Mast steps

Hmmmm................You have obviously seen the light!!

Mast steps are of no use to a true sailor.

Best of luck "giving" them away. Try your local scrap metal dealer. They might be worth a tenner.

Depends on the size of your mask/pole

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santanasaga said..
I disagree. Mast steps are one of the most important items for a short handed sailor.

but the better vision for piloting, seeing reef passes, catching errant halyards and rigging checks make them a cruising must in my book. Who agrees?

Yep, that's why i just installed them on my new mast.

Doing it, putting them on, now

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fishmonkey said..

cisco said..
Mast steps are of no use to a true sailor.

why is that?

I do not like the extra windage and weight aloft and they tend to snag halliards and topping lifts.

As far as going up the mast is concerned, I am a bit too old and fragile for that any more. I just would not do it in a seaway. When in port or at anchor I would consider doing it with a "Top Climber" or similar with safety lines and a descent control person on deck.

If the mast head needs maintenance (replacing halliard sheaves) the only sensible way to do that is to lower the mast. If the tri light fails I will use my other nav lights until in port again.

There is the temptation with mast steps, and I notice santanasaga has fallen into it, to go up the mast without a harness and safety line. If I want greater height for lookout purposes, I think boom height is sufficient.

Besides all that I think they are damned ugly.

Call me youngish and stupid but I climb mine all the time, no harness. Rigging checks are done regularly that way. I have very few halyard wraps. Have used VB cord between steps to reduce that on another boat. Agree not a racing addition to a boat but cruising is about practicality not performance.

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Lazzarae said..

I just sold my TopClimber & installed nice lightweight fold up steps because it was just getting too hard with the top climber - not getting any younger!!

When you climbed my shortish mast at Lake Macquarie Yacht Club two years ago with your Top Climber I was most appreciative even though we did not get a result. Thanks mate.

Do you really think mast steps require less effort than a Top Climber?? It is the same weight going the same distance up using legs and arms.

mastmate.com have another option

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Lazzarae said..

cisco said..


Do you really think mast steps require less effort than a Top Climber?? It is the same weight going the same distance up using legs and arms.

The mast is solid/stable the top climber is a rope & swings about a bit, no matter how tight you get it.

MY fat gut isn't helping either!!!!

must be about beer o clock time by now Lazza

Hang on! Before we condemn all mast steps ever made as ugly, cumbersome, heavy etc. perhaps we should have a look at the modern light weight foldable ones. There are good mast steps out there worth their weight in gold.

I agree with Cisco on the point, those steps are indeed an eye sore. They are dog ugly and l guess prone to snag everything blown their way.

Meg1122! Would you be able to provide a foto of your mast steps? Please.

This is for Sirgallivant, me up the mast, the steps were extremely light weight, you can see the upper steps are still folded in, the lower extended, there were no snag points once folded in to their brakets. You could climb in your bosuns chair and remain safe, having the steps made the climb a lot easier and more comfortable and resting along the way was not a problem.

Thank you Meg1122!
It is on my wish-list as well.

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Meg1122 said..

This is for Sirgallivant, me up the mast, the steps were extremely light weight, you can see the upper steps are still folded in, the lower extended, there were no snag points once folded in to their brakets. You could climb in your bosuns chair and remain safe, having the steps made the climb a lot easier and more comfortable and resting along the way was not a problem.

I installed the same:

As a full time cruiser and often a single handed cruiser I wouldn't even consider leaving home without mast steps.

I don't like using them but if I have to use them I always do so in conjunction with a bosuns-chair or harness depending on the situation.

I much prefer to climb the mast (or have someone climb it for me) with a second person on a safety line attached to a control point.

NOW, for those that have steps and never used them, let me tell you, it is hard work climbing straight up and if you are not used to it be prepared for very sore thighs the next day.

Climbing a mast in a marina or calm anchorage or marina is one thing, climbing one in a seaway with a rolling boat is just plain dangerous, even with a harness, chair etc. So you have to consider whether the problem you are experiencing aloft is worth the risk of going aloft. Some problems aloft can't be resolved without physical intervention while others can be resolved with a sharp knife and a deep wallet.

If your problem aloft is electrical then learn to live without whatever it is and make adjustments. If it's a sail problem it's time to put the thinking cap on.

About 40'ish years ago a woman put out a distress call to a passing ship in the Atlantic Ocean. He husband had gone aloft using some sort of self climbing gear. It had jammed and he was stuck aloft. The ship hove too and rendered assistance and managed to haul her now very deceased husband from aloft. He had been up there over 40 hours.

Like I first said, I think mast steps are an essential part of cruising gear (just have a look at the serious cruising yachts, not the lightweight charter imports). Good ones add almost no weight or windage and like your EPIRB it's something you pay money for hoping you don't have to use it. It's a bit like having a decent motor in your boat, much better to have more horsepower than you need most of the time than just not having enough all of the time.

I used a Mastmate on two yachts, sold it as my current boat has a taller stick. It worked well and could be stowed away when not needed. Having lugs in the sail track made it quite stable for climbing, but with any much rocking of the hull, you'd still swing side to side a bit. Keep in mind that to have the stabilising benefit of fitting it in the mast track, you have to remove the mainsail / lugs. Like any steps, there's a fair step up each time, hard on older thighs/calve muscles. You can get the Mastmate made with shorter spaces between each step and I'd do that if ordering another one.

I have non folding steps like Santanasaga's on my current yacht. No problems with halyards hooked around them as long as I look up and clear them before hauling up the main. When moored, I will intentionally flip the main halyard round a step before tensioning it to stop halyard mast slap. Easy.

I have heard that the varying angles of mast steps significantly increase a yacht's radar identification - different angles like the reflector you pay money for. I'm not sure if this is true, and it'll be less of an issue over the next few years as AIS becomes more common / mandatory for coastal cruising yachts.