SteveB wrote:

The problem with the drawing I provided is that it is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay
out of scale. The top triangle is 1 foot x 3 foot x the hypotenuse.

Your idea of putting the second standoff at the base of the triangle won't
work, because of the following configuration:

Starting from the base it goes something like this -from ground up, the
first six feet is sonotube, next foot is joisting, next eight foot is column
hooked directly to top of deck joisting, top foot is beam sitting on top of
eight foot column. There's no straight continuous piece in the whole deal.

That is why I wanted the majority of the weight to be transferred vertically
to the base of concrete in Sonotube. The standoffs are just to keep the
load from swinging as I swing it in over the handrail.

My main concern was how much the 14' vertical would flex under a 200# load.

Okay, got it. I thought the Sonotube was something you were going to
install, rather than an existing part of your house. So you have what we
in Britain would call a "balcony" (an outdoor platform on the first
floor) and you want to lift stuff onto it? From your description I can
see the problem of having a stand-off in the position I suggested, and I
can see why you don't want to change the design.

Ned's suggestion of a deflection of an inch or so at the winch
attachment point probably isn't far off. But I would be more concerned
about the deflection in the middle of the vertical column: if it's close
to the wall, it might jam. Similarly the bending of the column might
cause the top and bottom bearings to jam. And of course you might just
want to lift more than 200 lbs sometimes!

If it were me, my gut reaction would be to use something stouter than 2"
x 2" x 0.25" box section in order to resist the bending. I would likely
use something like 4" x 0.25" round tube. Some might say this is
overkill, but it gives a good margin of safety without doing about
calculations, allows you to lift heavy stuff without worrying about it,
and I think round would look neat. I know a place where I could get some
4" x 0.25" round pretty cheap, but it all depends on what you can get
locally.

Best wishes,

Chris