Lifting The Logs

I put a lot of thought into how to lift the logs onto the wall. Ideally I would like to have a boom truck, but at $400 per day to rent and around $15,000 to buy a good used one, a boom truck was not an option. I've seen a lot of ways in books, some are very elaborate lifting systems but most are stationary. I wanted something simple and movable. Something that would allow me to move the logs from the rack to the building with out having to drag it on the ground. Once I plane these logs I DO NOT want to drag them in the dirt.
My logs are on the small side at 12 inch butts and 7 inch tips and they have been drying for almost a year so figure they only weigh around 600 or 700 pounds (that's only a guess).
I thought about using an old boat trailer that I had and build a rigging on it that resembles a old home made wrecker or a crane. I could use my come along to lift with. The pictures below is what it turned out to look like.


Wood

Old Boat Trailer

It Works!

Up Date:

The original design that I was going to build used wood 6x6's to support the lifting beams. I decided instead to use some metal uprights that I have used on the trailer for another purpose. I canned the original idea to save weight on the trailer and not have to deal with cutting compound miters on both ends of the supports. (I'm not that smart:) ) After I finished the trailer I wished I had done it the way I had originally planned, so I went back and added the wood supports. Now I'm happy.