Years ago, while delivering s/v Tangerine from the
Marquesas Islands to Vancouver, we heard a loud bang as something crashed to
the deck. We were both below at the time, but instantaneously were both up in
the cockpit – no backstay! Dirk dropped the head sail and while I bagged it, he
dropped the main and we flaked it. From the crash on deck to the sails down,
the time could have been measured in seconds. The mast held! The seas had a
rolling swell, fairly short but not breaking, so the forces on the mast had not
led to its failure.
A week earlier we were recovering from several days of
assault by hurricane Diana, ending with our motoring through her windless eye. If
we had lost the backstay then, the mast would have been gone. At that time we
were at 17degrees N - 129 degrees W, about 1100 miles from the closest land and
the next two tropical storms of the season tracked through that area in the
following two weeks. Matsu, Goddess of the Sea, had watched over us again.
We ran a halyard to the stern to temporarily support the
mast and Dirk held out two straws, I drew one, Dirk lost. With Dirk in the
bosun’s chair, me on the winch hoisting, we managed a jury rigged backstay that
held to Vancouver. Even given the improved
swell conditions, Dirk was in a world of hurt for several days from the beating
he took against the swaying mast.
This event led me to years of debate on the merits of mast
step versus the weakening of the mast structure. I am now convinced there is no
detrimental structural effect if the installation is done correctly.
Unfortunately, I reached that conclusion after Yachttech www.yachttech.com
in Sydney had fabricated and stepped the
new mast, but I decided it was worth the effort to install them in situ (okay,
that’s a construction term not a nautical term…).
The
next decision was what style of step to use? A flat bar strap bent into an
enclosed step profile is the most common style and if made with the right
thickness of flat bar is probably the most stable. Also, your foot is
restrained by the step design but the step is permanently there and notorious
for fouling lines, halyards and sails. The folding steps intrigued me and I
ended with the Netherland’s made Karver Mast Step made of fiberglass reinforced
nylon. They have a swl of 140 kgs, lock
into the folded position so they will not rattle nor catch halyards, are
noncorrosive and UV resistant. Blanchard Rigging on Hornby Island www.blanchardrigging.com is the
importer and gave a good price for quantities greater than 20 or 24.
“So you’re gonna put some mast steps on – how many?” These jobs are all about an endless number of
small details that take time, lots of time. Tie a 100’/ 30m tape to a mast head
halyard and tie a messenger line on as well. Use the messenger line to pull the
halyard back down because without it the tape will break, the halyard will go
to the top of the mast and you still don’t have mast steps so you will be in
the bosun’s chair retrieving it! No, I did not do that, I know about Murphy so
the messenger line was on from the beginning.
First locate the spreader heights and the top of mast
height. Check for interference from shrouds and stays. Calculate your number of
steps required by using a 400 to 450mm (16” to 18”) step height divided into
the deck to first spreader increment, first spreader to second spreader and
second spreader to about 900 to 1200mm (3’ to 4’) below the top of the mast
where you will want a step on both sides of the mast for comfort during
extended work projects. The rest of the steps are staggered on alternate sides
and some may be skipped completely at mast mounted winches closer to deck
level.
“Time to head up there – oh yah, what
about safety?” Having come from the world of construction, I have a 5 point
harness with D rings and lanyards. I also have a long length of ¾” braid and a
sliding cam lock sized for the ¾”. When you see people on the sides of high
rise buildings in swing stages or bosun’s chairs they are required to have a
secondary restraint system. This is the same system I use. I would recommend
not using a halyard for the cam lock as the jaws will chafe the halyard, use
the halyard to pull up a working line.
I tend to over design things in an effort to achieve a
failsafe system. It may take a little longer to install but I have never
regretted the extra effort even if it was only for peace of mind, Mags’ peace
of mind. The picture above shows 3 machine or tech screws holding the step and
I have read recommendations for using pop rivets as mounting hardware. I have
seen tech screws and pop rivets fail in construction applications and if there
are 5 holes available why not use them all? They are not close enough together
nor sufficient in number to structurally weaken the mast.
So the decision was: 5 - #10 – 32 (NF) 18-8 stainless steel
machine screws per step. I would have used 316 stainless if it had been
available but the 18-8 will do and the national fine thread engages more lineal
mm/in of thread. To drill and tap 5 screws with the tolerance necessary to fit
the step requires a fair attention to detail and precision. Initially I thought
a template would be best but ended with just measuring the double step increments
and using the step itself to pencil mark the holes. Center punch the marks to
ensure the drill does not wander and I did use a small drill bit as a pilot
hole to see that it was still centered before drilling the tap hole size. The
tap drill often is sold in the package with the 10-32 tap and size does matter
so use the correct drill. I have a T spinner handle for the tap and would
recommend getting one. The mast is probably not too thick of an extrusion on
the sides so you do not want to strip any threads. The right tool for turning
the tap in and patience will make every hole good. When starting a tap apply
even pressure turning slightly more than a quarter turn and then back spin to
break the cutting free, continuing until the tap is turning freely. Aluminum
galls easily so use a cutting compound, WD40 works, while cutting the thread
and be patient. When finished the 5
screw holes clean the WD40 from the mast, apply 5200 as a bedding compound to
the base of the step and put the first screw in dry and not tight. The remaining
screws get Lanocote, or equal dielectric grease, spread on the threads prior to
placing and tightening. Remove the first screw and put Lanocote on it and
tighten. Hand screw the machine screws, don’t use a drill to set them and be
careful not to over tighten as you can easily strip the tapped threads. Also,
if I was going to put Lanocote on the first machine screw anyway, why didn’t I
do it in the beginning? Unless you are better than I am at standing on one
foot, applying caulking to the step, but not too much at the screw holes,
getting a screw from your pouch and screwing the step onto the mast without
smearing caulking all over the tapped holes, all done while you added Lanocote
to the screw, oh yah, and don’t drop anything because you are up a mast with
water all around you, - the extra step of a preliminary screw wasn’t so bad!
This probably explains why I have no pictures of the process.
So now that you have finished the first
step while standing on the deck, I should mention the importance of putting
lanyards on all tools. If you don’t, you will make some hardware store owner
rich because water is a tool magnet. I
spent the better part of 3 beautiful days completing this job. Just knowing the
steps are there makes me sleep easier. Not having to scramble up the lower
shrouds and halyards to get to the lower spreader to spot for coral heads while
entering a new anchorage made it all worthwhile. Now that vantage point can be
the upper spreader with even better visibility. Although our rigging is new,
shit happens and it is nice to know we have a chance to inspect and repair
problems. Mast head lights, antennas, wind ‘ducers and all are accessible and
the top of the mast makes a great photo location too!
To all of those who work with tools, I apologize for the
minutia of details but if this description makes one person say, “I can do that”
and know they did it correctly, it was worth my time. Anyway, the people who
didn’t want all the detail quit reading at the top of the first page! Also, to
any members of the Bluewater Sailing Assoc, Fleet of 2013, who have heard me
espouse the virtues of mast steps and are thinking, “Is this the only damn job
he has done on that boat?” the answer would be “No, but few other jobs have
left the same satisfaction.”
