Bosun's Chair Tips

[Mike H.]

I have to go up the mast soon to install radar and I will check out the mast head and clean and lube the main track while I'm up there.

I bought a used Bosun's Chair, it's in like new condition, lots of webbing, hard seat, pockets, a high quality piece.

I have been reading up on how the system works, I'll tie the main and spinaker halyard to the D rings so I'll be tied off to two halyards.

My wife will be operating the winches, my questions are how does she let me down? What if she lets the line run through her hands off the winch? What safety precautions can we take?

The boat is a Hunter Vision 36 with the stayless rig, so there are no spreaders to grab or tie off to. The mast is tapered, is there a knot or rig I can make to take advantage of the taper and stop me before I hit the deck.

Any tips?

 

[Seattle Scott]

Mike, my back up system is completly separate from the chair. I buckle into a climbing seat harness w/leg loops. The spare halyard is tied down on the deck and cleated off at the winch. I clip the harness onto the spare halyard with an accender, a sliding locking cam devise Then I tie the chair onto the end of the hauling halyard, avoiding the shackle. If the "hauler" person drops you, you end up hanging from the spare halyard. If the chair fails, same result.

Or stated differently, one halyard is static, it doesn't move, you slip up and down it. The other halyard moves hauling you up and down. You can tranfer you weight to the static halyard to give the "hauler" a breather or to cleat off.

 

[Mike H.]

Mike, my back up system is completly separate from the chair. I buckle into a climbing seat harness w/leg loops. The spare halyard is tied down on the deck and cleated off at the winch. I clip the harness onto the spare halyard with an accender, a sliding locking cam devise Then I tie the chair onto the end of the hauling halyard, avoiding the shackle. If the "hauler" person drops you, you end up hanging from the spare halyard. If the chair fails, same result.

Or stated differently, one halyard is static, it doesn't move, you slip up and down it. The other halyard moves hauling you up and down. You can tranfer you weight to the static halyard to give the "hauler" a breather or to cleat off.

Scott:

Thanks, that seems like an excellent system. I'll be shopping for a climbing seat and an acender.

That's a big fish on your avatar!

Mike

 

[Chris Burti]

Actually there is an easier way with what you have. Use a Prusik climber's knot to hook the lift rings of the chair to one halyard that has been tied off at the mast base. you can either use a second for feet creating a line ascender as you inchworm up the halyard pulling your second safety halyard up with via a turning block at the base and a cinch or let someone on deck winch you up and use the Prusik as a safety.

http://ozultimate.com/canyoning/knots/prusik/

 

[Prime Time]

System

We go up on the main halyard and use a second halyard as a safety attached to a harness. One person cranks and a second person tails.

A third person is on the safety halyard. That person keeps a bit of slack in it. The safety person stands facing forward with a leg against a bulkhead. The halyard is brought behind their waist and brought to their front. The halyard is held with both hands. We were taught this method by a technical rock climber. My mother who was 5 ft nothing caught a 200lb guy using this technique when the primary failed.

If you are short handed, the advice given by others using the climbing ascender seems like a great idea. If I was unfamiliar with that technique, I'd find a climbing wall someplace to practice on.

 

[higgs]

I will let Prime Time haul me up a mast anytime. It is pretty much the system I have used and I feel secure.

The guy in the chair has to help by doing as much climbing as he can. Hauling dead weight up the mast is pretty tough.

Be sure to instruct people not to move around below as slight movements on deck translate into big swings.

People below msut watch for dropped tools from above.

Take a small free line with you to drop back down in case you need another tool.

 

[sailingdog]

If the bosun's chair is a West Marine branded one, be aware they had a product recall not too long ago... and the product may not be safe to use.

 

[Benny]

Jewlelry, make sure you buy her jewelry before going up. Don't rely on her getting you up or down; help yourself up the mast and back down, use the chair as a backup.

 

[higgs]

Thank you sailing dog as I have a West chair.

 

[Dean5735]

Holy crap!! Just checked mine and it is one of them!! Gotta make some calls, Thank You!!

