# diy safety harness



## peterchech (Sep 2, 2011)

Hi! First time posting here, and I just bought my first cabin cruiser, a hunter 25. I do have some dinghy sailing experience though.

I had to ascend the mast a few days ago, and an old timer in the marina taught me how to make a harness out of rope, and a safety ascender also out of rope. It was really interesting, and saved me some money.

Now I need a safety harness and some jacklines for the boat. Has anyone done this themselves? Can anyone offer some recommendations on how to do this ?

I appreciate any help.


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## Barquito (Dec 5, 2007)

You could just tie yourself to your boat with a rope around your waist. The only downside to this DIY solution is that if you do take a really hard fall, rope is more likely to break ribs than 2" webbing. It is also more likely that you will use a harness and tether that has clips rather than making a knot every time you leave the cockpit. Harnesses can be found cheaply (in boat terms) on e-bay. Tethers have expensive hardware on each end, so, are harder to find cheaply. Sailrite has kits that are cheaper than new. If you are going to get an inflatable PFD, you could consider getting one that has the harness built-in (a little more expesive than without). There is an argument for having a PFD or a harness, but not both.


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## miduship15 (May 2, 2008)

peterchech said:


> Hi! First time posting here, and I just bought my first cabin cruiser, a hunter 25. I do have some dinghy sailing experience though.
> 
> I had to ascend the mast a few days ago, and an old timer in the marina taught me how to make a harness out of rope, and a safety ascender also out of rope. It was really interesting, and saved me some money.
> 
> ...


Of all the places to cut corners, this is about the last place I would try to do something on the cheap. Spend the money and get stuff you know won't let you down. They aren't that expensive....

Heck, I'd even reduce my beer budget before this!


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## Barquito (Dec 5, 2007)

> Heck, I'd even reduce my beer budget before this!


Beer budget and need for safety harness could be highly correlated.:laugher


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## ccriders (Jul 8, 2006)

My guess is that in old boat literature there are descriptions of how to fashion a harness out of readily available rope and that for legal reasons newer books leave this out. If you have a good public library that doesn't throw out the rarely used old stuff, you might find something. As far as the impact breaking ribs thing, how about a light duty rubber snubber on the teather?
I wish I could find this myself.
John


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## Undadar (Mar 24, 2011)

peterchech said:


> Now I need a safety harness and some jacklines for the boat. Has anyone done this themselves? Can anyone offer some recommendations on how to do this ?


Hello and welcome!

I'd suggest reading this: Sail Delmarva: Sample Calculations for Jackline Stress and Energy Absorption

My own experience/conclusion is here: Jacklines | JdFinley.com

Hope that helps!

JdFinley.com | Sailing, development, and life with JD
You can observe a lot just by watching.


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## kd3pc (Oct 19, 2006)

unless you are a rigger or really know your knots....around your waist, gentleman parts and chest are not the place to practice. Same with simple ropes as jacklines....spring for a real harness and real jacklines attached correctly.


YMMV


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

Peter, there's no much difference between storebought jacklines and DIY jacklines. Use tubular nyon webbing, not polyester which is cheaper but takes more UV damage. Tubular not plain flat, because it is much stronger and still lies flat. Webbing not rope, because rope rolls under your foot and you fall.
You can buy tubular nylon webbing on eBay or a local camping store. Just take some care with the attachments, and stow the webbing when it is not in use, to minimize UV damage.

Safety harness? Rock climbers routinely used to make their own harnesses out of the same stuff but these days, you can buy a rock climber's safety harness, or a roofer's safety harness (sold in buckets in the big hardware stores) for not a lot more than what it would cost you to fuss around and make one. That will also usually be 2" webbing instead of 1", and the difference is that the wider webbing will do you less damage if you fall. I'd ante up and buy one, since DIY means a lot of _careful _stitching and hardware you won't conveniently find.

Then there's the tether...the elastic ones with locking snap shackles would be pretty hard to duplicate yourself. A plain snap shackle can and will unclip itself if you spin it around just the "right" way, so a plain spring-loaded carabiner or snap won't do as well.

Yes, a couple of loops around the waist, a bowline, some 1/2" line was used for so many years, but the new stuff will be so much kinder to you, in the event that you actually get saved by it.


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## peterchech (Sep 2, 2011)

miduship15 said:


> Of all the places to cut corners, this is about the last place I would try to do something on the cheap. Spend the money and get stuff you know won't let you down. They aren't that expensive....
> 
> Heck, I'd even reduce my beer budget before this!


Hey, I'm doing this _for_ a bigger beer budget!!! lol

Seriously though, you "shouldn't" climb masts without professional ascenders and harnesses, but sometimes you have to get resourceful...

