I think on the CDI furlers the forestay must be made up after the wire has passed through the extrusion. So if there are sweged fittings on the ends this must be done by the rigger after the furler comes off the boat. Also he could then make the new forestay exactly the same length as the old one.
On my previous boat I used nicopress fittings on the rigging and was very pleased with them. Easy to do, not expensive and allowed me freedom to do it as I wanted.
The hyfield-Johnson lever is an excellent idea if you do any trailering at all. I put one on my previous boat and would like one on the 260. Just be sure your sail luff is short enough to have the foil shortened by the 8" or so required for the lever to sit below the drum.
Mike it looks like from the picture that you are using the 14-206 model lever, is this correct ? the rating for it is only for a working load of 1000 lbs. The bigger lever 14-210 is rated at 1600 lbs but uses 5/16" pins. So if you have the bigger lever did you have to drill out the holes in the forestay and furler or can you use smaller pins in the bigger holes? The wire on the 260 is rated at 3300 lbs I believe, so these levers would really be the weakest link. I may switch to nicopress when I change the furler/forestay, I think a nicopress fitting is rated at 80% of wire strength, don't know about swagged fittings, look stronger.
Bob