Hi Peter
Have you seen the \\\"Drifter lifter\\\" that Churchouse Boats use on their Drifter 22? The clever part is using the trailer winch to provide the power.

http://www.drascombe.org.uk/images/Drascombe%20Drifter%20Lifter.JPG

With many of these mast raising systems what you have to watch out for is lateral movement of the mast as the shrouds don\\\'t give any sideways support until they are taut. There are all sorts of wierd spider web like solutions to this, but I think the  best idea is to hold onto the mast as you raise it. But you can\\\'t do that with the Drifter lifter...

I noticed on another thread somehwere someone suggested a bolt through the tabernacle to hold the mast up. Bad idea. The tabernacle should not be bolted to the boat firmly enought to hold the mast upright, so don\\\'t expect it to hold up the mast on its own, even temporarily. The tabernacle needs to be secured very lightly to the deck (or cabin roof in my case) so that should a shroud fail, or the mast swing sideways when being raised, it just pulls the screws out and falls over. If the fixing is too robust, the huge leverage on the mast will rip the top of the boat off, which is a whole lot harder to repair than four small screw holes.

On my boat, I have got a full length carbon fibre mast. I can actually raise that up just by lifting it manually. When it is upright, the shrouds tighten and brace it. I hold it up against their pull by leaning my shoulder on the mast whilst I pull in the jib halyard. Once that is taut and cleated the mast is secure and I can take my time over fitting the forestay and then swigging up the jib as tight as I can.