Of course you can machine sew the three rows below the step before inserting the pipe. And if you do a little measuring, also machine sew some rows above the pipe... leaving the last row and pipe hole stitching for doing by hand. (If you have a tight opening, round off the edge of the pipe a bit -- you'll be surprised how much easier it inserts.) For a home sewing machine like yours, and mine, I've learned that the heaviest needles I can use are 125/20 and the best thread I have is #138 Bonded Polyester for outdoor and marine (UV durable.) (Or get whatever Sailrite is recommending.) I don't know if the 125/20 needle is a 'ball needle' recommended for webbing. I've sewn a lot of webbing with them and they're great. I would recommend getting these needles for boat jobs. They're also better for Sunbrella (my other needles kept bending.) Nice ladder but.... I don't think I'll be making one. Rope ladders are always a pain. They always twist around willy nilly. The best single handed method I've seen for going up is a bosuns chair, or rock climbing harness and a bock and tackle ( four blocks (pulleys) so 4:1 mechanical advantage. You weigh 80 kg? All you're pulling against is 20 kg. You do need to attach to an additional safety line, and have a clutch for your block and pulley line. The rigger I saw just hoisted himself up. He had a large diameter rope but only so it would be easier to grip. There are also rock climbing ascenders, grisgris (for locking and safely rappelling down.) I'd also want a rope that wraps around the mast. This can control swinging and twisting and provide an instant brake if the other two lines have any issue. With just one hand you could safely lower yourself, or hold on while the other lines are sorted. I went the rock climbing route. There's a basic logic to it, but it's difficult to get it right. (I'm the guy who fixes everything, I couldn't quite get it right.) Take a class at a rock climbing gym and ask the instructor. But then you have to practice. I haven't done it in over a year, so it would have to be a real emergency before I'd attempt it. A competent person on a winch, power preferable, and going up in a bosun's chair on a halyard with a safety device on another halyard? Simple, efficient, quick. I had to do this last year to tape over some wires. Less than five minutes up and down.
One of the better ways to use a caving ladder is to place you heel into the step from the front rather than your toe from behind, in this way your body stayes more upright as when you step up your foot is pushing out behind you. having the ladder steps more narrow helps which is why some of the commersial ladders or etriers have a central tape with offset runs each side. with these if you anchor the base of the ladder and have the top tought the ladder won't move around as much and each run or step is out to the side of the mast. For climbing as you were I find the Petzel Gri Gri a better option as it can not only be used as an ascender but as a descender in one. it would also be worth using valcro straps evrey body length or so to hold the ladder to the mast as you climb when the boat is rolling to avoide crashing into the mast. If I'm on my own i also use a helmet to reduce being knocked out if there was an issue. it's good to encorrage people to try easier ways to do things solo but it also needs to be instilled that diong things like this solo incraases the rick to the climber if somthing unplanned happens like a shacjle snapping or stitching fails. as you are trying to instruct you might concider thinking about all the what ifs and what to do to avoide or deal with them and include them into your instruction before someone who has not given thought to these things blindly followes what you've shown and ends up making a wally of themselves. Please don't take this as a negitive critique although you are only trying to help people save a doller there is a reason commercial ladders are the price they are.🏴☠
It works. And it's cheap. It's a way I would have approached things. That said, after watching you and the first prototype I would change a few things. I will be using dyneema instead of nylon strap. When you climb, there is more stretch there than I like. As long as I file the holes in the rungs so they're not sharp, I could just run 4 or 5 mm dyneema through them with beads sewn on to keep the rungs in place. Secondly: I'd like the ladder to be more stable. I think the attachment of a slug for the masttrack on every three rungs or so would help with that in your case. in my use case I would be dealing with an unstayed mast without a track, so I would probably use 1/16" dyneema loops just to keep the ladder in place.
