I think that's better, thanks.
I did use the stepper today for the first time. Mast went up and down three times since I had helpers.
I discovered some issues due, no doubt, to my age and lack of nimbleness with my fingers. I found it difficult to route the side lines through the Getaway seat supports as shown; even with no tension on the halyard, there was need to stretch the line to make the connection; also, once the mast was up the lines were so tight I couldn't unscrew the bowshackle at the front crossbeams, even after releasing tension on the halyard. It worked much better with the lines in front of the seat supports. I found it very difficult to attach the furler bottom to the pole. There just wasn't enough clearance for my fingers to screw. I'm going to use two bowshackles instead, one permanently attached to the bottom of the furler and the other through the eyestrap like normal. That should take it from very hard to pretty easy. I have also permanently attached two snapshackles to the fitting at the forward beam ends. I'll just capture the side line loops and forego use of the provided bow shackles. It adds another half inch of slop into the system, so I will retie the knots if needed.
I used my mainsheet to haul the mast up since my trailer doesn't have a winch. It works OK but I two-block the mainsheet before the mast is tensioned down sufficiently to put the clevis pins back in. Also the strap where you attach the hauling line left too much slack so it was difficult to depress the system to attach the clevis pins; I fixed that by wrapping the line closer to the pole.
I "almost" am ready to take the Getaway for a sail. Of course, there's no wind in N. CA at present so it is easy to be patient.
_________________ R/Thom SeaRail 19 Triak BMW C600 Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers Formerly raced F24 Mk II
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