Swept back Spreaders and Pre-Bend

[stephenmh]

Hello

I have a Catalina Capri 26 which calls for a 3" rake and 1.5" of pre-bend however I'm unable to achieve any pre-bend even with the 1/8" shim (under the mast foot) that Catalina offers. The Capri has a mast head rig w/ swept back spreaders and I've noticed that over the years, the spreaders have developed some horizontal play (2” from front to back) and I'm just contributing the extra play from the years of the pin hole being slighting wallowing out from age. With my spreaders having “play”, I’m starting to think that if the (my) Spreaders are not rigid to the mast, it would not matter how much stay tension I would apply, the spreaders would not be able to do their job and help introduce any bend. Am I correct in thinking this? On a mast head rig, would swept back spreaders act the same way as on a fractional rig?



Cheers
Stephen