Need a How-To to attach Throat Gaff Jaws to Mast and other "old school" questions

Hi All,

I'm a newbie to Mirrors and just picked up an older one (looks like from the 70s) that has the most minimal "old school" rig I have ever seen. I've figured out the rigging by way of searching through a couple old (60s) books on sailing in our local used book shops. The new books (1980s+) and websites only deal with the modern updated Mirrors that use blocks and tackle instead of just the fairleads. Kinda cool how simple the rig is, but I need some advice on how to:

1. Attach the Throat Gaff Jaws to the Mast with the shock cord. I have looked all over the web and not found anything better than "attach gaff jaws to mast using shock cord through the hole on both sides of the gaff jaw."

The problem I have with this is when I tie the shock cord to the little loop in one end of the shock cord, i end up with two band crossing the jaws gap. Are both those bands suppose to go on the front side of the mast, or is one suppose to go in front and the other in back of the mast?

Also, how hard do I pull on this shock cord before I tie it off to the little loop? Oh, ya, what kind of knot would you recommend for this.

2. Kick strap. Does anyone have a documentation on the "old school" method to implement this. Lots of new/standard methods using blocks and tackle, but I like the simple approach the older boats implements and I'm trying to maintain this route.

3. Hiking Straps - where, what, and how do they attach?

4. Knots - what's the recommended know for the outboard clew of the main sail to the boom using that hole in the boom end? any others I should know about?

Thanks all, I just don't want the gaff to come flying of this thing :-) and thanks for answering a newbie's questions.

Nick