Dave,
I was thinking of going almost that route with 2 inch dowels cut two
inches long, drilled out with tapered ends but I didn't like the bend it
put in the fore Stay but it did work.
This one doesn't seem to kink the Stay as bad.
Dave, both systems store better than the $75.00 one. You can stuff them
in the sailbag
Ole Thom
http://community.webtv.net/tassail/ThomsHomePage