Mast steps recomendation

[marsan]

Looking to install a mast steps for 47-foot sailboat,I am on solo crossing from Panama to Hilo have like 1200 nm left:-)

Mast is painted 64' what to get and how to install it also spacing, prefer brand, and what to use machine screws or rivets, i will just hated if it will make some kind noice during sailing :-)

Big thanks

[grantmc]

Mast steps are incredibly useful when you need to climb. Especially so when you're by yourself obviously and for myself hating heights, I feel safer on the steps. I still use a safety line. I've never noticed them causing wind noise. Mine are a little too far apart for my little legs. They're screwed and I prefer that as periodically I could (I never have) unscrew and check. The steps were fabricated by an engineers shop.

I thought you might find this video useful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7JmKUcKTWY&t=226s

[scherzoja]

I made and installed my mast steps out of 5000 series aluminum (6061 will break when bending). A local aluminum fabricator supplied the 2" x 20" strips and I bent them myself.

3/16" thick (1/8" thick was too flexible).
Fastened with five machine screws (3 on lower end, 2 on upper end) (#10 round head for hex key/allen wrench with lock washer). Threads and washers were coated with tef-gel.

For my body proportions (5' 8" tall), 14" is a comfortable vertical separation.
Boom and halyard winches are the first couple of steps and spreaders are another step.

Plan your steps so when you step up onto the spreaders, you use you dominant foot/arm combination to make that transition as safe as possible. In my case (right foot/hand dominant), my left foot is the last step just under the spreaders so I use my right arm to step up onto the spreaders with my right leg.

I could not fit a step at the correct spot under the spreaders because of the lower shrouds, so I used a stainless steel foldable mast step. It's up close to the lower shroud mast tangs and those shrouds keep my foot from slipping off.

I have two steps at same elevation near the mast head so, when standing in them, my waste is lower than the mast head. With this pair of steps, I can look down on the masthead fittings/instruments.

The steps are 2" wide and have four bends. I made a bending clamp that I slipped over the aluminum and bent using a pipe wrench. That gave me more control than whacking it with a hammer and applied force across the whole 2" width. The combination of the bench vice and my custom bending clamp demanded a bending sequence; otherwise, if bend from one end to the other, the tools got in the way and I'd be unable to finish the bends. This is likely unique to my specific setup, but might apply to you. Bending sequence: bend the lower screw flange, then upper screw flange, then the two middle bends (that form the step for the foot placement).

I drilled the holes in the steps after bending. When installing on the mast, I drilled, tapped, screwed one hole at a time. Fortunately, the mast was on sawhorses, so this was easy.

To prevent halyards from catching the steps, I installed small pad eyes to the outside of the 2" vertical face and ran 1/8" dyneema up through all of them, lashed at both ends.
Pad eyes like this: https://www.bosunsupplies.com/S3719-0004.html

Depending on where you are, you might be able to take the specs to a fabricator and they can cut/bend for you. Attached is the diagram.

Regarding safety, steps make it very easy to climb the mast and I end up spending time up there just admiring the view. I have a climbing harness attached with two separate prussik loops (one longer than the other) to a dedicated climbing rope. Loops are clipped to the harness with their own carabiners. I use a halyard to haul up a dedicated climbing rope for the prussik loops. I also have a "waist" line clipped onto the harness (using their own carabiners) that I wrap around the mast when I am at the top (or whatever stopping point). It's also short enough to catch me if I fall. Additionally, this line allows me to extend my feet and work hands free, pressing outward against the waist line. If I'm just going up for a quickie in calm conditions, I omit the rope/prussiks and just clip in with the waist line and harness.

I should have taken more time to round off the edges of the 9" angles sections to make it more comfortable to grip with my hands.

[Nekton73]

Nice job on the bent aluminum steps. A boat in our yard has something similar. Do they make a lot of noise when the wind is up?


Edit: I just reread your post and looked closer at the picture and now see the padeyes and dyneema solution.

[scherzoja]

Thank you for the complement regarding the steps.

When the wind speed is up, I don't know how much additional noise the steps make. Things are already noisy and whatever additional noise is produced by the steps, it's not a lot. I also didn't pay much attention to the high-wind noise. I did listen for additional noise in low wind conditions and there is very little that I can attribute to the mast steps.

I'm cognizant of wind noise because an in-mast main and that slot makes a good howl when the wind is on the beam with main stowed, unless I run the cloth flute stopper up. This is only bothersome in light winds. That's why I listen in light winds.

The convenience of the steps far outweighs any additional noise.

[OldManMirage]

I installed these from SeaDog Marine...

https://defender.com/en_us/sea-dog-f...-step-328025-1

I'm very happy with the results. I use the lower half of them all the time to put my dinghy hoist on and off. For that I don't use a harness or anything, I just climb up and down, it's not quite to the spreaders.

Not pushing my channel but there is video on there about both the steps and my dinghy hoist - which is just a block and tackle arraignment but I'm super happy with that too.

[Onthewater222]

What about safety harness set ups to suit?

[scherzoja]

Here's what I use when climbing the mast.

