Another thread was discussing ways to go up the mast, ie, a ladder vs
bosun's chair vs rope climbing systems. I have climbed miles of rope
whilst vertical caving and have used cable ladders for long distances
and loop type ladders more commonly called "an etrier" by climbers. I
normally use my vertical caving gear to go up the mast.
An Etrier is effin difficult to climb for more than a few feet and
basically all you do is dangle and thrash. No way I'd go more than
about 12' up on one and even then I'd want to be against the mast or a
wall.
Cable ladders: They require proper technique. One foot goes in
frontwards and the other foot goes in backwards (heel first) from the
back side. Otherwise, you end up leaning backwards too much. Not
very easy to use.
Mast steps: Snag halyards and sheets.
Various rope climbing systems: These consist of mostly mechanical
ascenders like jumars, or gibbs-like ascenders and a seat or harness.
I recommend you check with caving suppliers, call and ask for what
they recommend for a non-caver very occasional use.
Bosun's chair: Not bad but does require that somebody else has your
life in their hands which I do not like.

In article 17a28b6f-429c-476b-9f93-
,
says...
Another thread was discussing ways to go up the mast, ie, a ladder vs
bosun's chair vs rope climbing systems. I have climbed miles of rope
whilst vertical caving and have used cable ladders for long distances
and loop type ladders more commonly called "an etrier" by climbers. I
normally use my vertical caving gear to go up the mast.
An Etrier is effin difficult to climb for more than a few feet and
basically all you do is dangle and thrash. No way I'd go more than
about 12' up on one and even then I'd want to be against the mast or a
wall.
Cable ladders: They require proper technique. One foot goes in
frontwards and the other foot goes in backwards (heel first) from the
back side. Otherwise, you end up leaning backwards too much. Not
very easy to use.
Mast steps: Snag halyards and sheets.
Various rope climbing systems: These consist of mostly mechanical
ascenders like jumars, or gibbs-like ascenders and a seat or harness.
I recommend you check with caving suppliers, call and ask for what
they recommend for a non-caver very occasional use.
Bosun's chair: Not bad but does require that somebody else has your
life in their hands which I do not like.

Way back when, I simply attached a bosun's chair to an external
halyard. By pulling down on the halyard, I went up the
mast. Because pulling down on the halyard reduces the
weight in the chair, you only have to pull with a little over
half your weight.

I also had a safety lock----of what type I don't recall, so that
if I let go of the halyard, it would lock up. There was also a
safety loop around the mast---that had to be unclipped and reclipped
at the spreaders.

Mark Borgerson

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:15:12 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch
wrote:

Bosun's chair: Not bad but does require that somebody else has your
life in their hands which I do not like.

On my old sailboats we always made it standard practice to have a
second halyard attached to the bosuns chair, which was tailed to a
winch by a second person. In all of the many trips up the mast, the
second halyard never came into play but it was reassuring to know it
was there.

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:27:44 -0800, Mark Borgerson
wrote:

Way back when, I simply attached a bosun's chair to an external
halyard. By pulling down on the halyard, I went up the
mast. Because pulling down on the halyard reduces the
weight in the chair, you only have to pull with a little over
half your weight.

Ya buttt, it ain't safe, not even half safe.

A better strategy is to use a multi-part tackle with a ratchet block
and cam cleat. With no ratchet block available I'd recommend
something like a 4 part boom vang tackle with a cam cleat.

Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:15:12 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch
wrote:

Bosun's chair: Not bad but does require that somebody else has your
life in their hands which I do not like.

On my old sailboats we always made it standard practice to have a
second halyard attached to the bosuns chair, which was tailed to a
winch by a second person. In all of the many trips up the mast, the
second halyard never came into play but it was reassuring to know it
was there.


That's the way I did it recently.
The second halyard on a second winch didn't actually carry any loads
as it was always a little behind, and at the top was slacked off a bit
to allow the main to hoist my head up above the top.

But it made for more confidence in the two new crew handling the ropes!



--

Richard Lamb
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~cavelamb/


"The clock of life is wound but once, and no man has the power
to tell just when the hands will stop, at late or early hour...
Now is the only time you own. Live, love, toil with a will.
Place no faith in time. For the clock may soon be still."

In article ,
says...
Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:15:12 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch
wrote:

Bosun's chair: Not bad but does require that somebody else has your
life in their hands which I do not like.