How about one or two sheets on each side, run to a cleat on the far side of the mast (forward if the ladder is sternward of the mast) to stabilize the ladder and stop it from spinning around the mast or flying backward from it? I love this! So much better than being hauled up by a halyard,
You pretty much showed everyone how difficult that ladder is. Apart from not being safely constructed, I can see it responding like all ladders do: it spins, hence you constantly have to be grabbing at other lines or the shrouds to keep your balance. It is an awful lot of work to get to the top. Also it is not a Prusik knot, it is a Prusik hitch. The safest and easiest method of climbing a mast is to get two hand ascenders and attach them with webbing to foot loops. The foot loops have a cross strap so they can't spread very wide. This strap can brace against the mast. Use 1 ascender on each of your halyards (or both on one halyard) and a Prusik hitch, attached to your harness, and hitched to a third line. Take up a belay device so that coming down is a simple abseil. That is the very safest and easiest method of climbing a mast cheaply as the only thing needed to buy aside from a harness (which you should already have) is a couple of ascenders and 3 metres of webbing. (Cheaply bought from lifting companies instead of chandleries) If you continue with the silly ladder method I can almost guarantee you that you will fall or at least sustain an injury at some point.
You are absolutely right, I made this video two years ago, and nowadays I probably wouldn't invest the effort in building the ladder. Before the ladder, I used climbing techniques to climb the mast, which are very efficient but require effort and are a bit uncomfortable when you're already working and doing things. However, it is surely the best method. The ladder works very well if each step is attached with a sail slide to the mast track, or with a rope that wraps around the mast, and you give it the right tension. In that case, it is comfortable to use, avoiding most of the problems with ladders. But it is always an aid to replace the foot straps; one must still use ascenders to secure to one (or two) halyards. I usually secure myself to two different ones. I have my doubts about republishing this video in English (the translation is automatic IA translation), but as far as I'm trying to shoow the full path of my Spanish channel, we decided to publish it..
@@lowcostsailor I think it's great you published it. All the things that don't work lead to the things that do. And we all learn from it. PS if you want foot stands once you get to the top it is very easy to make a pair and attach them using nothing more than Prusik hitches. Give it a try you'll be surprised.
@@lowcostsailor " I have my doubts about republishing this video in English (the translation is automatic IA translation)" is it true ? how ? anyway, useful video and the improvments are to the point. Thanks
Agree. I use the hand ascender method also but haul up a 11mm climbing rope attached to the halyard and to get down use a descender similar to but safer than a grigri. Also invest in a linesman type harness which is far more comfortable than a climbing harness.
No desconfío en tus habilidades para hablar inglés, ya que eres universitario y todo eso, pero hombre, por favor, dime que el video está hecho con alguna IA que te hace mover la boca, me está volviendo loco encontrarle un defecto jajajaja!!!! Excelente video, saludos!!!
Not me.. scared of heights. I'd rent a bucket truck and haul the boat on dry dock. Pricey but a LOT safer for a guy like me! If you can't afford it you can't afford the boat in the first place. I cut a 50 foot tree doing this and felt a LOT safer. Plan on doing this at least once/year as part of maintenance... perhaps when you're doing anti-fouling work below the waterline anyway. Lets face it you need a steel hulled boat if you're sailing off shore with a full keel and protected rudder. Maximum of 40 feet if single handed. Otherwise plan on staying near shore. Ever see Bernard Moitessier's Joshua? He's long gone but not his boat. That boat had shorter masts because it was a ketch, not a sloop. It was also separately stayed tell you what THAT is a BOAT!
The other thing you could do is the Bay of Fundy. Sure I've heard of peope pulling up there to lay their boat over for a few days to lay it over for anti-fouling, repaint, and to perform any mast checks while laid over. Then do it all over again on the other side. Of course to do this you'd need your whits about you but lets face it if you're a sailer you ain't exactly STUPID or you wouldn't be a sailer to begin with.
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Of course you can machine sew the three rows below the step before inserting the pipe. And if you do a little measuring, also machine sew some rows above the pipe... leaving the last row and pipe hole stitching for doing by hand. (If you have a tight opening, round off the edge of the pipe a bit -- you'll be surprised how much easier it inserts.)
For a home sewing machine like yours, and mine, I've learned that the heaviest needles I can use are 125/20 and the best thread I have is #138 Bonded Polyester for outdoor and marine (UV durable.) (Or get whatever Sailrite is recommending.)
