I got an FTC Micro Cylinder now, and that’s my go-to lowering device, but I still got my homemade bollard, and a couple portys of various size.
I had a friend build the homemade one for me, he machined the I beam so the pipe will fit, and beveled the edge of the pipe to get a full penetration weld with the tig machine at his work. Tabs made from angle welded on the side of the I beam, with a hole drilled in the tab to fit a steel carabiner. For the strap, I bought a 10K lb 2” ratchet strap, cut the hooks it, and stuck biners in place of the hooks.
Later on, I bolted a small boat trailer winch to the side of it, took the handle off the winch because it won’t clear the drum. Welded the nut that held the handle in place, and just use a 15” ratchet and socket for a winch handle. So I put a prusik on the rope above where it feeds into the drum, clip the biner on the end of the winch webbing to the prusik, and ratchet away while it pretty much winches the rope so it can just be captured on the drum. Can keep that progress captured on the drum and let the winch strap out, push the prusik up again and do it as many times as needed. Totally stole the winch idea from one that Stein device. Not nearly as fast as a GRCS, but allows me to do some lifting and really hard pre-tensioning.
I really prefer fixed bollards to portys.