Steadying Mast While Raising

[Tedd]

My Mac 26S came without a mast raising system, so I've made something myself that works quite well. But one drawback is that it requires a second person to steady the mast while it's being raised. It seems like it ought to be possible to rig up some way of steadying the mast, so that it can be raised single-handed, and there even seem to be a couple of fittings in the hull for exactly that purpose. But it's not at all clear to me how they're meant to be used, and how and where the system would be attached to the mast. How are other people doing it?

[Tomfoolery]

What do the fittings on the deck look like? Flat straps, a couple of inches long at most, with a small gap between them and the deck? Is there a lateral hole in the mast, about 6 ft up?

[dive4it]

Use what are called "Baby Stays". That's probably what your hardware on deck is for. They are even with the mast so they stay the same length throughout the raising process, work great. I keep mine attached all the time.

JT

[K9Kampers]

Download the manual for your model from this site. It has a section / pics of using the mast raising system and baby stays.