I don't know if the 125/20 needle is a 'ball needle' recommended for webbing. I've sewn a lot of webbing with them and they're great. I would recommend getting these needles for boat jobs. They're also better for Sunbrella (my other needles kept bending.)
Nice ladder but.... I don't think I'll be making one. Rope ladders are always a pain. They always twist around willy nilly.
The best single handed method I've seen for going up is a bosuns chair, or rock climbing harness and a bock and tackle ( four blocks (pulleys) so 4:1 mechanical advantage. You weigh 80 kg? All you're pulling against is 20 kg. You do need to attach to an additional safety line, and have a clutch for your block and pulley line. The rigger I saw just hoisted himself up. He had a large diameter rope but only so it would be easier to grip.
There are also rock climbing ascenders, grisgris (for locking and safely rappelling down.) I'd also want a rope that wraps around the mast. This can control swinging and twisting and provide an instant brake if the other two lines have any issue. With just one hand you could safely lower yourself, or hold on while the other lines are sorted.
I went the rock climbing route. There's a basic logic to it, but it's difficult to get it right. (I'm the guy who fixes everything, I couldn't quite get it right.) Take a class at a rock climbing gym and ask the instructor. But then you have to practice. I haven't done it in over a year, so it would have to be a real emergency before I'd attempt it.
A competent person on a winch, power preferable, and going up in a bosun's chair on a halyard with a safety device on another halyard? Simple, efficient, quick. I had to do this last year to tape over some wires. Less than five minutes up and down.
Commenting to feed the algorithm, let's make it the most viewed youtube sailing channel!
Thank you !!
One of the better ways to use a caving ladder is to place you heel into the step from the front rather than your toe from behind, in this way your body stayes more upright as when you step up your foot is pushing out behind you. having the ladder steps more narrow helps which is why some of the commersial ladders or etriers have a central tape with offset runs each side. with these if you anchor the base of the ladder and have the top tought the ladder won't move around as much and each run or step is out to the side of the mast.
For climbing as you were I find the Petzel Gri Gri a better option as it can not only be used as an ascender but as a descender in one. it would also be worth using valcro straps evrey body length or so to hold the ladder to the mast as you climb when the boat is rolling to avoide crashing into the mast. If I'm on my own i also use a helmet to reduce being knocked out if there was an issue. it's good to encorrage people to try easier ways to do things solo but it also needs to be instilled that diong things like this solo incraases the rick to the climber if somthing unplanned happens like a shacjle snapping or stitching fails. as you are trying to instruct you might concider thinking about all the what ifs and what to do to avoide or deal with them and include them into your instruction before someone who has not given thought to these things blindly followes what you've shown and ends up making a wally of themselves. Please don't take this as a negitive critique although you are only trying to help people save a doller there is a reason commercial ladders are the price they are.🏴☠
You need to run a spell check, so many words misspelled.
@@ntal5859 Thank you for your observation
Ahora sí que lo vais a petar! Os deseo un éxito enorme.
Lo dudo, pero bueno, hay que intentarlo..
It works. And it's cheap. It's a way I would have approached things. That said, after watching you and the first prototype I would change a few things. I will be using dyneema instead of nylon strap. When you climb, there is more stretch there than I like. As long as I file the holes in the rungs so they're not sharp, I could just run 4 or 5 mm dyneema through them with beads sewn on to keep the rungs in place. Secondly: I'd like the ladder to be more stable. I think the attachment of a slug for the masttrack on every three rungs or so would help with that in your case. in my use case I would be dealing with an unstayed mast without a track, so I would probably use 1/16" dyneema loops just to keep the ladder in place.
How about one or two sheets on each side, run to a cleat on the far side of the mast (forward if the ladder is sternward of the mast) to stabilize the ladder and stop it from spinning around the mast or flying backward from it?
I love this! So much better than being hauled up by a halyard,
I used a 50 ft fire ladder - $50. Still need to get the tension correct so climb is easier. Use 2nd halyard as safety to harness.
