narooma
Well-Known Member
forgot to mention... ascender.£8 ish .. mast steps. £8 each? also less for the string to get caught on.
Working up the Mast
- Thread starter alisdair4
- Start date
PeterGibbs
Well-Known Member
I long ago did away with the so-called second safety halyard approach - too much knitting aloft and scope to come unstuck. Your confusion illustrates my point aptly.
If the main halyard is not man for the job what are you doing hanging on to it in the first place?
Keep it simple and SWIMBO will not let you down.
PS. A greater risk is inversion - that's why a proper climbing harness is the gear for the job.
PPS. take a lift vest tether aloft with you and attach it round yourself and the mast - this gives you stability and allows both hands to work freely - another vital safety feature!
PWG
If the main halyard is not man for the job what are you doing hanging on to it in the first place?
Keep it simple and SWIMBO will not let you down.
PS. A greater risk is inversion - that's why a proper climbing harness is the gear for the job.
PPS. take a lift vest tether aloft with you and attach it round yourself and the mast - this gives you stability and allows both hands to work freely - another vital safety feature!
PWG
webcraft
Well-Known Member
What's wrong with a good old fashioned rocket belt?
- W
- W
William_H
Well-Known Member
If you do ascend a mast with one halyard on the bosuns chair or harness then you should have a standby halyard for safety. However you can use the standby halyard to help yourself up. Put a loop near the end of it which you put a foot in. Take your weight on the foot and reduce your weight on the main halyard so that the person on the winch will find it easy to pull the main up about 30 cms. Bring your weight back onto the chair main halyard and the foot halyard can be pulled up to a similar degree. Kind of load on one then the other.
This process is a bit like you doing the climbing and reduces strain on the winch person and the pulleys etc.
The standby halyard should be attached to the chair but with plenty of slack to allow the relative movement up and down of the foot loop.
Coming down is done by lowering the main halyard but also releasing the standby halyard in steps. olewill
This process is a bit like you doing the climbing and reduces strain on the winch person and the pulleys etc.
The standby halyard should be attached to the chair but with plenty of slack to allow the relative movement up and down of the foot loop.
Coming down is done by lowering the main halyard but also releasing the standby halyard in steps. olewill
bendyone
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
You pull on the main halliard & you will only be lifting half your weight. SWMBO to tail off both halliards as you go. She can do this on each one alternatively so that, if it all goes wrong you will only slip as far as the last rope cleated off safely.
Alternatively send up a young grandchild as they are small, light & easily replaced. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
[/ QUOTE ]
Try a child
You pull on the main halliard & you will only be lifting half your weight. SWMBO to tail off both halliards as you go. She can do this on each one alternatively so that, if it all goes wrong you will only slip as far as the last rope cleated off safely.
Alternatively send up a young grandchild as they are small, light & easily replaced. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
[/ QUOTE ]
Try a child
boatmike
Well-Known Member
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Yup, her bum is firmly attached - even firmly clenched I suspect. Do you tie 10 year olds to swings then? What about the loo, do you need tying on that too?
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I think you have missed the point here. I grant you that if she holds on and does not let go it is as safe as a fairground swing, but take even one hand off and she could fall backwards from a great height. I would never hoist my grandchildren up such an iffy device or go up one myself. A proper bosuns chair has a built in harness so that you can't fall out of it and can safely use both hands to work when up there. I have mast steps all the way up but would never work without a proper harness or chair up there. Throw the evil thing away or find a tree to swing it from and buy a proper one.
Yup, her bum is firmly attached - even firmly clenched I suspect. Do you tie 10 year olds to swings then? What about the loo, do you need tying on that too?
