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Mast (Climbing)- No Halyards

13K views 35 replies 32 participants last post by  arvicola-amphibius 
#1 ·
Hi all,
Glad to have found this group and am new here. Actually new to the whole
sailing thing.
Purchased our 72 26 MKII in April and had a great summer on it, motored
everywhere since we can not raise the sails because both halyards are done. I
believe the jib block is there but nothing for the main sail. Any ideas on how
to climb the mast?
Wondering if those metal shelf brackets that you can get at home depot would
work if you could somehow use self tapping screws to make a ladder to the top of
the mast? Would it be strong enough? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Also spent the day clearing out all belongings, getting ready for a refit and
look forward to using some of the ideas I have seen in this group.
Thanks

Mike
 
#34 ·
Guys, at 69 I can't afford to fall, not enough time left to heal. I go aloft in a Boson Chair, Safety harness, ATM Mast climber, Main Halyard hooked to the Bosom Chair upper D ring and a safety line around the mast and hooked to the safety harness. Climber running up the Jib Halyard and a safety line preventing swing. Assistant on winch to take up slack and help my legs and a tail handler to watch my progress. I'm 189 lbs and even after 11 years of football and coaching 1/2 my life my legs are not strong enough to climb with out the winch assistance. "Old but not dead yet" remember safety first and not if but when it happens as quoted by Don Cassey.
 
#35 ·
I kind of chuckle a little when I read these posts where people are willing to do almost anything to avoid unstepping the mast. Really, it's not that big a deal. Up here in snow land, the boats come out of the water for six months every year, and some of the marina's don't even allow storing with the mast up of you're on jack stands. Some even have low power lines between the storage area and launch well. Many masts are unstepped every year, I try to do mine every couple of years. It's better for the mast and boat, and makes inspection and maintenance much easier. The marina I store at has a tall gin pole (hand cranked crane) that we use and it's free if we do it ourselves. Takes about half an hour for three people, and we could do it with two if we didn't have a jib furler.
 
#36 ·
My current boat has a 34 foot mast of fairly heavy section material. It came with mast steps already fitted, obviously done properly by the spar maker. They are the greatest convenience since sliced bread. I can be at the top of the mast in under a minute, though I do take a little longer because I always go aloft with a safety harness and take a couple of turns around the mast with a strap which has to be unclipped and re-clipped as I pass the spreaders. Once at the position where I need to work I hang off the harness with my feet securely in the steps. With a second strap around the mast - just in case.

Other than windage which would not be acceptable to a pure racer, the only downside is that the main halliard can sometimes catch around one of the steps. I have learned to watch for this as I hoist the main.

When you do bite the bullet and unstep the mast, it may be worth having a pro fit proper steps. NOT with self tappers! Rivets would be the way to go. Depending on the cost, they could pay for themselves if you don't have a need to unstep annually.

Re unstepping, I am of the school who avoids it because I am too cheap to hire a crane. The mast is stepped on deck which made the following a bit easier, but it could be done with any mast:
Recently I found about two inches at the heel was corroded. The previous owner had used brass rivets into aluminium, but only in this one place. The solution was to slack the rigging off but not uncouple the turnbuckles, and double up with extra rope to deck cleats etc to stabilise it. Then we placed some spreaders on the deck and used a high lift ratchet jack under the spinnaker pole fitting to lift the mast up enough to get in and slice out the corroded bottom two inches. The plug at the heel was removed and cleaned up and repainted, as was the getting rid of the corrosion at the base of the mast. Then the mast was dropped back on to the heel fitting and refixed with alloy rivets. Now the mast is two inches shorter, and raked back slightly as I did not want to change the forestay length due to the self furler. But this has not resulted in any excessive weather helm (which I thought could be the outcome) and I feel so much better about getting rid of the corrosion at minimal cost.
 
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