You don't need spreaders for the 14 mast of you go with a screecher, but make sure you have the mainsheet tight. The mast rotator worked very well in light wind and grinding off the stops on the mast base step let the mast go even with the beam.

I mounted my screecher about a foot down from the top of the mast, it was on a 10.5 foot pole and the clew came about to the front beam end cap. I wouldn't say that bow piercing hulls would have made a difference--I almost always went over backwards unless I punched into the back of a wave going mach 4. By then, any boat would have pitchpoled.

Stick with the original 14.