On my old sailboats we always made it standard practice to have a
second halyard attached to the bosuns chair, which was tailed to a
winch by a second person. In all of the many trips up the mast, the
second halyard never came into play but it was reassuring to know it
was there.


That's the way I did it recently.
The second halyard on a second winch didn't actually carry any loads
as it was always a little behind, and at the top was slacked off a bit
to allow the main to hoist my head up above the top.

But it made for more confidence in the two new crew handling the ropes!

Hey---you had helpers. No Fair. I was doing this all on my own. No
helpers down below to crank winches.

On the plus side, I was 20 pounds lighter then (1974) and the
boat was an Islander 24. Full (and pretty heavy) keel and
not a terribly tall mast. If something went really bad---
like the halyard parting, I would have slid about 10
feet until my feet hit either the spreaders or the
coachtop. With a bit of luck, somebody in the marina
would have heard my yell and come to investigate.


It was actually much scarier going up the electronics mast
on a DE underway in the North Pacific. Even though there
was a good ladder and a proper safety harness with dual
clips (one always attached to a rung above me), there
were diesel fumes in the face and rolls such that I saw
a lot of seawater below me at each end. Heck of a place
for a junior spook officer, but the bosun's mates had
no clue about preamplifiers and my maintenance tech was
so seasick he could hardly walk. I had taken the
basic rock climbing class at Yosemite, understood
safety harnesses and had no particular fear of heights
(at least not when I can hold on tight!).


Mark Borgerson

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:09:48 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:27:44 -0800, Mark Borgerson
wrote:

Way back when, I simply attached a bosun's chair to an external
halyard. By pulling down on the halyard, I went up the
mast. Because pulling down on the halyard reduces the
weight in the chair, you only have to pull with a little over
half your weight.

Ya buttt, it ain't safe, not even half safe.

A better strategy is to use a multi-part tackle with a ratchet block
and cam cleat. With no ratchet block available I'd recommend
something like a 4 part boom vang tackle with a cam cleat.

Hate to sound like Saint Willie, but you should be able to tie a knot
that only works one way; jams when weight comes on it.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:05:01 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:15:12 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch
wrote:

Bosun's chair: Not bad but does require that somebody else has your
life in their hands which I do not like.

On my old sailboats we always made it standard practice to have a
second halyard attached to the bosuns chair, which was tailed to a
winch by a second person. In all of the many trips up the mast, the
second halyard never came into play but it was reassuring to know it
was there.

Some use the second halyard attached to a safety belt or harness. One
line on the seat and a second on the man.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

"Bruce In Bangkok" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:09:48 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:27:44 -0800, Mark Borgerson
wrote:

Way back when, I simply attached a bosun's chair to an external
halyard. By pulling down on the halyard, I went up the
mast. Because pulling down on the halyard reduces the
weight in the chair, you only have to pull with a little over
half your weight.

Ya buttt, it ain't safe, not even half safe.

A better strategy is to use a multi-part tackle with a ratchet block
and cam cleat. With no ratchet block available I'd recommend
something like a 4 part boom vang tackle with a cam cleat.

Hate to sound like Saint Willie, but you should be able to tie a knot
that only works one way; jams when weight comes on it.

If your halliard goes through a stopper before the winch then leave the
stopper closed and you can still hoist up but if the guy on the winch screws
up the stopper will grip the rope and prevent it running back and dumping
you

On Jan 24, 8:45*am, "Edgar" wrote:
"Bruce In Bangkok" wrote in messagenews:9j6ol5losqf7gg28q3ka8pdfmlcd7k2adm@4ax .com...



On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:09:48 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:27:44 -0800, Mark Borgerson
wrote:

Way back when, *I simply attached a bosun's chair to an external
halyard. *By pulling down on the halyard, I went up the
mast. *Because pulling down on the halyard reduces the
weight in the chair, you only have to pull with a little over
half your weight.

Ya buttt, it ain't safe, not even half safe.

A better strategy is to use a multi-part tackle with a ratchet block
and cam cleat. *With no ratchet block available I'd recommend
something like a 4 part boom vang tackle with a cam cleat.

Hate to sound like Saint Willie, but you should be able to tie a knot
that only works one way; jams when weight comes on it.

If your halliard goes through a stopper before the winch then leave the
stopper closed and you can still hoist up but if the guy on the winch screws
up the stopper will grip the rope and prevent it running back and dumping
you

Most people do not know how to use prusik knots even if they do know
how to tie them. Prusiks will go up but when weight is applied they
will not slip back down unless intentionally unloaded, and slipped by
hand.