I'm using a prebent rig, with about an inch and 3/4 spreader rake. I'm finding that my mast is consistently under-rotating, and my old rotator is a tad under-powered to get it just right. For good reasons, I like my old rotator. It's self tending, self tacking, and sets with one pull on a bungie, and can't dismast me if I forget it on a hot jibe or tack, for the twin reasons that I'm supposed to forget it (self tacking), and that the bungie will just pull out of the camcleats. I'd sure hate to lose it.



My thinking is, if I rake the spreaders more, the axis of bend (least resistance) should move; for example clockwise on port tack, (CCwise on starboard). So if the axis of bend moves clockwise on port, the mast should rotate further counter-clockwise so as to line that axis up with the load, right? And on port tack, when you add rotation, you're rotating the mast counter-clockwise. Sounds like a go, right? I'm nervous....



Allright, here's the question for the real experts out there:



Clearly, if it really was that simple, i.e.: "Rake your spreaders more until your mast rotates properly by itself, less if it over-rotates" then people would be doing it. So what'm I missing here? If you rake 'em too far you're not supporting the short cross-section of your mast, and it fails? How far is too far in that case? Or is it something else I'm not seeing?



Thanks, and...