Aye Carumba wrote:
1. The first question is on the trampoline. The hiking straps are pretty much gone so I removed the trampoline so that I can get new straps sewn on by the local sailing shop. My question is on how flexible the material should be. This tramp will hardly bend at all and is quite stiff; it was tough to roll up when I brought it home. Is that the way it is supposed to be? Is there a way to fix that?
No and no. New tramps are very flexible. The vinyl in yours will crack - sooner rather than later. The fabric reinforcing will hold it for a while, but it's done.
Aye Carumba wrote:
2. The other question is on the jib halyard. Because of the age of the parts, I had planned on replacing the forestay. The cheek block nylon wheel is messed up, and the halyard block wheel is totally missing. So in the case that I need a new cheek block, a new halyard block and a new forestay, should I just upgrade to the Aussie halyard and skip the other. If you remove the cheek block, what do you do to seal it the holes on the mast?
Go to the Aussie halyard and leave the cheek block, even if you don't use it. If you're hell-bent on removing it, seal the holes with rivet sleeves and new rivets.