Why Nylon instead of polyester? I thought polyester was more UV resistant than nylon, not the other way around...

I saw some tubular straps in the hardware store used for towing cars. They are bright yellow, have a 3300# _breaking_ strength, but no word on what they are made of or UV resistance on the package... these might work?

As far as rock climbing harnesses, they strap low on your body, on your waistline and between your legs, but most sailing harnesses are over the shoulder and around the waist. I think this may have to do with being dragged through the water upright? So I wonder whether a double bowline, with one loop around the waste and the other over a shoulder might do fine?


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

No interest in making my own parachute either. Some things should pass inspection first.


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## cb32863 (Oct 5, 2009)

Minnewaska said:


> No interest in making my own parachute either. Some things should pass inspection first.


I agree, had me chuckling at work... anyway, so on Sailrite's website they have a little article on making your own jacklines. They have a Whichard snap hook on one end and you basically cleat it off on the other.....

Good, bad, or indifferent?


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## pdqaltair (Nov 14, 2008)

peterchech said:


> Seriously though, you "shouldn't" climb masts without professional ascenders and harnesses, but sometimes you have to get resourceful...
> 
> Why Nylon instead of polyester? I thought polyester was more UV resistant than nylon, not the other way around...
> 
> ...


A few responses:

1. No professional assenders? Did he suggest prusicks? If he did, they are more tiersome to use but probably safer than mechanical assenders, which have been known to fail. I would suggest a purchased rock climbing seat harness (the sailing harnesses are over priced and made by the same folks). The best bet is to try one on in a climbing store. They will help you select the correct biners.

2. The 1-inch climbing webbing is stronger that the yellow stuff you mention (5600 pounds). Check REI.com, climb spec webbing.

3. UV resistance. It is more about treatments than the material. It is also about stretch. For a 25-foot boat, either should do. However, it all depends on use and time in the sun. If you leave them rigged, 2-years. If you take them in, as much as 10 years is normal fr climbing gear.

4. Chest harness for deck work. Climbing harnesses AND chest harnesses made for climbers are all wrong (heat harnesses are for vertical work and climbing chest harnesses are not made to function alone; they will ride up and off. Either the simplest commcial sailing harness or one made from plans; Sailrite used to sell a kit. For certain. the band around the ribs (high under the arms) should be 2-inch and very strongly sewn.

I'm comfortable with home-built stuff, but I have 35 years of mountaineering, sailing, and engineering expereince. I used to make climbing gear. So I am comfortable making desisions.

Short cuts? He's not on a big boat (lower stresses) and he's not rounding the horn.
a. The slings can be knoted webbing or rope. Less than 6 feet, to suit your boat.
b. The webbing can be knotted, not sewn. Again, the boat size limits the stress.
c. Carabiners. Locking biners will be fine, just remember to grease them. Some would argue they arn't releasable under load. Without getting into tha, I will only say there are disagreements and the standards DO NOT require releasable biners.
d. Rope Harness. I've used them, when a mix-up resulted in too few harnesses. I think they are safe on a small boat if well-tied. I'd cross an ocean that way, push come to shove.

Make sure you use secure knots (water knot only in webbing) with good tails. Make sure everything fits. Think about your rigging.

Also, this one.
Sail Delmarva: Climbing Gear for Sailors--Jacklines and Harnesses for the Unemployed

And for laughs.
Sail Delmarva: Are You "Captain Safety?"


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## joelsanda (Aug 7, 2011)

*DIY Climbing Harness*

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=27317

I've climbed with people who made their own climbing harness. Potentially more weight to bear on these than falling off a boat, though perhaps different forces at work.


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## harbin2 (Jul 5, 2008)

I got a West Marine Harness - would be hard to make one and it's easy to get on and off. I made my tethers from some hardware I had and with webbing from REI. It has two lenghts. I put a simple caribeaner on the short one and a real nice twist lock caribeaner from REI on the long one. It works great and wasn't too hard to make. Has elastic inside the webbing but I still sometimes trip on the tethers. The Jackline was the strongest (yellow) webbing REI makes. I sewed a loop in one end. I feel pretty secure when I use it. Good Luck.
Harbin2
Islander 30, Bahama


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## GaryHLucas (Mar 24, 2008)

I kind of have to laugh about fancy harnesses. I used to go up the mast on my Hunter 27 sitting in a coil of rope folded in half with a short rope tied across to either side. If you spread the strands of rope out as you sit down it is not too uncomfortable on your butt. Of course in my day job I sometimes used the same setup to ride to the top of 80 foot light poles on the end of our crane. So maybe the mast didn't seem so special.

Gary H. Lucas


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