Joanna, I like your idea of the rudder pull down quick mechanism. I was lucky enough to not have to dissasemble my boat for the 3 months that I had it (except when I put it away for a few months now). When I did take it apart I did think of how painful it would be to always thread those lines. As for your downhaul- when you mean hook to the mainsail- do you take the line that is coming out of the mast and hook it straight to the main or do you have the hook on the block then attach it to the main? When I got my boat it had one of those hooks but it didn't make sense to me. I use a piece of spectra that has a bowline tied in it that will fit through a standard bullet block then goes to a "quick" release D shackle on the side of the mast. Here is a pic. BTW the line that is wrapped around the mast attached to the main is a little loop that helps me get the bottom of the luff rope into the luff groove on the mast. This is a minor problem with my ullman but not with the glaser. You can also see the clip to the rotator.
