Video

I am pleased you find it helpful. Thank you.

I have met a few others who use it but not many.

I am glad you like it.

Thank you.

I appreciate the comment.

I like this one much better. Check it out: czcams.com/video/tu0CcwPHgU0/video.htmlsi=lfpw_MgmAP33E77C Allen

@@L-36 thanks

Thank you for the kind words. What you are wondering about sounds dangerous. I can note that you can go down without the ATC by just doing everything in reverse you did going up. I would guess there could possible be a sequence where what you are asking about would work. You would have to be on the ascender and put the ATC below that. Then transfer your weight to your feet and release the ropeman, get your weight to the ATC, then release the Roll-n-lock. I don't know and am not inclined to try it as I like to have the redundancy.

@@L-36 Thank you, I was thinking the same thing (putting the ATC below the ascender where there could be slack) but agree it is not ideal at all. I considered using a second prusick safety line around the mast since I only have the one halyard available. My goal of going up is mainly to install my spinnaker halyard which was overlooked when the mast was stepped.

@@CM-ef2fl Personally, I would just climb up and climb down using some form of dual ascenders. I have also used a jib halyard to climb and the main halyard as my safety or visa versa. Just swing the safety around the spreader. Then climb up and reverse the procedure to climb down.

It has a padded rigid base. Ideal for the use intended which is a place to rest while mountain climbing. Just not on a boat.

Well, I use a modified old ATN chair I had left over when the ATN system almost killed me and I started this quest for a better and safer way to get up my mast. Imagine my surprise when I was way up on my mast and noticed the shackle had worked itself lose and I was just being held up by luck. I did look for a commercial chair that I could recommend. The Black Diamond was completely unacceptable and is not even rated as life supporting. I made a video on it you can look at. I then bought a Crewlift 40 bosun chair and I like it a lot. However, I have not gotten around to trying it mostly because it is bigger than the one I am using and won't fit in the bag I use to store it. It seems like a much better chair and can go closer to the top because of the way it clips on. Here is an affiliate link to an Amazon page. I get a small commission if you click the link and buy anything. www.amazon.com/Crewsaver-Boating-Sailing-Crewlift-Bosuns/dp/B00UNALRUO/ref=sr_1_8?crid=1QSQ7SG4HKOOZ&keywords=bosun+chair&qid=1702997546&sprefix=bosun+chair%252Caps%252C141&sr=8-8&ufe=app_do%253Aamzn1.fos.d977788f-1483-4f76-90a3-786e4cdc8f10&_encoding=UTF8&tag=l36com-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=43797345f0b8c6b3fcfb2b686f8099d2&camp=1789&creative=9325

Climbing gear can be hard on a halyard and in my case where the halyards are dyneema it just would not work. The descender in particular is fussy about line diameter of the line and the toughness of the cover. Climbing line has a much tougher cover and has some stretch, which can be good if something goes wrong. It really depends on what kind of line you have on your halyard and how much you want to protect them. I have not tried using a descender on Sta-set so I can't say if it would work with the ATC. Make sure whatever rope you use is compatible with the gear you are using. REI is a good source of both information and rope if you are near one. Or you can just try your halyards. I have to admit, when I am trying things in my attic, I use retired line from my boat. Just test it and be confident in the backup.

Gotcha. Thank you for the detailed answer. Terrific instruction and method (even though I need to watch it numerous times). Cheers. @@L-36

Maybe watch it again...

What a great idea on the aider ladder. Switching over at the top is the part of this I like the least. I used to say going down was frightening but the changes I made that add more friction fixed that. I am going to give this another try and incorporate your change. Do you actually climb the aider or just pick a particular level? Perhaps I can just use the foot loops and shorten them although it might be a bit too much of a step from the lower chair. In terms of it being tiring I find it more tiring now that I am 75 than when I was younger.

Yes, I climb the aider. Mine has wide foot loops and enough steps that I can reach the bottom "rung" easily and climb it properly with both feet. I bought it because I got my main halyard stuck at the top sheave leaving only the spinnaker halyard to climb. It doesn't go all the way up. This was a special case in that it required me to prusic the ladder to the mast. Not recommended of course! But for just reaching above the grigri it's very handy!

