Winching up the Mast

[slaume]

I have been up my mast a mess of times by various methods, both alone and assisted. I will not go into the details but there are a couple of things I might add here.

One is when I get to the spreaders by whatever means I make a larks head with a loop of webbing around the mast and clip it to my seat harness. It will pretty much grab anywhere but will definitely not let you fall below the spreaders. You can run one below the spreaders too if it makes you feel better.

The best thing I ever did for working at the mast head was to install a couple of folding steps so I can stand on them when I get to the top. They are set to put the mast head at about mid chest height. If you stand on these and put a snug line around the mast to your harness it allows you to work freely at a convenient height.

Most of your problems are going to be at the mast head so it is nice to be prepared, Steve.

 

[Joe]

slaume...... good idea about the steps up top. If you have a chair, the yoke of the chair's harness has to be short enough to allow a complete hoist.

 

[capta]

It is not recommended that the GPS antenna be placed aloft; there is too much movement. However my boat is long enough and the GPS update rate set fast enough that I do get momentary inaccuracies in track with it mounted on the pushpit, so I am considering putting it on the forward cockpit coaming, close to amidships, on my center cockpit boat. Anybody tried that?

 

[Bill Roosa]

Yes, mine is at the nav station (reads through the deck!!!) and it does not suffer the motor boat wake issue nearly as much in that location.

 

[Anonymous 121765]

I really liked what Steve (Slaume) added. This is a guy that practices safety measures when going aloft.

One thing I should've added earlier is NOT to use whatever halyard attachment you clip to your sail to raise it. I personally like using a bowline to attach to my chair. I don't trust shackles. I also don't trust pre-spliced loops on halyards. Best to make your own favorite knot.

On GPS & antenna, my GPS (w/built-in antenna) is mounted at my pedestal. It's under my bimini but, I have never had a problem with signal. I agree with Capta that the masthead is not a good place.

Not having a good mental picture of where Capta wants to mount the antenna on his coming, on an older antenna model GPS, I mounted my antenna on the outside of my cockpit raised portion near the rear; protected from stepping on it by the sternrail & an area with no access for deck walking, my deck here is only 8" wide.

CR

 

[woodster]

I really liked what Steve (Slaume) added. This is a guy that practices safety measures when going aloft.

I personally like using a bowline to attach to my chair. I don't trust shackles. I also don't trust pre-spliced loops on halyards. Best to make your own favorite knot.CR

i will add to this Ron...there is only one favorite knot ......its called a bowline as you stated a proper boline where the tail is turned back to the middle of the loop not to the outside of the loop

 

[Perfect Excuse]

I too have trips to the mast which shorter in feet than I am in age and my wife can't winch me up. This year I bought a good set of ascenders that mountain climbers use. Plus, I attach a halyard to me as a safety line which my wife can easily control. Having a fractional rig on my Hunter 410 means that the best solution is to ascend the top lift attached to the mast base. I installed an extra heavy top lift line with this in mind. With a few practice claims to the lower spreaders, I became rather skillful climbing and descending. I do attach a line and bucket for lifting anything that I need while up top. I will add that I check the grip of each ascender on every move. Adds a little time, but increases my confidence in my equipment and procedure. Good luck.

 

[Davidasailor26]

i will add to this Ron...there is only one favorite knot ......its called a bowline as you stated a proper boline where the tail is turned back to the middle of the loop not to the outside of the loop

While I agree that the bowline is great for around the boat in general, I took up rock climbing a couple years ago, and to be certified to belay you had to demonstrate that you could tie a figure eight follow through or double bowline. A standard bowline was not considered secure enough. They taught the figure eight follow through by default as it's easier to visually inspect.

 

[Gudenuph]

Our practice for going aloft has been to rig a 4-part tackle with two double blocks. Both the main and jib halyards are attached and the tackle is hoisted and both halyards securely cleated. This takes a lot of line, four times the mast height for the tackle. Use a 'balanced' braid with a 'soft hand' to prevent the falls from twisting and for comfort to the hands. This set up provides a 5 to 1 mechanical advantage for an easy up haul. To reach that last foot, we use an easy-to-tie, prusik hitch on a large grommet, made up with about 14-feet of line, to stand in.
To gain confidence, test all of the rigging close to the ground. You may find you can actually climb the mast with two of the grommet-prusik hitch arrangements alone.
Also, we try to keep the ground crew in control by limiting the time in use of an independent attachment of the bos'n chair to the mast. If incapacitated by low-flying aircraft, or other, it's best not to be independently attached to the top of the mast! On descent braking is as simple as gripping all of the tackle falls and squeezing.
Don't forget the bucket on the light line to haul up the items you forgot-----or the cotter pin you dropped.
FWIW, George

 

[rardiH36]

Been following this thread for a few days. Lots of great suggestions and comments. Here are mine.

