BYYB Forums

ok, honest opinion, what do you think of the rat lines?

I havent trimmed up the ends or anything yet but I'm wondering if I should continue or not.....

Ahoy Kevin,

Kids love rat lines, and you, Kevin, have kids.

I was thinking about that, but when I climbed it to test it out it felt alot like that balancing ladder game toward the top..

Having fallen from masts on more then one occasion (once was paralyzed for a week) I would strongly recommend you not permit your kids (or anyone else's) climbing the rat lines. Climbing rope ladders is a real pain in the butt, ask anyone who's served in the military. It's not particularly easy and very awkward in the best of situations, let alone on a boat that gets more tipsy, the higher you go. There is no reason to "go aloft" aboard a Weekender (or Vacationer). If something does foul, a well handled boat hook will usually suffice and is considerably safer.

They do look salty, but add a lot of windage, which is on a rig that has a lot to begin with. If you must go aloft for some reason, a halyard is a much better way to go (a broken one is what caused my worst fall) with a preventer (safety lanyard) once you get where you need to be. Climbing the hoops is another option.

Need more convincing, splash the boat and climb the rats. Give yourself a honest assessment of how comfortable you feel, as the boat rolls from side to side. If you're like most people, then you'll not climb them again unless you have to. Kids don't fear much, being pretty much immortal until they join the military, get to around 25 years old or have a very close call, that puts the fear of God in their bottoms. This being the case, we need to provide a reasonably safe environment for them. Being in a boat, well past the point of being able to swim back to shore, is an unnatural environment (much like being in an aircraft, cruising at 30,000 feet) so security and safety is paramount, particularly to kids that may not have quite the same level of fear, we adults do. Sorry to be so preachy, but I drove an ambulance for a number of years after the Army and took too many kids to the emergency room.

Here is a further question,

And I agree with everyone so far btw.

Do rat lines become more stable if you add a wooden rung every so often or does that not help much?

I know they add more windage but they really look right on these boats.

I think rat lines on larger ships were wider at the top than is feasable on a vacationer so maybe originally they did not have quite the "rope ladder at the fair" sort of feeling to them.

Cheers,

David G.

P.S.: Being an E.R. nurse, I get to see a lot of stupid human tricks all the time. I can commiserate with your bout of driving an ambulance.

Well, I've decided to take them off. the only real gain with them is asthetics. The draw backs are extra windage, tangle magnet while raising the mast, unstable the further I climb, super fast monkey child climbing them while we're not looking.

Save them in a locker somewhere and use them when you're flying a pirate flag or cruising a boat show. They're probably not real functional but they look cool.

Keith

I may do that. I need to make them to where I can just clamp them on when I want to. The ones in the picture are knotted around the cable and are not a quick add or remove.

Real rats were heavily tarred, which dried them into a firm, continuously sticky affair that made them better then just lines tied to some shrouds. Many men broke limbs and fell to their death, climbing these. They were practical, only because taking in a the "royals" and other upper canvas, required many men to get up there, usually quickly, in building winds and all at once. A bosons chair was used to tend the rig, looking for fouled lines, chafe and making repairs. Even they knew if you had to be up there a while, you need to be on something better then the rats.

If you have an opportunity to visit a real square rigger, jump on it. Touch the rigging. It's hard (and likely coated with polyurethane, because of all the complaints folks had about tar coming off on their hands). The tackiness helped footing to a degree (they where usually bare foot) and the thick, natural fiber lines where the right diameter to grasp with a hand.

Wooden rats were once pretty common on cruising boats, but progressively have fallen from favor each passing year. Mast climbing equipment has developed a lot in the last couple of generations. Luff slot foot holds, fold out, mast mounted foot rests, quick ascend devices, using ratchets and a spare halyard, etc. all have done in the salt incrusted rat line.

Rats!