Back in 2014, before leaving on our South Pacific trip, I made ratlines for the port side shrouds on the main mast. They were useful in spotting reefs and bommies in the clear waters near islands and atolls–being higher up in the rigging reduces the glare, making it easier to spot them. These ratlines were made up of 5 teak “ratboards” and 6 3-stranded rope “ratlines”.

The teak boards stayed in place for 10 years without moving, but I couldn’t get the lashing on the rope ratlines to hold them in place so they would sometimes slide an inch or two. While still functional, this made them appear uneven and looked bad until I slid them back in place. The other downfall of using the rope was it hurt when climbing barefoot whereas the teak boards were way more comfortable on bare feet.

Since I had to remove the ratlines when replacing the standing rigging in 2024, it gave me a chance to redo and improve them. I decided to do away with the 3-strand rope steps and use all teak ratboards. I already had the extra teak left over from 2014, so it was just a matter of deciding on the number of steps and spacing. I ended up using the original 5 teak boards and making an additional 3 more for a total of 8 ratboards, spaced about 28″ apart.

I used a slightly different lashing method that looks cleaner and should keep the ratboards in place for many years. Before installing them, I sanded each board and applied 5 coats of teak oil. An annual coat of teak oil should keep them looking good.