Last summer at at age 61, I didn't want to wait through local riggers' almost one month backlog before they could get to my repair. So I researched mast climbing alternatives to do the repair myself. For the repair (furler and forestay replacement) and subsequent "to-do's", I've now been up the mast about half a dozen times.

I opted for the ATN Mastclimber, which is a bosun's chair variant of the rock climbing ascenders that have already been mentioned. Not being a rock climber, self-learning how to rig the mountaineering equipment and harness was a bit intimidating. (Also, I had read that climbing harness straps digging into the thighs can cut-off blood flow. There apparently have been cases of people up-mast whose legs had gone totally to sleep.)

While the MastClimber is designed to be "stand-alone" safe, I nonetheless did not like the feeling of being totally dependent on hanging on just one 3/8" halyard. My wife has no concept of anything mechanical so her tending a winch-wrapped safety line wasn't/isn't an option for me.

So have adopted the following additional safety measures to my solo-climbing process:

- I put on my sailing harness and clip it to the Mastclimber's center ring. So if my butt does happen to slip off the bosun's seat, or I lose my balance and tilt too far backwards on the seat, I am prevented from falling. But I may be upside down though!

- I put a waist strap around the myself and the Mastclimber's strapping. Again to prevent my butt from slipping off the chair.

- I rig a spare halyard right next to and parallel with my ascending halyard. From the Mastclimber's center ring I run a three foot line to the spare halyard and wrap a Prusik knot around it. I continuously move the knot up the spare halyard as I ascend and move the knot down when descending. Under tension, the Prusik knot cinches on the spare halyard and will not slip. Remove the tension, and the knot can be moved up or down along the safety halyard.

- I found that my feet tended to slip out of the lower ascender's foot stirrups. Getting them back in wasn't easy. I attached a tether to the stirrups so I could pull them up and then use my hands to hold the stirrup in place to get my foot back in.

- Holding on to the ascending line going up and down causes blisters on the hand. Fingerless gloves help.

- Helmet on my head in case of an unexpected swing against a shroud or mast.

 

[centerline]

One is when I get to the spreaders by whatever means I make a larks head with a loop of webbing around the mast and clip it to my seat harness. It will pretty much grab anywhere but will definitely not let you fall below the spreaders. You can run one below the spreaders too if it makes you feel better.

Most of your problems are going to be at the mast head so it is nice to be prepared, Steve.

the steps/foot rests at the top of a mast would be a great thing to help stabilize yourself when the boat is swaying.

Im not sure what the larks head is, but im assuming it must be like the prusik hitch made with a loop of line. the prusik is a climbers hitch.

a prusik hitch is what i use around the mast as a safety... and it works very well and without any other lines or tangles. the only downside, which is minor in my opinion, you either need an extra loop of line tied so you can stay protected as you jump it over the spreaders, or like Slaume, dont worry too much about it until you get above the spreaders.
just wrap it around the mast properly, and clip it to the climbing harness.

if in the event that the hoisting line should break and the prusik has you secured to the mast, you can lower yourself by pulling down on the top of the hitch as it goes around the backside of the mast. it will allow enough slack to give you a very controlled descent.

the prusik hitch can be used very effectively when assembling an adjustable bridal for an anchor/sea anchor/drogue or just anywhere else you need to attach a line into the bight of another line....
is a hitch that I use a LOT for the anchor line (bridal), and I use the hitch on my forestay halyard to hold the forehatch windscoop up... I use premade loops of line to make the actual hitch onto the standing line, and then bend the line im adding onto the tail of the loop...

in addition to the prusik hitch, the blakes hitch is another good one to learn if you plan on climbing a lot... it has advantages of its own that can make it very useful if you want to climb a standing line without using actual ascenders. the properties of it allows it to work kind of like an ascender.
as much weight as it holds on the "holding/lock" line, it can be made to descend by pulling down on the top of the hitch. when the downward pressure is released from the upper part of the hitch, it will lock to the main line again..

 

[rardiH36]

Thanks Centerline:

... you either need an extra loop of line tied so you can stay protected as you jump it over the spreaders ...

Yes, I do encounter the "spreader conundrum" in respect of staying secured to secondary safety halyard. I can only double check that the Mastclimber hardware is holding me securely on the climbing halyard. Then briefly detach the safety heather from my center ring, bring in over the spreader on the way up (back under the spreader on the way down) and re-attach. At my center ring, the tether to the prusik, is affixed with a climber's caribiner to this is a quick step.

... the blakes hitch ...

I'll definitely look blake up!

