Looking for ( and don't laugh )

[poopdeckpappy]

Looking for Ratlines ( or Rattlin's ) for our boat, does anybody know of a outfit that carries this kind of a mast ladder

[sailortjk1]

Tale a look in this previous thread.......
http://www.sailnet.com/forums/showth...light=ratlines

Yachtvahala used to be very active on these boards, We have not heard from him in awhile.
He has them on his boat.

[Cruisingdad]

Poopdeck, we would never laugh at you. THis is Sailnet after all.

(smile, not laugh)

- CD

[Tartan34C]

It’s not a stock item but its something you make to fit the boat. For the most part they are not very useful and with the small diameter used for standing rigging on most boats they are hard to install. You also have the issue of how rigging is prepared on boats that use them and most small boats don’t treat there rigging with the same coating, serving and parceling, and that is what holds ratlines in place.
All the best,
Robert Gainer

[poopdeckpappy]

Originally Posted by Tartan34C

It’s not a stock item but its something you make to fit the boat.

Well, that sux, Maybe I can have these made then, I was thinking maybe having the ratlines made completely out of something 1/2 spunflex ( 3 verts and the rungs ) and then utilize the chainplates and shrouds for support from twisting to much, my shrouds are 5/16th


hell, I don't know

[Tartan34C]

There was a time when you needed to go aloft frequently and hand a sail or do some other work in the rigging. Nowadays its easer to go up using a boson’s chair for the rare occasions when you need to do maintenance aloft. How often and how high are you planning to go?

I saw a boat that had wood ratlines going up about fifteen feet. It looked very nice and was a workable way to do this. But I never did understand why he wanted to only go part way up. He drilled the ends of wood slats the same size as his shrouds then cut a slot to the hole. After sliding the wood up the wire he used a bolt to clamp the two sides together and grip the wire. Of course he did this before he put the bottom swage on the wire.

The traditional way was to worm parcel and serve the rigging. This gave it a surface that protected the wire and gave you a rough enough surface to be able to fasten the spliced ends of the ratlines to the wire using marline. Stainless wire wouldn’t like this treatment so you have a hard time fastening the rope ratlines to the wire without damaging the wire.

If you don’t mind me asking, why do you want to do this?
All the best,
Robert Gainer

[sailortjk1]

Have you guys checked out the thread from last year.
Its good reading. The purpose from another sailnetter was to be able to see coral reefs. He used his to get as high as the spreaders for a better obsevation of the waters he was in.


http://yachtvalhalla.net/projects/ratlines/ratlines.htm

[Tartan34C]

Originally Posted by sailortjk1

Have you guys checked out the thread from last year.

Of course that’s why you want to go up, coral. That’s a well thought out plan, but I would be nervous about it slipping on the wire and of course do you get hidden corrosion under the polysulfide. I have not yet seen a really great way to do this. Maybe there is no great way and you need to pick the best of the available solutions. Thanks for the link.
All the best,
Robert Gainer

[danjarch]

You can seize rat-lines or rat-boards strait to the shrouds. You just wrap a little parceling tape around the shroud before you tie on the rat-line. To make a rat-line you take a piece of line and splice a loop in each end. It should be about a couple of inches short of where it is supposed to go, then you seize it to the shrouds. Its better to used prestretched line but when you seize the rat-line you can tighten it up. The reason you make it a bit short, is so you can cut it lose and re-seize tight when it stretches.

If your going to try to make rat-board, you can seize them on as well. Make them out of true 1"x 2" teak or mahogany. Make two vertical slits about 3/16x 1/2". you can them seize these on.

Their not really hard to do, just time consuming. New England style goes up one side of each mast. Traditional goes up both sides. They're handy once you have them.

[poopdeckpappy]

Mostly just for the appearence of Old classic, but, it must be functional, if we want or needed to go up as far as the spreaders for any reason; any higher and I would use our boson's seat.

Also, I wouldn't be unlike me or my son to climb up just to dive in


Sailortjk1, I did read that and it was good info, and I appologies for not acknowledging sooner

Thank you