_________________________________________________________________
I think you have missed the point here. I grant you that if she holds on and does not let go it is as safe as a fairground swing, but take even one hand off and she could fall backwards from a great height. I would never hoist my grandchildren up such an iffy device or go up one myself. A proper bosuns chair has a built in harness so that you can't fall out of it and can safely use both hands to work when up there. I have mast steps all the way up but would never work without a proper harness or chair up there. Throw the evil thing away or find a tree to swing it from and buy a proper one.
boatmike
Well-Known Member
Now that's a proper bosun's chair. Is she for hire? Can she use hand tools? I wan't one!
Superflid
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Throw the evil thing away or find a tree to swing it from and buy a proper one.
[/ QUOTE ]
She'd probably go much higher (and have more fun) swinging from a tree! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Throw the evil thing away or find a tree to swing it from and buy a proper one.
[/ QUOTE ]
She'd probably go much higher (and have more fun) swinging from a tree! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
damo
Well-Known Member
"If the main halyard is not man for the job what are you doing hanging on to it in the first place?"
You don't know if it is man enough, which is why a backup rope is adviseable. If it is static, and you are climbing the rope, it is a lot safer because the rope has less load than one being hauled, and it isn't being pulled over a sheave which may be able to damage the rope.
Rope access workers always have a secondary rope with eg a Shunt on it. (That's the method I use)
Come on sailors - get with it and stop using a hauled bosuns chair: such a difficult and less safe way of mast climbing /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
You don't know if it is man enough, which is why a backup rope is adviseable. If it is static, and you are climbing the rope, it is a lot safer because the rope has less load than one being hauled, and it isn't being pulled over a sheave which may be able to damage the rope.
Rope access workers always have a secondary rope with eg a Shunt on it. (That's the method I use)
Come on sailors - get with it and stop using a hauled bosuns chair: such a difficult and less safe way of mast climbing /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
bendyone
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Now that's a proper bosun's chair. Is she for hire? Can she use hand tools? I wan't one!
[/ QUOTE ]
You can have her, just agree to pay the running costs. Now at uni and very expensive /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
Now that's a proper bosun's chair. Is she for hire? Can she use hand tools? I wan't one!
[/ QUOTE ]
You can have her, just agree to pay the running costs. Now at uni and very expensive /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
damo
Well-Known Member
If you want one you'll have to make one yourself /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
pyrojames
Well-Known Member
Just be sure to take the wellies off first. There will be awful floods of tears if they drop off and go over the side.
pyrojames
Well-Known Member
I just love the way people make risk assessments of situations of which they have such scant knowledge.
boatmike
Well-Known Member
Listen sunshine I have been in the marine industry all my long life and have been up more and higher masts and superstructures than you have probably seen. I have also been responsible for others doing the same on vessels bigger than you have sailed on who have had to go up there in a gale of wind. After 40 years I have never had any of my men injured by being strict about safety so just watch who you are saying has "scant" knowledge. OK?
So keep your insulting remarks to yourself. If you want to take risks yourself be my guest. There are old sailors and bold sailors, but very few old bold sailors.
So keep your insulting remarks to yourself. If you want to take risks yourself be my guest. There are old sailors and bold sailors, but very few old bold sailors.
boatmike
Well-Known Member
I know what you mean! I brought up 4 and they all had the same "investment costs"! Unfortunately (for mast climbing) they are all grown up now and bigger than me. The 5 grandchildren will eventually reach that stage but it's not much use giving power tools to a 4 year old! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
pyrojames
Well-Known Member
Ah yes, the old salts ability to judge a situation they haven't seen. So despite all this experience, which I don't doubt, you still feel you are in a position to judge the height at which the young person at, the equipment with which she was being held, the surface over which she was hanging, and the ability of those around and below her to render assistance?
I'll take take my risks, and I won't judge others situations unless I have all the facts relating to them, and I am the responsible person.
You may well have sailed on larger vessels than I have, (I think about 65k DWT is my limit) you may have been up larger masts that I have seen, although I doubt it, and I very much doubt you've climbed anything as high, and you may have been responsible for those onboard vessel's going up the masts, but oddly your bio suggests "engineer" rather than "Officer", so what or who exactly were you commanding?
