I wanted to share some photos of the counterbalance hoist/crane I built out of scrap wood for a recent second story deck resheathing I did on my house.  The deck was ringed with a steel guardrail divided into about ~100 lb segments.   

As I was largely working alone, I needed a way  to secure each segment from falling while unbolting, and then safely lower them to the ground for removal.   After rust removal and repainting, they would be hoisted back up and bolted to the finished deck.  The crane also had to in 2 modular pieces (post supports and the load beam) for transport through the house doors.  

I learned rope-rescue techniques in the Army, and the expected loads would be within the human weight range, so I felt my climbing equipment would do fine.  I rigged up some pulleys in a 5:1 block and tackle system, so that for 100 lb load, my effective load was only 20 lbs plus some rope friction resistance.  A 100lb counterbalance was hung from the other side of the load to prevent tipping.  I also had someone as a spotter whenever I was below the crane unbolting in case dynamic loading overwhelmed the counterbalance.  All in all, it worked out great and saved me from having to rent a crane.