Brion,
Many thanks for the thoughtful and prompt response.
As for the 1/16" difference in measurement, yes, its surprising. 9/32" is, I believe, the 'spec' now that you mention it. The fix is simple, since I plan to replace the rigging anyway: thanks to your encouragement I'll just use 9/32 or 5/16ths moving forward. Would there be any negative consequences of slightly oversizing to the 5/16ths?
As for switching to a single forestay - I'd been considering roller furling, and am still truly on the fence about it, but for some reason I'd never thought of simply dropping down to a single forestay and remaining with the hank-ons. It would solve a number of problems I have with the current setup and I'm glad to know that the twin forestay "experiment" was not some fantastic seaworthy design I'm blindly turning my back on. Plus with a single forestay I can always convert to a roller after the fact much more easily.
Can I safely assume that I can run the same size wire (9/32 or 5/16, as the case may be) as the shrouds and backstay and be done with it, in this case?
Lastly, what is the right way to come up with an appropriate scaling factor for the mizzen? The main is about 266 ft^2 and the mizzen is ~94 ft^2, for a 35% size factor, but I assume that's not the whole story either. The mizzen is lower than the main, representing less angular force, but the rigging attaches at a slightly narrower part of the boat (maybe a 4.5 foot half-beam instead of a 5.5 foot, at that point), so it also has commensurately less leverage as well. Is there anything close to a "this will get you in the ballpark for wire sizing" kind of approach?
Again, many thanks.
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