When I replaced all the lines and the standing rig on my Nacra 5.2 I documented where everything went very carefully. I threw the mast and sails up and have a few questions:

1. The main halyard... typically on Hobies there is a cleat to bundle the rope on. What do you do with all of your halyard rope on this boat?

2. The jib halyard/downhaul... There is one cheek block on the mast which I believe is supposed to be used for the main downhaul. There is a cleat to run the halyard/downhaul line through, but there is also a block, which tells me that there should be a matching block on the mast to downhaul it. Am I correct / missing a block?

3. Mast rake... my own experiance with "boarded" cats is that mast rake isn't a huge factor. What are other people's opinions on this? When I had an TheMightyHobie18 there were people that raked the heck out of their masts. I never found an advantage to it. Currently I have my Nacra 5.2 mask back 17-19" off dead vertical and it seems to run fine.

1) since I had the bar in the middle of my trampoline like you, I stuffed the halyard in the loop of the trampoline that covers the bar...my righting line, coiled nicely, fit well just between the exposed bit of the bar and the trampoline - easy access too.

2) There should be a small pulley on the end of the steel jib halyard, a sheave on the mast, and a v-jam cleat on the mast for the jib halyard. Your rope part of the halyard should tie to the end of the cable at the eye (where the pulley is attached too), thread through the sheave on the mast, through the pulley on the end of the cable halyard, and to the v-jam cleat. This gives you 3:1 purchase on the jib halyard. I tied a short tail and used a sister clip on my jib halyard so I could stow the lenthy part of rope and use the tail for the purchase.

3) I ran the mast pretty straight up - usually about 10 to 12" of rake - but then I had a square top main too. I never could feel much of a difference either way.

Sounds like what I thought. I am missing a cheek block on the mast. If I use the one there for the jib, the main downhaul won't work.

The problem now is the main downhaul. The base of my mast is going to look like a Harken/Spinlock showroom...

Note that as you add more hardware for jib & main downhaul & controls @ base of mast, there will be more tendency for your jibsheets to get caught on them during a tack. You can see some boats rig bungee lines from mast, above all this hardware, to points on front beam, maybe 1/2 way between mast & hull. These bungees route under the jib sheets, help keep them from getting tangled on the rigging at base of mast.

Yep, I did that right away and I use a neoprene boot around the ball/socket mast base.

I thought you would ask about that now that the cheek block is used for the jib.

I had two headbanger cleats at the base of the mast, a triple block attached to the tack of the main, and two more cheek blocks just below the boom. 6:1 downhaul...see attachment.

I have a setup prepared. I am using a 6:1 cascade with a Spinlock exit block. I gotta say, that Spinlock downhaul exit block that Murrays and APS are selling is excellent. I highly recommend it for the main downhaul.