A drilled hole in a carbon stick will still corrupt it's structural integrity lessening resistance to fatigue failure. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Phill, a 'bottle screw'/'bottle jack' is a loose term I used as a reference to a threaded fitting Nacra used on their rudder cross beam to adjust the alignment of the the rudders by altering the distance between the tillers. I happen to have one here and thought about using it at the beam to push the pole outward to load up the bow lines to help initiate prebend.