Thank you.

@@L-36 I do some moonlighting tree service work one of the most vital knots to learn

@@fullsenderman8291 I have seen tree workers tie bowlines with impressive speed.

@L-36 yes sir

It probably uses less line that a splice. I would recommend a splice over this but if you need a knot that won't slip, here it is.

The GriGri method is pretty easy but has a few issues. The main thing I don't like is all the re-rigging at the top. Half the time I could go to the top and find that I had rigged it wrong at the bottom which made it difficult to get it re-rigged correctly. You also have to re-rig if you want to get all the way to the top of the mast. Without re-rigging it can be downright terrifying going down. All the re-rigging makes it much more complicated. I used it for a couple of years but quit. This method is pretty easy if you leave the gear partially rigged when it is put away.

@@L-36 can I ask also….why run a separate line up connected to the halyard….why not just use the halyard itself? One less knot to worry about

@@UpstateDS I started using climbing line for the GriGri. It is very picky about the line. Also, my halyards are Amsteel so I need to either use some yacht braid or climbing line. Climbing line also has some give in case something does go wrong. The cover is much stronger on climbing line. I once stripped the cover off a line in a rope clutch. It is just another layer of safety. You just need to know how to tie a bowline and I think every sailor does.

@@L-36 that's what I thought was the reason. Thanks for the info!

It has been too long since I did all the testing on these knots but I am pretty sure we tested that and it slipped. Have you tested it? A lot of good knots just slip out at like 20% of line strength. That isn't nothing as this line is very strong but you really need to be careful using knots that have not been proven not to slip with Dyneema.

Thank you for your comment. As an experienced rock climber you would have the knowledge of the equipment required to make this a reasonable system to use. Best of luck. I just added the link to the article in the description and below. L-36.com/more_mast_climbing.php.

Before using the Sterling Prussik loop I just used a home made loop using a 7mm line from out local climbing store (REI). They even tied it for me. You can see how here www.animatedknots.com/prusik-knot. I would not use Dyneema but it might be fine. The problem is the stuff melts at a low temperature and if it get to that temperature it fails catastrophically and instantly. You would get no warning.

@@L-36 🙏🙏

Thank you. I have to hand it to the guys who hung over the side and snagged it. In writing this, I realized it would have been nice to have my fishing net on the boat. I just put it in my "boat bucket" and will leave it on the boat for the next opportunity to fetch something out of the ocean.

Looks like the main is over trimmed as well. But the take down went well 🙂

The idea of leaving a little line sticking out the diamond knot is so that if the knot tightens at all and tries to pull the ends in, there are ends there and the knot won't fail.

I can't say I understand your questions fully. I can't imagine how the line to the pully would interact with the handle unless you strung it wrong. The handle goes off to the left and the pully is on the right. The GriGri should stay in the closed position all the way up. But that said, this method is just too complicated and too easy to string something wrong which mostly you don't find out until you are at the top. I no longer like it and don't use it. I use the one I call the Ultimate Mast Climbing method linked in the comments. Just click "More" above or go to L-36.com and look under articles. Here is the link l-36.com/UltimateMastClimbing.php. That method is also complicated but I have not found it prone to rigging incorrectly. I keep major parts rigged in my storage bag to remind me how it all goes together and even after a couple of years I just rigged it and climbed my mast a couple of months ago without needing to read or watch anything.

Same but proper name is rolling hitch per ABOK

That is hilarious. It is nice of them to try. I don't see anything I can do about it though. Thanks so much for pointing this out. Made my day.

It is pretty easy to just use knots on tubular webbing so you can adjust the lengths until they work for you. Good luck.

Thank you for the correction. I can hardly spell my own name. I use the ATC for descending. The prussic just acts as an auto break on the ATC. I find this much preferable to going down using a GriGri, which is very difficult to control by comparison. I have used the GriGri for mast climbing many times and cannot recommend it. This method is much better. Also, the prussic is already on the line as the safety so no re-rigging at the top is not necessary except installing the ATC and releasing the roll-n-lock. Everything can be done with hardware secured so that there is no danger of dropping it on the deck. These are all factors that make this the ultimate method for me. If you have a better method that you have actually used please share.

