, but I can't scan it for the moment.

I hope this description will help:

Having pulled yourself up, grip the fall and the standing part together (the Code says seize them temporarily)
then pass a bight of the fall through the stays of the chair, over your head, round your back, under your legs and up in front of your chest. Pull taut to make the hitch. You can now cast off the seizing and use both hands to work; you are secure. To lower, lift the fall and feed it through the hitch, repeating as required.