Hi, For mast raising I made a gin pole using a 2x4. It works great. I can provide photos of it and provide a description of how it works. When my M-17 was profiled in Good Old Boat back in March/April 2014 there’s a pic of me raising the mast using the gin pole. I use the boat trailer winch for raising and lowering the mast. I do use lines attached to the port and starboard toe rails for stability and attach a short line to the jib halyard for raising and lowering the mast. Cheers. Lenny Corin Sent from my iPad