Thanks for the responses.

I've got Mosquito 1414...a timber hulled boat that i picked up a week or so ago.

My main area of concern relates to my boom vang....which was broken when i picked up the boat. Hence i'm looking to replace it. From memory the existing system was a 5 to one setup....but this was totally useless due to the loads on the system (and maybe because the pulleys didn't rotate.)

Given it was so hard to operate, i was interested if most guys used 6:1 systems....or if anyone went as far a 8:1 for a vang setup?

As my crew (girlfriend) will be using it, hence I don't want the system really hard to use....but also, don't want to go overboard.

The other item is the mainsail halyard. I find that after a lube the sail goes up fine, but always fails to hook onto the top of the mast...meaning i need to tip the boat everytime i want to go sailing. Generally i need to tip it again to get the main down again. Any tips?

Thanks
Chris