HOW TO GET TO THE TOP OF MY MAST ?

[thinwater]

In my hunter 41 the halyard of the spy (the only unused) and the halyard of the genoa came out the mast about 3 feet below the top of the mast.
I have seldom roller main, so the only halylard that goes all the way up is a pain to use.
Do i am missing something? Can i relay on the halyard of the boom? How do you get all the way up?

Are you afraid that the topping lift alone is not safe? You are probably right about that, since it is probably smaller and you have not inspected it's full length. It could be horribly chafed at the masthead. OSHA says two means of support.

One way is to replace the line with something safe. Just pull a climbing line through. For a back-up for the first 85% of the climb, lower the genny and use the halyard. For the second part, place prusik slings around the entire mast; they will slip some if you fall, but only very slowly and you will still be clipped to the genny halyard.

No, you do not send children up the mast if safety is the concern. I'll pretend I didn't read that.

[Ignor my avitar--I've had bigger boats and I've climbed all over.]

 

[Cat 310 #1 in GA]

Second the comment about the mast climber being tiring. I'm 58 and in pretty good shape - exercise daily - and I was exhausted when i got down. Took me a couple days to recover and I shouldn't have run 3 miles before I went up. But it is tiring mostly because of poor technique. If you climb your mast regularly you would eventually get good at it and it would be less taxing. Something to shoot for: weekly trips up the mast!
bob

 

[smokey73]

I'll take that under advisement and try that knot a few times for practice. I'm always willing to learn a thing or two new from others. Thanks I'd almost always prefer a good knot to a mechanical fastener when my safety is concerned but of course there are climber dedicated fasteners that are fine.

 

[Valerio]

this will be interesting i will shoot a video
so frist i will inspect the topping lift, and this line will be my primary line because she will go all the way up.
The spy halyard will be my safe line and my stress line has is the only one with a winch.
When i will be at the last 3 feet if i need to stay there i will use a prusik sling.
I think i will look if there is a possibilities to install some mast step the last 6 feet.
Do you know if there is a place in the top to have another main halyard in the seldom mast ?

 

[DayDreamer41]

Why not unfurl the main, flake on the boom and use the main halyard for hoist line and the topping lift for your safety line (but only after its been inspected and possibly replaced). The good thing about the Selden rigs is all the lines are internal to the mast, so if any of the sheaves break while you are on them the line is not going to go far.
I know I can remove my main sail in less than 30 minutes, it takes a bit longer to put it back up.

 

[Valerio]

Why not unfurl the main, flake on the boom and use the main halyard for hoist line and the topping lift for your safety line (but only after its been inspected and possibly replaced). The good thing about the Selden rigs is all the lines are internal to the mast, so if any of the sheaves break while you are on them the line is not going to go far.
I know I can remove my main sail in less than 30 minutes, it takes a bit longer to put it back up.

The boat is new to me never take it down, do you have a tutorial video to look after ?

 

[DayDreamer41]

There are a few vid's out there on how to install with removal in reverse.
If your sail is battened then you will have to remove them first.
Release the main halyard (best to have help while lowering it)
The sail just slides up an extrusion just like the jib, you won't have to remove the tack, but, just pay attention when you remove the shackle that ties the line to the top of the furler. Its really rather intuitive, I am sure you will figure it out easily.

 

[DayDreamer41]

This will help you

 

[dziedzicmj]

Use a bowline knot

figure 8 is better.

If you use bowline, tie a half-hitch with the loose end to secure it.

 

[dziedzicmj]

It takes a real man to lift yourself up with just ascenders to the top of a mast

Actually, I think that it is much easier to climb the mast with ascenders than to hoist a full size body to the top with a winch.

I would suggest that the best way is when the person going up works his/her way up (using ascenders) and the person at the winch just removes the slack of the safety line. You have much more strength in your legs than arms.

 

[dziedzicmj]

A hard part will be making the transition from hoisting with the spinnaker halyard to the topping lift.

Do it at the spreaders. Have a a few loops of a webbing or line and tie yourself to the mast above the spreaders. When you are secured with the loop, you can switch the lines.

A loop like that (especially webbing) can be very handy at the top, as well. You can even use one as a temporary step at the top.