I have a Catalina 30 (we purchased last spring) with a Hood Seafurl 810. I won't address line diameter other than to say search the web for a manual. It will list the required line diameter, which is probably different for the 800. Also, Marty Barnett at Pompanette (Hood parent company or something like that) (marty_barnett@pompanette.com) may be able to help. I worked with her to get spares for my 810. Anyway, here are some tips:
1) I purchased a new continuous line (spliced) from Mauri Pro Sailing. NER Sta Set. The added charge for the splice was ~$26.
2) I measured the length of the path of the furling line from drum to cleat and added 2'. Then doubled for the finished spliced length of the line. MPS will splice to your finished length. I had also taken off the line I had and measured it. The new one is longer because I wanted a little more line to work with at the cleat. Caveat - I haven't reinstalled in on the boat yet. Maybe this weekend.
3) The jamming may not necessarily be the line. Our boat is 1990. It is a b#£^<tch to furl in any kind of wind (heading into). So hard that I've had to put my feet against the cabin so I can pulled really hard on it. Easily 100 lbs pull. And there was a "hitch" every revolution of the drum. Soooo...
4) I took the whole thing apart this winter. I replaced the bearings in the drive unit. I can explain more about that later if you want. I didn't use the bearings sets I bought from Hood.
5) I found that the bottom sheave is held in place with 4 set "bolts" (you'd need to get replacements from Hood). One was missing, and 2 others were loose. The drum could wobble but I wouldn't have noticed that on the boat. When I replaced/reinstalled I used Loctite, but checking these for tightness will be at least an annual item.
6) Last summer I replaced the fair leads with Schaefer stanchion mount double fairleads. They're nice and did help.
7) Lastly, I learned that if the headstay has too much sag it could make furling more difficult. I never checked the tension in the halyard (in case some slippage occurred through the clutch over the summer). The effort to furl did increase as the summer progressed. I also have an adjustable backstay, so it will be SOP to put additional tension on that prior to furling to minimize headstay sag.
So, here's hoping to much easier furling for us in the future. I did so many changes (improvements?) that I won't be able to pinpoint which mattered the most. However, I think 5) was possibly a big contributor.
Hopes this helps!!
