Rigid Vang And Topping Lift

[Roy Moss]

My 32' sloop has a halyard type topping lift along with an excellent (Garhauer) rigid vang. The lift supports a pendant from which a flaking system is suspended. If run through a proper sheave, the lift can be a messenger for a spare main halyard, or the spare itself. Also provides a firmer boom suspension than the vang spring -- see previous post.

[Brion Toss]

Hello,
First, Garhauer makes the best vang for the money. In fact, I'm having a hard time these days coming up with any reason to buy the spendier brands. Hall typically has stouter mast and boom fittings, but you can get stout ones from Garhauer, at some extra cost.
As for eliminating the lifts, well, right now we are dealing with a mast fitting with stripped fasteners; if it hadn't been caught, the owners might have been out there with a dangling vang, and no topping lift. So at the least I'd like to see lazyjacks as backup lifts, as well as for their ostensible function. And all this assumes proper design and installation, which is after all the hardest part.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss