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I am getting a new headsail from cruising direct (now North Direct) and am in the process of filling out their headsail measurement form.  It is very complicated and I'm not 100% sure of my measurements.  Has anyone filled out this form before for a TM?  I could use a check on my numbers.  Any help appreciated.

I have the original furler in my 1988 which I believe is the Hood 915 from reading other posts.  The continuous furler line is the one line on the boat that I didn't replace after buying the boat last year and of course it is the one that snapped this weekend on my way home from an overnight cruise.  One of the reasons I didn;t replace it is that it seemed like it would probably be difficult and I couldn;t find any posts on the subject (my exclusive source of knowledge pretty much).  Anybody out there done it?

Does anybody know the distance from the deck to the spreaders on a 1988 Mark I Tall Mast?  I have to install lazy jack eyes exactly 27 feet above the boom and would rather not drag a tape measure all the way from the boom. 

I have started stripping my cabin sole and have found that the wood is stained black (picture below).  Any thoughts about how I can clean these stains?  The holly portion is particularly discolored.  I have been using starbright teak cleaner on other teak in the boat but I am worried about rinsing such a thin piece of wood with water (required for the starbright).  The back of the boards are also very black.

So I ordered six new portlight gaskets from lewmar after reading the informative posts on this website about leaking portlights.  The  ports have been leaking pretty badly.  The water runs down the teak rail under the ports and ends up on the chart table causing all kinds of problems.  I thought about just putting a potted mini evergreen tree under the end of the rail to catch the water thereby inventing hydronic portlights.  But instead I decided to try to replace the gaskets.  I took the old gasket off and cleaned off the old sealant residue from the port.   I made sure I had the correct size gasket.  I can get the "arrow" of the gasket into the top and bottom of the portlight.  But for the life of me, I cannot get it into the corners of the portlight!   It is like the groove is too thin or something.  After about an hour, I gave up.  It was very frustrating, like prom night all over again.  I then tried to put the old gasket back in and had the same problem (confirming that the problem is me not the equipment).  The directions mention a "blunt plastic object" or "roller" as making the job "easier."  Any thoughts from someone that has done this before? 

I am looking to replace at least part of the cabin sole on my 1988 Catalina 34.  I was talking to my yard guy and he says that he once restored a 36 and was able to order all of the cabin sole pieces from Catalina.  He says he got them really quickly and believed that Catalina had them laying around (or can cut them quickly).  Any truth to this? 

I am almost finished installing a Raymarine S1 Autopilot and found the posts on this site invaluable particularly with respect to the rudder position sensor which gave me a lot of trouble.  The only thing I have left to do is to install the control unit in some suitable place on the pedestal/ above the wheel.  I was hoping to install it in some way that I could swivel it back and forth between facing aft and forward.  But I would also be happy with some kind of pod facing aft but can't seem to find one.