bosun chair vs harness

[Jose-Maria Castro]

Hi, I am looking for the best alternative to climb the sail mast. My final list puts ATN mastclimber and the Brion Toss harness. I see the ATN practical in that one could auto ascend. On the other hand I understand when close to the top the metal parts gets to close with the mast causing some minor scratches to the mast. On Brion's it looks really nice, does anybody have experience in setting up a device for auto ascending. What sort of arrangement would that be? Thanks

[Mike H]

Have yo considered the MastMate climbing device that is rigged in the mast/mainsail slot ? Maybe have both types.

[Jose-Maria Castro]

Not for me at my age. Thanks for the suggestion. However, I finalized by ordering the Brion Toss, solid construction, significant redundancy with the safety aspects, a well conceived and manufactured product. The only issue is the salty price, but I have to admit second to none. 

[Joe Goodrow]

Hey guys,  Before you go out and spend a few hundred dollars and more on a mast climber, Check out the "EasyClimb"  I saw a video on YouTube that explains how to make one and I did it. I made my EasyClimb for about 30 dollars. and guess what? It works as advertised. It's easy.  I'm adding the link to the Youtube video enjoy.   Easy Climb Video: http://youtu.be/tLoG0Zg8yOo

[Catboatchuck]

I use a tree climbing harness.

[Kod Msosd]

Auto ascending setup is an interesting idea, though it takes a bit of fiddling around to get it right. Once it's dialed in, it actually works quite well.