I recently became a homeowner, and was able to move my MIL out to live in the basement apartment. It is a nice setup where the two apartments are not connected by stairs, giving more privacy and space, but it means a long walk around the outside of the house for each thing we may need. I ho[e to build a dumbwaiter that connects the deck with the patio below, letting items to be easily loaded up and sent up or down as needed. I am designing this with the thought that the heaviest item to be moved would be a 5 gal bottle of water(~40lbs). It would be driven by a winch, and assisted using a counterweight. I have been pondering how to build the track that the car and counterweights would go up and down along when Maker Pipe advertised itself to me. Unfortunately I am not terribly familiar with the material, leaving me with a few questions.

Would it be strong enough?

Would it resist the weather?

Is there a better rout I could take?

Thank you for any help the community can give!