We Have a Mast Mate
We took a Mast Mate with us to the Bahamas in case I had to get my ever increasing carcus up the stick. Things may have changed, but it seems they came in two standard lengths 35' and 50'. We got the 35' one and it was ALMOST long enough. I added a folding step to the mast - so I get on the boom, step on to the unfolded step and then I'm into the rungs of the Mast Mate. The thing works great! It is made of heavy duty 2" nylon webbing. We aslo bought the safety harness from Mast Mate. You still need to have a halyard attached to you and someone stills need to keep the halyard tight around a winch, in case you slip or catch a pile of pelican doo doo in the eye. You might want to also install a pair of mast steps at the top of the mast so you can be more secure up there. The Mast Mate uses sail slides to run the thing up the mast, so you have to drop the mainsail on the deck. Minor inconvenience. Since the thing hangs from sail slides it can swing in the breeze a little. So the steps at the top would stop that. I would still have a bosun's chair under my hind parts and connected to the halyard. I highly recommend the Mast Mate. There is another prodict out there called "Capt someting's ladder" but I think it uses 1" webbing. The Mast Mate folks are very helpful and they can make a custom length ladder for you. Hope this helps. Roger Mummah remummah@worldnet.att.net