 

[sailingdog]

Thank you sailing dog as I have a West chair.

Glad to help... a lot of people missed the recall for some reason, and I'd rather not have any sailors I know of, with one singular exception, go splat anytime soon.

 

[DougM]

Your wife will most likely not be able to haul you up on a 1:1 hoist. Besides its safer to have a second person tailing. It took two of us cross winching to haul my 175 pound son up the mast.

We now have a 6:1 setup that we haul up the mast on the jib halyard and secure. We use the main halyard as a safety line as well. Both the halyards are led back to the cockpit, and the jib halyard is secured. The tail of the 6:1 rig is led through a rope clutch and then to a winch. The approximate 30 pound pull is easier to deal with than the entire weight. The good news is that I just happend to have about 300 feet of spectra line avaailable.

Remember, its not the fast trip down the mast that gets you, its the sudden stop at the end.

 

[MKirk51]

Mike, the system I use consists of the chair, two Petzl ascenders (ebay), a double foot loop (onrope1.com), and a separate climbing rope (ascenders can be hard on a rope). I tie the rope to the main halyard, hoist it to the top and cleat it off, and inch-worm up using my legs, ie stand-up, move the chair's ascender up the rope, sit, move the foot loop's ascender up, rinse and repeat. The jib halyard is attached to the chair and my girlfriend puts turns around the halyard winch and keeps tension on it as I go up. Once I'm positioned, she cleats it off. We test it by making sure she can hold me with just the turns on the winch.
If I had it to do over again, the only change I'd make is to get a climbing harness instead of a chair.

 

[paulj]

If you are going up and down in a Bosun's Chair, which is not on a recall list, attached properly to a halyard line, I was wondering what the seperate safety harness looked like and how it was attached to the person riding in the Bosun's Chair with another halyard line attached to the saftey harness?

paulj :troll:

 

[Mike H.]

Thanks for all the info everyone.

My wife and I have to be able to do this ourselves as we will likely be alone if something aloft needs attention.

So I'll probably set up a double system where I'll have the bosun's chair as a safety back up and to sit in while I'm working and a self ascension system with separate climbing rope tied to the main halyard to take myself up.

This way she won't be relied on if something fails.

Someone before said "Don't trust anyone on deck when you go up the mast." Sounds like good advice.

 

[chicopearl]

Mikey,

This climb makes me nervous. Let's get another person and up the life insurance.

Your Wife

 

[Tim R.]

I use 2 halyards and also have an independant piece of webbing that I have sewn a carabiner on each end. It loops around the mast about 4 times and connects back to the seperate harness. I walk it up the mast and around each spreader/shroud as I ascend. If anything breaks or my wife decides to cash in on my insurance, the webbing tightens around the mast and prevents a fall.

 

[Seattle Scott]

Someone asked about the harness, here is one. You just need the basic model, skip all the padding since you are sitting in the chair
http://www.rei.com/product/699550

 

[Rob19574]

Mike - One more method for you:

I have a long 1/2" line that I doubled-up and knotted every 16 inches. This rope is about 100 feet long and doubled up is ~50 feet. I hoist this line up the mast and it runs down the length of the mast. I then pull myself up that line along the knots while I am in the bosun's attached to a 2nd halyard. I have a helper tailoring the halyard the bosuns chair is attached to buts its easy for him to hoist because he is only taking the slack out of the line as I pull myself up the knotted line. When I get to the top it gets safely cleated. Then repeat the process on the way down.

Becareful going up and make sure you have a safetly line attached.

- Rob

 

[Stevep]

You might want to check out the info on www.onrope1.com. I recently purchased a mast climbing package from them (seat harness, chest roller unit, safety line, and 2 foot stirrups with lines and ascenders). The owner of the company, Bruce Smith, is very knowledgeable about ropes, climbing , and caving, and mfgs much of the equipment he sells. I was visiting family in eastern TN and stopped in the store to look at the equipment and left a buyer.