by Bob Hunkins » Mon Jun 30, 2003 10:18 am
You might want to ask someone at your club for some help. If there are other Day Sailers there, I'm sure they'd be glad to assist you. If not, I'm sure anyone who uses the hoist has tackled this problem.
Here's what I did:
I bought a 3" D-ring, four karabiners, and two 1-1/2" dia. rings (all stainless). An appropriately sized u- shackle would probably work, too. When I set my mast up, I put the two rings in a space between chainplate and U-bolt on the turnbuckle. I took four lengths of line, (3/8" double braid worked for me as it was what I had handy. It's just needs to be able to support the weight of the boat.) I attached the karabiners to the ends of each of the lines and the D-ring to the other ends of the lines.
I attached the karabiners to the two stern eyes on the boat and the other two to the rings at the chainplates. I went to the hoist, connected it to the D ring and slowly raised the boat up a little bit, just enough to check the balance. Then I lowered it, and shortened or lengthened each line as necessary to get the boat to balance on the hoist. It took several repetitions of lifting and lowering the boat to get it right. The lines running to the stern were much longer than the lines to the chainplates. The D ring when held up taught by the hoist is on the boat's centerline and in a position almost directly above the point where the centerboard pivots.
Try that as a starting place - be careful and get someone experienced there to help you if you aren't sure. Your rig may be set up differently, so you may need to find a different way to connect the lifting harness. Some folks use a three point system, where the boat is connected to the chainplates and a point on the centerline of the boat. I don't like using an open drainport as an attach point because when you lower the boat into the water you have to scramble to get the drain plug in and then you have to bail out the water that got in. If you want to use cleats make sure they are backed up with sound wood or metal.
Good luck!