July 4, 2018. Owner Scott Henry sent us a report (webmaster edited) on his outboard hauling system - one thing leading to another, his topping lift broke, and he then had to lower his mast using the system Amaya's prior owner developed.........
Literally right after I installed the outboard back on Amaya, the topping lift fell down from the top of the mast as I raised the main to go sailing! So I tried the mechanism the prior owner used to raise & lower the mast (he trailered the boat every winter), and took some pictures. The topping lift ran through a block at the top of the mast and back down to a cleat on the mast. I put it on the jib halyard winch when I wanted to raise/lower the motor. I forgot to take a picture of the bent & broken shackle, though...I made a new topping lift that is a length of 1/8in dyneema with spliced ends. Currently just a lashing to the end of the boom, I will eventually make a more adjustable mechanism, and plan to use the main halyard to support the boom end for future.....
- so we got 2 reports (click here to go to the outboard lifting report). For the mast rasising/lowering report we'll start with the photo below - the 'horse' on which the mast will rest on Amaya's transom.

Scott lowers the mast using a set of poles rigged to track fittings at the beam and connected at the pulpit - photos below.

See the poles with the control lines to the mast and a block at the forestay

Busy pic but you can see the mast resting on her yellow horse
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