Yesterday I raised (and lowered) my mast several times using an A-frame built with a set of hardware (the heavy-duty option) I found at ezmastlift.com. They sell the hardware for the bottoms of the frame legs and the top of the frame. The legs themselves are customer (that would be me)-supplied Intermediate Metal Conduit (IMC) from an electrical supply store. It only comes in ten-foot lengths, so one end has to be cut and threaded, which was done at a local rental place. The hardware screws onto the threaded ends of the conduit. I lashed the feet at the frame bottoms to the jibsheet cars slid fully forward on the genoa tracks. The lifting tackle is the mainsheet rove at 3:1. 4:1 would be better, but the sheet's not long enough. Leading the hoisting line back into the cockpit, it's easy to raise and lower the mast single-handed under perfect control. Side to side stabililty is not a problem. I used the jib winch and clamcleat to cleat it off partially raised to take the picture. I takes a few minutes to set up and rig, but for a simple and reliable mast-raising system, it sure works for me. Rick M17 #633 Lynne L https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=jdavies104&target=ALBUM&id=6024...