Excelente trabajo! Gracias 🤙
Gracias!
good job, well done
Thanks!
You pretty much showed everyone how difficult that ladder is. Apart from not being safely constructed, I can see it responding like all ladders do: it spins, hence you constantly have to be grabbing at other lines or the shrouds to keep your balance. It is an awful lot of work to get to the top.
Also it is not a Prusik knot, it is a Prusik hitch.
The safest and easiest method of climbing a mast is to get two hand ascenders and attach them with webbing to foot loops. The foot loops have a cross strap so they can't spread very wide. This strap can brace against the mast.
Use 1 ascender on each of your halyards (or both on one halyard) and a Prusik hitch, attached to your harness, and hitched to a third line. Take up a belay device so that coming down is a simple abseil.
That is the very safest and easiest method of climbing a mast cheaply as the only thing needed to buy aside from a harness (which you should already have) is a couple of ascenders and 3 metres of webbing. (Cheaply bought from lifting companies instead of chandleries)
If you continue with the silly ladder method I can almost guarantee you that you will fall or at least sustain an injury at some point.
You are absolutely right, I made this video two years ago, and nowadays I probably wouldn't invest the effort in building the ladder. Before the ladder, I used climbing techniques to climb the mast, which are very efficient but require effort and are a bit uncomfortable when you're already working and doing things. However, it is surely the best method. The ladder works very well if each step is attached with a sail slide to the mast track, or with a rope that wraps around the mast, and you give it the right tension. In that case, it is comfortable to use, avoiding most of the problems with ladders. But it is always an aid to replace the foot straps; one must still use ascenders to secure to one (or two) halyards. I usually secure myself to two different ones. I have my doubts about republishing this video in English (the translation is automatic IA translation), but as far as I'm trying to shoow the full path of my Spanish channel, we decided to publish it..
@@lowcostsailor I think it's great you published it. All the things that don't work lead to the things that do. And we all learn from it.
PS if you want foot stands once you get to the top it is very easy to make a pair and attach them using nothing more than Prusik hitches. Give it a try you'll be surprised.
@@lowcostsailor " I have my doubts about republishing this video in English (the translation is automatic IA translation)" is it true ? how ?
anyway, useful video and the improvments are to the point. Thanks
Agree. I use the hand ascender method also but haul up a 11mm climbing rope attached to the halyard and to get down use a descender similar to but safer than a grigri. Also invest in a linesman type harness which is far more comfortable than a climbing harness.
No desconfío en tus habilidades para hablar inglés, ya que eres universitario y todo eso, pero hombre, por favor, dime que el video está hecho con alguna IA que te hace mover la boca, me está volviendo loco encontrarle un defecto jajajaja!!!! Excelente video, saludos!!!
9:00 OK, so you don't fall, makes sense. If the ladder or halyard fails, how do you get down again??
a simple remote attached to an electric winch, easy.
Yeah as an electronic engineer I disagree, remotes can be dropped or fail, then what, how you getting down.
Not me.. scared of heights. I'd rent a bucket truck and haul the boat on dry dock. Pricey but a LOT safer for a guy like me! If you can't afford it you can't afford the boat in the first place. I cut a 50 foot tree doing this and felt a LOT safer. Plan on doing this at least once/year as part of maintenance... perhaps when you're doing anti-fouling work below the waterline anyway. Lets face it you need a steel hulled boat if you're sailing off shore with a full keel and protected rudder. Maximum of 40 feet if single handed. Otherwise plan on staying near shore. Ever see Bernard Moitessier's Joshua? He's long gone but not his boat. That boat had shorter masts because it was a ketch, not a sloop. It was also separately stayed tell you what THAT is a BOAT!
The other thing you could do is the Bay of Fundy. Sure I've heard of peope pulling up there to lay their boat over for a few days to lay it over for anti-fouling, repaint, and to perform any mast checks while laid over. Then do it all over again on the other side. Of course to do this you'd need your whits about you but lets face it if you're a sailer you ain't exactly STUPID or you wouldn't be a sailer to begin with.
You sure are certain of your opinions.