A Frame instead of Ginn pole
I don't have the instructions for the Hunter method, however, I owned a San Juan 26 trailable sailboat for 20 years. I broke the hinge part at the bottom of the mast on the first mast raising due to a mishap when the mast was just raising off the deck. I then developed a method of using an "A" frame and the jib sheet winch to raise the mast. I did this single handed with no further mishaps for the rest of my ownership of the boat. You may want to file this in the ideas column any way. The jib sheet was hooked to the jib halyard at the top of the mast. The San Juan 26 mast laid on the cabin top with a hinge at the base of the mast. Hooked the shrouds and back stay up to their points on the hull with the turnbuckles loose. I made an "A" frame with two 10’ 2x4’s, heavy duty hinge and fastened a open sheave at the top of the A frame. The base of the A frame was lashed on the deck, lines guyed it upright to the bow and toerail toward the aft. The jib sheet was run through the open sheave on the A frame to the bow where a sheet block was fastened to turn the line to the aft, through a sheet block on the toerail to give a clear pulling path then to the winch. Crank up all the slack and take a good tension until the mast just raises. I then checked all lines shrouds and stays to see that they were unobstructed. With the height of the A frame providing the lift at about at 30 degree angle the forces did not overload anything. The higher the A frame the lower the initial raising forces will be. When the mast was about 45 degrees from the deck the sheet lifted off the sheave on the A frame and pulls up directly from the bow sheet block. As it approaches vertical the back stay kept it from going past. To lower the mast the process is reversed. The key point being to direct the sheet into the sheave on the A frame. As the mast approaches the deck the forces get greater and a little sheet feed from the winch makes a big difference in the angle. If your not slow it will develop a bounce from the stretch in the sheet. The whole process of rigging the A frame, raising the mast and tuning the rig took about an hour from start to launch. One other item which I never forgot to do (except the first time, when it broke) put a coin of the realm under the mast. Safe raising - Good sailing
