Mizzen Topping Lift

[Jordan]

So I know that our ketch hasn't been sailed much, but we're taking her out for her inaugural sail tomorrow. We got the fridge situation sorted, and we're ready enough for a day sail. I want to try out multiple sail plans, and really start messing with some canvas. As I was doing my initial dry run (raising sails in the slip, etc), I realized that I currently don't have a halyard for the mizzen. The topping lift does run all the way back to the winches, so I used that to hoist it the first time. Is it okay to sail like that? Is that by design?

[SVJourney]

Kinda hard to describe, but I'll give it a shot.  I looked but don't have any pictures to show you.  Maybe someone will take a pic so you can rig it easily.
You were using the mizzen halyard because there is no topping lift halyard.
The factory topping lift is a fixed wire cable that is bolted onto the mizzen mast.  At the boom, there is a turning block at the aft end.  A 3/8 line runs from a cleat on the forward end of the boom, to a turning block at the aft end of the boom.  Then up to the fixed wire cable and back down to the boom.  So loosening or tightening the 3/8 rope line is what adjusts topping. 
Sounds like your topping lift is missing and your boom was supported using the mizzen halyard when not in use. 

[Jordan]

Actually, that makes a lot of sense. Kind of like how the topping lift is on the main. I've got fixed wire going to 3/8" (or 1/2" maybe, I'm not that good at figuring out line sizes) line tied to the end of the boom via two shackles. Do you think she'd be okay sailing with the mizzen up without the topping lift? That would primarily affect sail shape, right? And I just put "Install mizzen topping lift" on the 'Effin ToDo List.

[SVJourney]

Doesn't make a whole lotta dif probably.  Would you get another 1/4 knot if your mizzen if nicely ballooned on a broad reach?  Yeah, maybe.   I think that topping lift is more important to keep the boom from dropping on your solar panel or people's heads in the cockpit when you douse the sail more than anything else.  The only time I ever used it was to lift the boom high enough to pick up the outboard motor on the end on the mizzen sheet and set it on its rail holder.
Then again, I never claimed to really be an awesome sailor, I just used a sailboat to travel.