Wat length and thickness of rope do people use for the spinneker hailered (the thing that pulls the spinnekker up and down!! i cant spell very well im afraid) plus wat length tiller extention do people reconmend as i hav half a carbon tiller extension from a RS700 and was going to cut it down to size but unsure on the length!!! by the way we had 3 merlins out at redditch on sunday so our fleet is getting bigger but stil no qwil yet. he may need some more persueding.

16.5m of 4mm 8plait pre stretch! I would allow a little more just in case the halliard runs around the turning block or eye further back in the boat...
Tiller extn depends on lots of things...The taller you are (and the further you sit out) the longer it needs to be. Also if your Merlin isn't 7 ft 2in wide then a little bit shorter...length of tiller makes a difference as well. Somewhere between 1.2 and 1.3m is about right...

James is your current tiller and exstension to short? does it prevent you from sitting out far enough? is that why you went swimming 5 times the weekend before last?

very funny joker!!! that is the reason for it yes. the tiller extension is to short and does not allow me to sit forward far enough with out stretching to much!!! will go and get the rope on wednesday then and have a go at the tiller extension!!!