Solent Stay

[Joel H.]

Greetings, to everyone on this forum.
I hope I'm not being too foreword by making a post like this, my first time here!
Anyway, here goes.....
I discovered this forum while researching the idea of installing a Solent Stay on my 1978 Catalina 27.
I bought the boat 3 seasons ago, and along with a headsail-furler set up with a 150% laminate genoa, the boat came with what appears to be *100% and *130% hank-on jibs. So, of course, I would love to get one or both of them into action.
I sail almost exclusively singlehand so the furler is a must. Also, I really don't want to deal with the expense of installing luff tape on the jibs, and, with constantly loading and unloading them from the foil. Therefore the Solent Stay seems ideal, if it works.
I'm a pretty accomplished mechanic so I feel comfortable installing the deck fittings, below deck reinforcement stays, and mast fittings, necessary.
Also, I plan on installing the Solent Stay close to, and parallel to the existing forestay. Say, within 12" or even less. The upshot is, what I'm hoping is that this will allow me to fly at least the "100%", (without Mods?)
It is probably useful to know that, besides the toe rail genoa track, one of the P.O.s installed additional tracks next to the coach windows behind the shrouds and also at the fore end of the cockpit combing. Oh, and also, if you don't know, a Catalina 27's mast is a tree trunk! So, I'm hoping that all this works to my advantage!
Anyway, I guess the question is: Will the stay itself work? Will the sail/sails work as I am envisioning? Does anyone have any reservations/advise?

*(The sizes don't really match up to the sizes listed on C27 sail guides. The dimensions of the foots are shorter than listed).
Thanks in advance for any feedback,
Joel H.