"Bruce In Bangkok" wrote in message
...
I had one of those "rope ladder" things once. It was on a boat that I
bought and on first inspection I thought it was a great idea. then I
tried it out. If you aren't on dry land you need to tie off the bottom
and then tension the "ladder"; and even then it still sags off. Once
you get up there you are standing in fabric loops that not only
support you but also compress your foot so it becomes uncomfortable to
work after a very short time.
My suspicion is that they probably work if you just want to go up and
clear a caught halyard but as far as doing any real work up there they
are a waste of time. Try doing a job that takes several hours - such
as cutting and fitting new upper shroud plates, or fitting a plate to
the top of the mast to hold your new raz-a-mataz VHF antenna and
re;positioning the tri-color to clear the new antenna. A couple of
hours in those fabric stirrups and you're a cripple.


Surely, without making the whole thing too bulky by replacing all the canvas
steps with wooden slats, you could have one wooden step at the place where
you would have to stand while doing work at the masthead?