Well, it's done. It was one of those experiences where I felt like I learned something. Having never done any of the things I was attempting I suppose it went well enough, but not smooth by any means. The whole process started with a badly frayed backstay in 20kt winds, I got into that predicament by ignoring a broken wire on the back stay - here's some advice...don't do that.
New rigging
I purchased Quick Attach fittings to make up the new backstay and the starboard upper shroud. The jury is still out on the suitability of the fittings for standing rigging, but only time will tell on that.
The rigging was pretty easy to make, the original stays were intact, lengthwise anyway, so I attached the new turnbuckle to the new wire, stretched both wires out, marked and cut the wire, then attached the new eye/fork. I was happy that my calculations were correct and the new wires came out exactly the same length as the old. I put a mark where the wire enters the fitting so I can tell if there is any slippage.
It turns out that both the eye and the fork fitting had different dimensions than the original swagged fittings, so to make the fork fit I had to grind down the mast tang a bit. To allow the eye to fit I choose to grid down the eye to narrow the neck a bit - I don't think that part was structural.
Mast Gate
I made a mast gate out of carpet moulding. Pretty easy. I used gold anodized aluminum and it matched the mast well. The upper mounting screw is offset a bit because the first screw twisted off, and my attempt to drill it out failed...so the holes don't line up.
For the mast raising I installed two eyestraps on either side of the mast for the babystays about 7.5 feet up.
Topping lift
More trials and tribulations. I had the mast on the sawhorses and I was looking at the masthead, trying to figure the best way to attach a topping lift. I have a spinnaker bail on the front of the masthead, and I thought, hey, I can add one to the back and that would be perfect. So I ordered one from Rigrite, price unseen. Then I realized, duh, that the topping lift needs to be inside of the backstay...I knew that. So I've got this very nice, high quality spinnaker bail that set me back $64...and with a 20% restocking fee, well I'll use it.
For the actual topping lift I got some 1/4" line, spliced an eye into each end (I don't know if I like doing that or not). I wanted the line to fall short of the boom by a few feet so I could attach a second line to allow adjustment at the boom end. It worked just like my original concept but I'm not 100% sure I like it, seems overly complicated, but I'll see how it works in practice.
Mast Raising
OK, here's the fun part. First off, it was a petty windy day, so I knew my bridle was actually going to need to stabilize the mast. No problem, that's what it's for. I picked up some rope from Home Depot for the bridle...I looked at all their offerings and settled on what looked like a reasonably non-stretchy line. the plan is to construct the bridle at the boat using the 3 point harness - chainplate - mast - ginpole. I tie a hook to the rope, sight in the height of the pivot ring, attach the ring...pull it tight with just my bare hands, and doggone it, that rope might as well been a rubber band. I've never seen rope that was that stretchy. After playing with it I conclude that while it stretched quite a bit, there was a limit (of course), so with diminishing prospect of success I forged ahead. For the mast and ginpole babystays I used a truckers hitch, figuring I could just keep tightening the line as needed to get all that stretch out.
After much adjusting, and seriously contemplating calling the whole thing off, I tested the set up by raising the mast a few inches off the dock box (which doubled as the mast crutch).
It pulled to one side, so I adjusted and tried again. It stayed centered. Now I can lift the mast myself, walking it up from the cockpit (I'm 6'4") and normally I just need someone on the forestay to provide a little balance and pull. So standing in my normal position under that mast, with one hand on the mast and one pulling the hoist, I just walked it up, and viola, up she went.
Lessons learned.
The 3 point bridle worked in practice, even with my bad setup. The three attachment points are on opposite sides of the ring, there's no where for the ring to go - it remains stationary and provides the pivot point. With the mast up I'm going to fabricate one out of wire rope (no stretching, I hate stretching) for future use.
here is an interesting concept for the mast babystays.