 

[Anonymous 121765]

I stand corrected,

I said in an earlier post I used the Top Climber, It was the ATM Mastclimber.

DUH, see what happens when you're only running on the last two brain cells?

CR

 

[centerline]

Thanks Centerline:



Yes, I do encounter the "spreader conundrum" in respect of staying secured to secondary safety halyard. I can only double check that the Mastclimber hardware is holding me securely on the climbing halyard. Then briefly detach the safety heather from my center ring, bring in over the spreader on the way up (back under the spreader on the way down) and re-attach. At my center ring, the tether to the prusik, is affixed with a climber's caribiner to this is a quick step.



I'll definitely look blake up!

blakes hitch.... this isnt the best video of it in use, as it doesnt show it being used as a descender, but its better than some.

in my younger days it was "the hitch" to use for tree work, but since the invent of actual ascenders, it is becoming a forgotten hitch in some areas.

and it never was intended to be used for descending from a mountain top at a high rate of speed. but only for slow controlled descents/ascents.

 

[rardiH36]

I stand corrected,

I said in an earlier post I used the Top Climber, It was the ATM Mastclimber.

DUH, see what happens when you're only running on the last two brain cells?

CR

I remembered from when I was researching my purchase, and I just double-checked, that there were two variations of the marine ascender product. ATN Mastclimer. And "Top Climber". From memory, they were very similar, but not quite the same.

So don't beat yourself up too much about the brain cells. From what I have recall by reading your posts through the years, they function in good form. Me on the other hand: Maybe more later after a pre-dinner rum and tonic this evening ... (or maybe not).

 

[dbecker68]

going up the mast!

Just a short interjection here, while on the subject of going up the mast.

I had a roller furling issue recently, with the upper drum being stuck, and the sail would not unfurl. I took the boat to the local yard, explained the issue, and then watched in awe as the rigger literally climbed up the halyard like a monkey, hand over hand, without even a safety line.

He fixed the jammed furler, without charge. I offered to pay him, because it was the darndest thing I had seen in a long time!

 

[slaume]

The Blake's hitch is excellent. I love to learn about a new knot or hitch with a practical application. The larks head I referred to in the earlier post is pretty common. I use the same knot for the sheets on my head sails. If you use webbing around the mast it grabs pretty good. It is much like a prussic knot with only one turn.

I did a good bit of rock climbing in my younger days and am still fairly fit at 60. I didn't go into this earlier but If I just need to go to the spreaders, which is pretty often, with my deck light always messing up, I just climb the shrouds. I step up onto the boom and grab the shrouds on both sides and pull myself right up there. It gets easier as you get higher and you can wrap your feet and legs around the mast. Once I get to the spreaders, I lift a leg up onto one of them and pull myself up to sit there and rest. If I have a harness on, I can through the larks head around the mast and clip in. This is the fastest, easiest way to get to the spreaders. Is it safe? Well so far so good and it does impress anyone at the docks or in a mooring field, Steve.

 

[justsomeguy]

Dayum, slaume. You're a bad@55!

 

[centerline]

The Blake's hitch is excellent. I love to learn about a new knot or hitch with a practical application. The larks head I referred to in the earlier post is pretty common. I use the same knot for the sheets on my head sails. If you use webbing around the mast it grabs pretty good. It is much like a prussic knot with only one turn.

I did a good bit of rock climbing in my younger days and am still fairly fit at 60. I didn't go into this earlier but If I just need to go to the spreaders, which is pretty often, with my deck light always messing up, I just climb the shrouds. I step up onto the boom and grab the shrouds on both sides and pull myself right up there. It gets easier as you get higher and you can wrap your feet and legs around the mast. Once I get to the spreaders, I lift a leg up onto one of them and pull myself up to sit there and rest. If I have a harness on, I can through the larks head around the mast and clip in. This is the fastest, easiest way to get to the spreaders. Is it safe? Well so far so good and it does impress anyone at the docks or in a mooring field, Steve.

for my pre-made loops that I use for my prusik hitch applications, I use a piece of 3/8 yachtbraid and remove the core... I use the sheath for my loops. its softer and holds very securely on about any diameter of line/object.....

as for climbing the shrouds, i did that when I had to thread the dangling flag halyard block on the spreader... dont want to do it again

I added a block to a halyard cleat below so that i now have an endless loop halyard (except for the knot), now I can clip my flags on and hoist away.

 

[Chris Patterson]

About the power winch...I'll be willing to bet that somewhere on the box or instructions that it has some warnings about lifting personnel. As in do not.

And I can not think of a single product that comes from Harbor Freight that I would trust my safety to.

I mean it's no big deal if a 20 dollar cordless drill stops working..