Most atolls in the South Pacific have surrounding coral reefs.  To safely get to the inner lagoon, you sometimes have to carefully steer through a narrow passage.  Charts may not be accurate so it’s always good to keep a good lookout whenever you’re near reefs.  Positioning yourself high up in the rig makes it easier to see the changes in water color to spot the reefs.  Ratlines are an age-old method for quickly climbing up rigging.  One method is to use a set of lower shrouds coming off the spreaders on the main mast to tie the ratlines to.  I used a combination of ratlines (3-strand rope) and ratboards (teak wood).  The rat boards help keep the shrouds from pulling inwards as they do when only using ratlines.  Two or three ratlines between ratboards seem to be a good combination.

Ratboards–The ratboards came from a 3″x3.5″x8′ stock of teak, which was ripped and cut to produce enough 1-1/4″x1-5/8″ ratboards for port and starboard.  A hole was drilled through each end and a groove was routed along the top, end, and bottom for lashing the boards to the shrouds.  Next I put on 2 coats of teak oil.  A bronze screw was used for added strength.  

I used #72 tarred seine twine for the lashing.  Riggers tape was wrapped around the shroud for a better grip.  The lashing started with a buntline hitch to the shroud, then a series of square lashings followed by figure-eight turns finished with a few half hitches.

Ratlines–The ratlines were made from 5/8″ 3-strand polyester (vintage style).  I spliced eyes in each end and lashed them to the shrouds.  A buntline hitch around the rope followed by square lashing as before, but this time finished off with frapping turns between the wire and the rope, and 2 half hitches.  I worked a figure-eight knot into the end up close to the last hitch to prevent the end from pulling out.

Port-side progress–Since a lot of this work can be done after we depart from Seattle, my goal was to get all the ratboards cut and have enough 3-strand rope to be able to finish port and starboard steps while in Mexico.  The progress I made on the port-side was 3 ratboards and a total of 7 ratlines.  I’ll add another 2 ratlines and 1 ratboard above the top ratboard shown below, then repeat everything on the starboard side.