I'm new to the Solidworks routing, and am using the 2013 version.  I'm trying to figure out the best way to place tight  pipe fittings (female elbows and tees) along my route. The only way I've gotten it to work so far is by:

1. Placing the fitting at the end of the route. (The fitting is an imported Spears elbow that I've modified by adding RPOINT and CPOINTS to.)

2. Constraining the sketch to the fitting and mating the two fitting faces (usually results in constraint errors in the sketch)

3. I'll then dimension the route line between the fittings (the unseen  pipe "stub" between the two female sockets)

4. Then I'll delete the mate and set the fitting back to be "sketch driven"

This seems like a VERY roundabout way to butt two fittings together. I feel like I'm missing something simple. I could just dimension the "stub" every time, but it's not usually a friendly measurement and has to be figured and calculated (as the RPOINTs that are being measured are typically in the middle of the fitting).

I've searched forums and watched several routing tutorials without finding the answer. If anybody has a better way or can point me towards a resource that can explain it better, it would be greatly appreciated.