Bruce - I am a fellow double torn rotator cuff/biceps tendon gimp, just be careful. MacGregor Yachts had a great inexpensive gin pole they used for their boats (M-25 and M-26) I would check with them for its availability. The brackets for the mast should fit like it was made for your boat. Your gin pole is loaded in compression and your whisker pole is loaded laterally ( or shear?) so to have one piece of tubing serve for both duties would be a VERY heavy whisker pole (not desirable at all) and would have some interesting inboard end bracketry. I have used a Forespar ADJ6-12 with good results. We did wrap it around a shroud the first time out in the heat of battle - cut it off, reset the end fitting and it has been working fine since - I guess it was "too long!" LOL. Sorry to not have a one size fits all solution here but I don't think the uses are compatible. PS I have a tall rig 17 and I just cajole someone into helping me with the mast (quality beer helps here) or if I had to solo I would use Howard's approach. Additional help is offered by using an adjustable rear mast carrier that extends to get up over the worst of the mast 'hump' when stepping the thing. The mast carrier extended is a big help. Be Careful - you don't want to have to replace those inserts in your shoulders - Have Fun, Go Sailing GO M-16 #316a "LB/GF" Team Geezer Racing and Cruzin....Old and In the Way. In a message dated 5/4/2010 5:11:54 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, northwave@telus.net writes: Greetings, I fly a furling 135% head sail on my M17 and want to build a whisker pole to do double duty : a, use as a gin pole with mast raising, and b, as a down wind pole for the headsail. Any opinions regarding 1.0 versus 1.25 inch diameter or larger and your experiences would help me in complementing my rig. Thanks, Bruce _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats Remember, there is no privacy on the Internet!