Yesterday started as a basic boat day. I woke up on our Gemini sailing catamaran and took our Pomeranian for a “grass run”. Two cups of coffee later and I reviewed a batch of mail that had been forwarded.
Tap Tap Tap….. sounded the knock on the boat. The captain of our fellow dockside catamaran was in need of a traditional boson’s chair. Always happy to pay forward help that others have provided me, I unloaded our provisioning berth and retrieved our TopClimber® gear.
Helping them helped me twice. Condensation was on all the plastic containers at the rear of the berth. So, help one was discovering the condensation buildup problem and being able to place our dehumidifier in the “room” to pull moisture.
As boat neighbor, Captain Mike, considered whether the TopClimber gear was an improvement over his own, he looked over at YachtAFun and asked, “is your tricolor supposed to be horizontal”.
Note the chip out of the light’s base and the missing red/green/white lens
He was observant. Our catamaran’s combination anchor light / tricolor light had snapped off its mounting and completely lost the tricolor lens.
To see what that light fixture looked like in September of 2014, jump to post “Top to the Tank”
A new combination fixture will be on our maintenance list. Finding the best value will take a few runs through the marine supply web sites. No doubt, its replacement won’t be cheap.
Trust me. The TopClimber® works well. But, it’s a lot easier to use if you have done so in less than 16 months. I bet my thighs and back muscles will be sore for a couple of days as a result of making the assent, and descent, to verify the problem.
A Gemini’s mast height is about 46 feet off the water
The TopClimber® demo at the boat shows makes a mast ascent look easy- and if you are moderately fit, it is easy. At the boat shows the person doing the demo also makes the ascent process look fast. And it can be fast IF you don’t mind rocking WAY back in the chair harness. By rocking back, you can move your leg harness’s shunt styled ascender higher than if you remain more vertical with your back.
I’m comfortable with rocking back in the boson chair harness when six feet off the deck- but not comfortable when up forty feet! The reality ascent ( and descent) for me is increments of about eight inches a move. AND, I always have a safety line tended by a helper when going higher than the first spreader.
Alex at the top of Yacht A Fun
The story / blog of Yacht A Fun, a Gemini catamaran sailboat, traveling the ICW and east coast with insights to the extended cruising life. TopClimber