@@L-36 I agree the GriGri has it's place, but I like simplicity. I even tried a Tibloc instead of the Prusik but the Tibloc shredded the rope and sometimes was very difficult to undo. I always go back to the same method: Prusik for safety line, twin ascenders for going up, and a figure 8 belay for abseiling back down. Simple, inexpensive, historically proven and safe. I might make a video one time of the setup, and show how it works.

@@mymobile5014 If you follow my website, you know I tried many methods for unassisted mast climbing. I started with twin ascenders and the prusik for the safety line. I would go down with the ascenders which was fine for mast painting (sand going up, paint going down) but not as good now that I have an aluminum mast that does not need painting. In general, I found ascenders that have teeth, like used in mountain climbing where they need to work on wet frozen rope, to be less than ideal on a boat. I used a micro-cender but had to up the size of the spring wire and ultimately it was taken off the market as even with stiffer wire, it would tend to slip. The Ropeman 1 is ideal. It has lots of grip and no teath. The rollinlock is much easier to use than an ascender because you can just pull on the rope instead of messing with the lower ascender. And of course, I tried using a GriGri but it is just too easy to rig it wrong at the bottom which gives issues at the top and the way I re-rig it at the top generates a lot of "feedback". But I found the rerigging necessary for a safe descent. The ATC works great, is easy to rig, and always tied in so cannot hit the deck and leave me stranded. I have a figure 8 device but prefer the ATC for reasons mentioned. I also like the idea that if I let go, I stop even if the main line were to fail because the prusik will lock the ATC. Anyway, this is why I call it the ultimate but that is only within the context of what I have tried but that is a lot.

@@L-36 That was the problem with the Tibloc, the teeth were very aggressive. The teeth on my ascenders are more like ribs which jam, a bit like the jammer on a mainsheet? I prefer the figure 8 which also ties on, simply because I find them quicker and easier to set up and use than an atc. The main difference though is I climb on 3 ropes, one sling to each ascender to a rope each, both attached to the harness. The Prusik is on a 3rd rope. I love the redundancy so I can go up and do anything I like knowing that if the worst came to the worst I couldn't really have done more. Except dismast and do it on the hard haha

You have to leave the tails slack. It helps to have them weighted as in coil up the excess line but the system will not work if you tie the ends down. Perfect for checking the spreaders.

@@L-36 Thanks Allen. I will have to study the setup again as I thought at 1:08 you tightened the tails but I see at 2:14 they are slack.

@@Toob41 At 1:08 I am securing the halyard that raises the climbing line. Being slack is an important advantage and was a goal of all this research. Enjoy. Read the article on L-36.com as well. And be sure use the links to Amazon when you order your gear.🙂

@@L-36 Thank you 👍

You untie these knots with a knife. If you want to make something removable in Dyneema, use some variation of a soft shackle. There are many for many applications on L-36.com. I recommend using a splice but there are times and situations when you need a knot and that is what these are for. You don't have enough details for my understanding for me to answer your question. I sometimes just use 20 half hitches around a line to secure low force applications like you might be talking about. You can untie thoes.

@@L-36 wow, that is a quick reply indeed, thank you. I will look around first, as I can't paste pictures here it is a bit difficult to describe. I might come back later. Greetings

@@SamuelLanghorn You can upload a picture to Google Photo and post a link here. Like this. photos.app.goo.gl/ZtJtBrX2AyVZPSM37

@@L-36 Hi Allen, I tried, but somehow only saw you blue dyneema loop there, I left a message. Let's switch to email.

@@SamuelLanghorn I was just demonstrating how to upload a picture. Nothing special about the one I linked. You can contact me off my website.

'Carrick'?

Sailors, rock climbers, and arborist all are very close to their ropes.

😁

You are welcome. I am glad you enjoyed it.

You are welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.

Just watch the video every time before you go to your boat ;-)

Thank you so much. That is a very kind comment.

Thank you.

I don't recommend the GriGri for climbing. Too scary. Check out this video czcams.com/video/89w4pLANLvo/video.html