I'll take take my risks, and I won't judge others situations unless I have all the facts relating to them, and I am the responsible person.
You may well have sailed on larger vessels than I have, (I think about 65k DWT is my limit) you may have been up larger masts that I have seen, although I doubt it, and I very much doubt you've climbed anything as high, and you may have been responsible for those onboard vessel's going up the masts, but oddly your bio suggests "engineer" rather than "Officer", so what or who exactly were you commanding?
chrishelen
N/A
The last mast i went up was when i was at Ganges a long time ago,that cured me.
boatmike
Well-Known Member
Look you aggressive quarrelsome sod. I have no intention of justifying my credentials to someone who has no manners. Your snyde remarks and innuendo would, if you were not protected by the anonymity of the internet put you in serious danger of injury yourself. But as you don't know, I will tell you that I am a Chartered Mechanical Engineer who has worked part of his life being involved in the design of vessels and the other part as a Project Manager building the damn things. Working in a shipyard one is constantly working at height, often in the open in all weathers and safety is paramount. As far as the vessels I have "sailed" on (usually during trials) the biggest was slightly over 3000 tons, the most interesting sailing vessel as far as this forum is concerned was Mirabella V who's mast alone was over 100ft tall. No one but a cretin would go to that height sat on a plank suspended by two pieces of rope and no safety harness, but when rigging such a vessel there is a need to work at that height. But for your information I once saw someone in Lerssen's shipyard killed because he fell 15 ft onto his head onto a steel deck. Swinging a kid about when she has both hands to hold herself up is one thing. I wouldn't do it but as I said originally if you took the trouble to read my post rather than just sneering at it, the danger comes when someone is working at height and needs both hands for the job. Without a full harness, you have no security at all and are taking your life into your own hands, as you would be if you exhibited your rudeness and cynicism to my face.
fireball
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
I think you have missed the point here. I grant you that if she holds on and does not let go it is as safe as a fairground swing, but take even one hand off and she could fall backwards from a great height. I would never hoist my grandchildren up such an iffy device or go up one myself. A proper bosuns chair has a built in harness so that you can't fall out of it and can safely use both hands to work when up there. I have mast steps all the way up but would never work without a proper harness or chair up there. Throw the evil thing away or find a tree to swing it from and buy a proper one.
[/ QUOTE ]
It is ppl like you who lead to H&S rules and the eventual bubble wrapping of everyone just incase they fall over and hurt their knee.
You can have all the credentials you like - but just because you've never fallen off a mast doesn't make you an expert on safety going up it in the first place - it just shows that your "solutions" are likely to be over engineered and more cumbersome than really necessary.
You HAVE to take risks and experiment - it is the only way you learn. The key is knowing what the risks are to start with and minimising them to an acceptable level.
I'm surprised you made no mention of the shackle to the halyard and apparent lack of safety line.
I think you have missed the point here. I grant you that if she holds on and does not let go it is as safe as a fairground swing, but take even one hand off and she could fall backwards from a great height. I would never hoist my grandchildren up such an iffy device or go up one myself. A proper bosuns chair has a built in harness so that you can't fall out of it and can safely use both hands to work when up there. I have mast steps all the way up but would never work without a proper harness or chair up there. Throw the evil thing away or find a tree to swing it from and buy a proper one.
[/ QUOTE ]
It is ppl like you who lead to H&S rules and the eventual bubble wrapping of everyone just incase they fall over and hurt their knee.
You can have all the credentials you like - but just because you've never fallen off a mast doesn't make you an expert on safety going up it in the first place - it just shows that your "solutions" are likely to be over engineered and more cumbersome than really necessary.
You HAVE to take risks and experiment - it is the only way you learn. The key is knowing what the risks are to start with and minimising them to an acceptable level.
I'm surprised you made no mention of the shackle to the halyard and apparent lack of safety line.
boatmike
Well-Known Member
Bollox!