I am familiar with those. When I had the mast down last year, I put tef-gel on all the bolts and threads that I could remove. We did end up with a velco strap on the mainsail clew and that worked great. Have until March to get the boat fixed up and ready to go along with a ton more practice.
We gave away 1st place to the J24 due to having bad boat handling through out the regatta. Heineken cup is next for us. I did get a quote from US Spars on a new mast and boom. Wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.
