ATN MastClimber - NEW Design - Mast Climber from ATN

[@sailingstpommedeterre4905]

THANK YOU Sailrite for making this video. I will be climbing my mast tomorrow (03Apr2023)...which I never did before. Your instruction video is very straightforward. I'll let you know how it goes.

[@vincebednar5381]

We just used ours for the first time yesterday, and we couldn't be happier! Once I got used to using it (after only a few minutes) this product worked exactly as advertised. I felt perfectly safe using it. I went up the mizzen without a safety line to untangle a flag halyard from the man overboard pole with no problems. When I went up the main to install our wind inst., my friends insisted on tying me off with a safety line. Looking back I felt more comfortable and safer without it. Being so high up it was hard to hear each other and we couldn't get a good rythem to get me down smoothly.

[@SailriteDIY]

Comment from Etienne Giroire (ATN Inc) - With the mastmate, you cannot go work on the spreader'ends. Using the mastmate an extra chair is needed to sit on and to free your hands. I know of many 60+ using their ATN Mastclimber often, and while it is not as obvious to use as the mastmate initially, it is not rocket science and after a few trials, it gets easier & feels very comfortable, much better than standing and holding yourself on a soft webbing ladder. Thanks for the opportunity to respond.

[@SailriteDIY]

@FullCanvasMedia It is always wise to either have a safety line or wear a separate harness with second halyard and have someone on deck taking up the slack. Descent is really just as easy. We may add that video next spring. It would be very hard to get inverted. Straps can be secured very tight and if you tried to invert, you could recover before falling out of the harness. I must admit I have never been in this position, nor have I felt in danger of inverting when using the ATN Mastclimber.

[@prjacobs]

Nice video, Matt. I watched it this evening, after climbing my 41' mast four times today using a "Mast Mate" mast climbing system. The "Mast Mate" system is better, safer, and easier to use. It also requires less strength, a bonus for a "sixty-plus" like me, especially when you discover you left your screw driver in the cockpit! Also, you are not "out there" on a rope, instead you're climbing up a portable set of steps held firmly to the mast. PS I have no financial interest in "Mast Mate".

[@humanbeing2009]

Don't trust shackles or splices ever. Bowlines only! She should have had a safety line to something like the topping lift or another halyard using a Prusik knot to slide along as she went.

[@peterogilvie9246]

The foot loops on harness are connected together. Way more stable to climb with your feet on each side of mast. You can climb only using one hand with the other hanging on to the mast as a stabilizer. You can also loop a rope and your waist and the mast to to stabilize you. Tried climbing with the line attached outboard and it is more challenging. Unless you have a need to attach the climbing line outboard, it's way better to attach it to the mast or near the mast base. Even with the climbing line attached at the mast base was able to work on spreader tips on my 28' boat. Use a Klemheist or Prusik Knot as a safety line on another halyard. I use one safety line and keep another in the bag that goes up with me. Figured out if the climbing line breaks, I'd be stuck up the mast hanging from the Prusik knot line and have no way to climb down. Added an additional saftety line to the kit to use as a foot harness to lower myself back down. Didn't want to have to call the Fire Department if I ended up suspended by the safety line. I'm 73, over weight and not in great shape but regularly go up the mast with the Mast Climber. When I first got it several years ago climbed to the mast head just to get familiar with it. Looked at the headstay and discovered two broken wires at the swage. The Mast Climber probably saved me from losing the stick.

[@FullCanvasMedia]

Nice video - if you ever do a additional videos, a demonstration of descending the line would be great. The reason for this is that line ascenders available for climbing and caving are difficult to use on descent, and this unit appears to be much easier to use - a real benefit. Do you recommend using a safety line with this? Will this unit retain you if you are inverted?

[@BruceMoodysails]

Just tried out my ATN mast climber today. I felt absolutely secure and was able to work at the top of the mast, with both hands. No worries there. My problem is that with each movement up or down, I spent most of my effort trying to prevent the mast climber's line jammers from scraping the paint. I got through the trip up and down with minor scratches, but if I am to use this on a regular basis, I will have to fashion some kind of covering where the jammers meet the mast. It's a workable solution when you have to climb the mast alone. But, when some is around, I would certainly opt for my bosuns chair.

[@adventureswithfrodo2721]

Just cover the ascender exterior with some pieces of inner fube.. slice it open and contact cement it on..

[@azoresmarine]

Its a great idea but if something hapens to your single haylyard your are done. I would have to have a safety line.

[@SailriteDIY]

azoresmarine Always a good practice! Thanks!

[@johnx9318]

Cassie didn't come down. Problem?

[@rockymnthodad3047]

I have one of these and I tried it on a tree in my yard first.... first thing I learned was in order to come back down you have to unload the bottom/foot clutch and if you can't bend your knees up high enough to do that while sitting in the chair and working the clutch at the same time, you are not able to lower !

[@obkcaptain]

Climbing at the top to replace the wind vane?...Why not?

[@erichschinzel6486]

Trouble is one keeps spinning around the halyard..besides its hard to find a tie off point in front of the mast, not too far and not too near away from the mast..

[@Josef_R]

Erich Schinzel So the people here who said that it works great are doing it wrong?

[@erichschinzel6486]

Not really..I didn't say it doesn't work, but it has limitations.

[@Josef_R]

Erich Schinzel I doubt if there's a better solution for going up the mast solo.

[@erichschinzel6486]

After I have been up the mast a few times tings getting easier. You are right, there isn't anything better. It works fine when I need to do some work on the very top.

[@Josef_R]

Erich Schinzel I used mine last weekend for the first time. I tied it off at the base of the mast on a hook that was there. That is one thing I would like to never do again in my life time. I didn't use it, but I have a chest harness that wraps around the mast and then back to the chest harness which would slow the swinging. I would use that if I had to go up again.

[@GoofieNewfie69]

There is a reason that organizations like UIAA and CEN exist. They certify climbing equipment to an internationally recognized standard. Would you trust your life to a cheap knok-off life vest or a quality certified one. Whats wrong with frayed sheets and halyards, they still hold strain right

[@GoofieNewfie69]

Is this UIAA certified?

[@SailriteDIY]

+Mazda rx7 No, they are not, sorry.

[@GoofieNewfie69]

Then it must be CEN certified

[@kevinmcneill468]

Why

[@christianmyrill6127]

need a safety line

[@hldevore]

"Just reverse the process"!!?? Would be a better video if you actually showed that! The ATN instructions say something about the release pin without identifying how or what that is

[@rayman59]

Looks great, would look even better if you were to have a safety line. Things do go wrong

[@MaximusPanin]

Never use a Climber without fixation on the chest, especially on your own. This will save you from turning over when you lose consciousness and will not let you hang upside down for a long time - this is deadly.

[@adventureswithfrodo2721]

Buy a book called on rope. A book for cavers on asscending and descending ropes.

[@toddwever4916]

I would never trust a schackel to a cleat. Use a knot, much more safe!