Going up the mast - advice needed

[sailingdog]

Warren—

If you're planning on cruising long-term or long distances... having the skills and ability to go up the mast yourself, with or without crew is a good idea. In many areas, you are going to be the only plumber, electrician, diesel mechanic, and rigger around.

Also, I'd point out that even the most experienced rigger at one point had NO EXPERIENCE at climbing masts... and they had to learn by doing.

Just throwing money at some problems is a poor investment. You wouldn't happen to be a government bureaucrat for a living, would you???

[tweitz]

If I go way back to the original post by Quickstep192, I think our erudite discussion of techniques for mast climbing may have missed a basic problem in his original question. His initial problem was that he purchased new hi tech line and was unable to either get a good grip on it directly or use his winch effectively. This may be a simple problem of having the wrong line for the job. I am no expert on lines, but a line is not necessarily better just because it is high tech; it needs to be the right line for the particular job, taking into account strength, ease of handling, durability, stretch, ease of splicing, etc. The right line for a job like this will be something you can readily get a grip on, and if it is so slick, that may be part of the reason the grinder had difficulty. I would suggest he revisit the line he is using for the purpose, and also that he consider rerouting the line from the smaller halyard winch to a larger genoa winch, especially if the halyard winch is not in the cockpit. The grinder will have a better angle, and it will facilitate the use of the safety line on the other genoa winch. I strongly recommend the advice on using two lines, and having the grinder or grinders alternate taking up slack so there is never too much slack in the safety line.

[EO32]

I know you guys think it's hooky, but I've been to the top of my mast many times with my remote control "hanked on winch".

It pulls the main halyard and bosans chair, while I wear a climbing harness and use an ascender on the jib halyard as a safety line.

I've got two mast steps near the top to allow me to stand and work on all of the mast top projects.

I just put a Dr. LED anchor light on. It cost a friend of mine $400 to have his anchor light changed.

But that's the way I do things, if you're not comfortable, then hire someone.

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by Warren M.

I personally think that this is what money is for: hiring a pro to go up your mast and install your windex.

I personally think that's how one ends-up having to pay someone $75/hour for such trivial things. That's also how some sailors end-up with a mildly broken boat, far from a yard and no clear way to get her to a yard, so now what do they do? One just like that was just posted here a couple days ago.

Originally Posted by Warren M.

I've seen two people fall, and get seriously hurt, trying to go up their masts to do minor repairs. Both were inexperienced, had inexperienced help on deck (you need at least two people there -- one to grind, the other to tail -- never depend on a self-tailing winch for this purpose), and both had inadequate deck hardware (winches too small and in the wrong location).

So they did it w/o experienced guidance, and did it improperly (no surprise there), and damage and injury resulted. Thus nobody should ever do it themselves because other people are stupid or careless? Being out there on the water, under sail, what with all the things that can go wrong, seems to me to be at least as risky as properly going up the mast, if not more so.

Originally Posted by Warren M.

My advice is to throw a few bucks at the problem and live to go sailing tomorrow....

My advice is: Find out how to do it right, and do it safely, and do it yourself. Just like how you learned to sail the boat .

Jim

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by EO32

I know you guys think it's hooky, ...

Actually, I think it's pretty cool

Jim

[Sabreman]

Nice idea about double winching. I'll have to keep it in mind even though we use the monster Lewmar 48 jib sheet winches.

I use the main halyard and it's D shackle (with screw pin). I also use the spin halyard and tie it to the chair with a bowline.

I also wear my harness and wrap the tether 2x around the mast. If both halyards or the chair were to fail, the harness will keep me from falling away from the mast and hopefully slow the fall as it slides down the mast. When I get to a set of spreaders (we have 2 sets), I move the tether over the top of the spreaders.

As I am raised up the mast, we stop about every 5', and take up the slack on the spinnaker halyard and re-cleat the spin and the main halyard (even though the 48's are self tailing). All those safety lines are great, but the sudden load on 10 or 20 feet of slack line could be enough to part something. I'd rather risk the impulse load from 5' of slack than 10' or 20'.

[camaraderie]

Geez...if everyone hired a rigger every time something on the mast needed tending, Knotty would have a bigger boat than me!
Get a set of mast webbing steps, some top climbers or ascenders, or just some experienced help. But get used to going up the mast yourself for the little stuff.

[zz4gta]

After going up the mast in a nice bosun's chair, I felt like I could easily fall out of it. I bought a climbing harness, and feel much more secure. It doesn't have little tool bags on the side of it, but that's something that can be fixed with a line and a bucket.

Sabreman: that's a good idea using your harness as a backup. Never thought of that.

[Sabreman]

zz4gta - Thanks, I figure that SOMETHING will stop me before I hit the deck

What absolutely amazes me is that when I was in my teens and working in boatyards in Ocean City, NJ, I'd shimmy up masts on 30'-35' boats without thinking about it. My pockets would be stuffed with all sorts of tools and I'd keep my legs and part of one arm wrapped around the mast while I worked one and a half handed. Everyone was bsy at the yard were I worked and the owner never thought to ask if I needed a "lift". Amazing. I'm not as strong anymore which is probably a good thing because I'd probably try it again to replace that silly light just above the spreaders

I had one of the recalled WM Chairs but replaced it with a real nice Harken chair. Haven't used it yet, but need to.

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by Warren M.

He clearly is not at sea and there is no imperative for him to climb his mast himself. Secondly, I agree with you that if I were at sea, and had some sort of real, rather than imagined, emergency (like a failing shroud or stay), I would and have gone up the mast. I just don't think a novice, with little experience, and the wrong equipment, should be encouraged to climb aloft for the purpose of replacing a Windex.

I would think that gaining experience in an easily-controlled, low-stress situation would be beneficial.

Originally Posted by Warren M.

And finally, I write about sailing and boat maintenance for a living.

There are people who are movie critics for a living and I often find myself in disagreement with them, too .

Jim