One dedicated line for climbing mast
One climbing harness
Four screw gate carabiners
Two prusik loops
One waist line


I haul up a dedicated line with spare halyard (Mainsail is in-mast roller furl, so that is out, but have two spare main halyards). This line is 11 mm climbing rope (static rope). Prusiks go on this line.

Harness is Black Diamond Momentum harness, REI part number: 8809330009

Carabiners: Black Diamond screw gate, REI part number: 7102160012

Waist line: 1/2" (or 5/8"?) double braid polyester with eye in both ends

Prusik lines: still testing lines, some too stiff and don't grab quickly, others too tight. One loop is short, one long. I have two prusik loops. These attach to the harness with their own carabiners and the loops are attached to the static line

Harness is adequate, but have not spent more than about 45 minutes at a time. So far no issues with circulation, but I'm not fat.

I have two sets of steps near the masthead so I can stand with my head around masthead height or, with the higher steps, with my waist at that masthead.

Waist line allows me to be tethered to the mast and just lean out to relax.

When I need to swing out to the spreaders, I just unclip the waist line and swing out. Reattach the waist line to keep me at the spreaders until job complete.

[Woody]

I'm a big fan of these. https://mastmate.com/


The boat I used this on had a separate sail track for a storm trysail so it set up quickly with a spare halyard. It stored away easily in a small locker.

Highly recommended.


I also used a harness when climbing, with a combination of friction hitches on a static line for securely ascending. You can find mechanical devices for that here: https://www.treestuff.com/climbing/c...t-and-descent/


It would also be possible to climb on a static line with a harness and ascenders/friction hitches. You can learn more about this technique by searching for SRT (single rope technique) on arborist sites. This is quite a rabbit hole to dive into if you are new to climbing though, so perhaps a bit too advanced to begin. I think the mast steps in combination with a backup harness and attachments give the most flexibility and redundancy.


Arborist suppliers have an incredible selection of climbing gear, including harnesses. If you're looking for a comfortable harness (saddle) to hang in for longer periods of time, they can't be beat.

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by Woody

I'm a big fan of these. https://mastmate.com/
....

Woody have you actually used them? I am somewhat doubtful. Or do you think that they sound like a good idea?

I have a set of these for emergency. The problem with them is that they absolutely crush your feet. Your own weight causes the steps to tighten on the foot taking the weight. In order to use them I had to also source and buy a special pair of boots that had super strong soles that wouldn't bend. Even then, spending more than 10 minutes aloft and your feet are screaming in pain. As I said they are only useful in an emergency.

And I note that in all the pictures of the web site advertising, the men (yes of course they're all macho men), climbing are all wearing very sturdy boots.

Great idea, but the implementation sucks.

Oh I've just found this on their web site:
"Sail Batten Stiffeners

Even I will admit that one of the difficulties in using the mast mate while standing and doing work in the top adjacent steps is foot fatigue. This is caused by the very thing that makes the mast mate so safe to climb, the flexible webbing that surrounds and grips your feet as you climb. But, when you stand in the steps for any length of time, (ed. like 2 minutes) this grip and flexing also causes foot fatigue (ed. read severe pain).

In the past this has been dealt with by finding ways to lessen the pressure on the feet by either leaning back in the workbelt or climbing harness or by sitting in the bosuns chair. Now there is a way to even lessen this pressure more by using a stiffener in the bottom of the top double steps. The stiffener is a strip of sturdy sail batten stock with rubber cap ends which slides securely into a pocket formed by the double webbing reinforcer. This provides a stiff bottom on the adjacent top steps which prevents them from collapsing around the foot. A pair of stiffeners is now included with every Mast Mate at no additional cost."

So that sounds sort of good, but I can't imagine trying to fit the 2 stiffeners to two separate steps 12 mtrs off my deck. And you're feet are already struggling with the pian from half way up anyways. Yeah, nah, not a real solution, sorry, but I appreciate their attempt to fix the reality that the system really sucks.

I should have saved the $200.

[MicHughV]

I had self installed mast steps on my first boat. They were formed from round aluminum pipe, about 1" in diameter, rolled flat on the bottom for your feet and the top and bottom were flattened so that they could lay flat against the mast. Both the top and bottom were attached to the mast with four roundhead screws at each end. Seem to remember they were 3/16" or 1/4" dia. I liked the smaller diameter as it allowed for more threads in the mast wall.
I drilled and tapped all the holes and sealed with 5200 as I was attaching the step.

I started at the bottom, and just continued up the mast, alternating sides every 16". Just below the spreaders and near the mast top, I placed a pair of steps directly across from each other, so that I could stand there if working on the spreaders or masthead.

I loved them, and as I was doing a lot of single handing in those days, was often shimmying up and down the mast for one reason or another.
Never had an issues with halyards wrapping in the steps. All my halyards were external and on occasion would fall in between steps, but a quick flick of the halyard would clear them.

I've seen similar steps that had a small strip of teak attached to the lower step part of the mast step, but whether this provided better traction I could not say.

I'm a big fan of mast steps and they have proved their worth for me.