Idea for a down rigger

I like the idea of the home made DR, but it sounds a bit difficult to raise the weight on a small crank, vs the Scotty lake troller.  Has anyone used both?

I've used both, on the homemade I had a Penn 65 long beach. The Scotty is sooooo much easier to bring up, although it can still be tiring when going deep.

I'm glad you guys are experimenting and sharing what you learn about this downrigger stuff.  I've tried two different set-ups on a reel/pole dr and both times I caught fish, but I've got a lot to learn.
   As far as using the bottom half of a pole, that's basically what I had with the broken off stub of the Badairka rod, so it stuck out a little more than a foot from the side of yak, held by a rodholder fixed to the center in front of me.  At that distance out, I was continually hitting the dr line when paddling, so I'm going to cut the pole down so the line just barely clears the side of the boat and I can paddle to the outside of it, rather than trying to paddle to the inside of it.
   And the reel I used was a cheap level-wind, about the size of a Penn 209, but with souped-up graphite drags and the special Shimano grease.  It was adequate for lifting the 2 1/2 lb "fish" weight, but I doubt if it could take much more weight with the standard size handle.   I marked the 65 lb spectra with pieces of this rubber bands, alternating red and green every 10 ft.  They go through the level wind guide fine and don't slip if you make a tight knot. I just loosened the drag  a little to let the weight drop, freespooling would have been impossible to control or to even see the marks go by.  I could see the weight sometimes on my meter, but not enough to rely on that to tell depth, I'll have to try leaning to the opposite side to see if I can scope it.
     I suspect I'm headed for a real (as opposed to a reel) downrigger, but I also wonder where I would mount it.  I found one post with it behind the seat, but that looks like it wouldn't work well in bouncy salt water conditions, though maybe I'd be surprised at how easy it would be. It would help if I could see a picture of one mounted on the side  or even straight forward of the yak in front of the seat if anyone has seen a post with that setup. 
     On the first try, I got the weight snagged on some kelp, and I was only able to take a couple of yanks on it before deciding that it was safer to cut the line because even with a low swell, the side of the yak was going under with each yank.  I probably wouldn't have even noticed that swell if I hadn't been anchored to the bottom.