Check for this:

1) aft lowers slack. Sometimes when I put my mast up I tighten these to help stabilize the mast side to side and then forget to loosen them right away after it's up.

I'm no genius when it comes to mast tuning and you may get a better answer from somebody who knows it better than I but the job of the aft lowers is to control mast bend in heavy air. They just limit how low the mast bends when you pull on the backstay. There is a safety component to this (imagine the forward pressure on that mast step with the backstay tight). For mainsail shape they allow you to really seperate the effects of the outhaul (flatten the lower mainsail) from the backstay (flatten the upper mainsail).

The double spreader fractional rig is one of the most versatile rigs out there.

2) as the mast goes up make sure that none of the mast shroud connectors (forgot what they are called) are twisted. This may not result in forward rake but it wrecks havoc unless you catch it. This may have happened to me with the aft lowers at one point which really pronounces the forward rake.

3) When raising the mast with no hoist I usually use the spinnaker halyard. paranoia keeps me from unhooking it right away after hooking up the forestay. That can create the forward rake if you start to tighten up the shrouds.

Hope that helps!

-bryan

:: This has happened to me a few times. I'm going to have
:: to remember what the problem was and get back to you.
:: All I remember right now was that something in the
:: rigging went cockeyed while it was slack.
::
::
:: :: I have put some postings already about this but a
:: :: picture speaks a 1000 words! We were taking down the
:: :: masts this past weekend so I snapped some shots to help
:: :: show where I believe my problems are.
:: ::
:: :: When I try tuning to the numbers on the website, right
:: :: now the mast bends forward. The closer I try to get to
:: :: the numbers, the worst it rakes forward.
:: ::
:: :: As I tighten the aft lowers, it pulls the mast back at
:: :: the lower spreaders. As you can see in the pictures,
:: :: when I tune the rig this way the mast hooks towards the
:: :: bow badly.
:: ::
:: :: I believe with no tension on the lower afts the mast
:: :: should bend / rake towards the stern of the boat. As the
:: :: lower are introduced, it helps straighten the bottom of
:: :: the mast so the backstay is more effective.
:: ::
:: :: When the mast was off the boat, I discovered that the
:: :: bottom plate has sunk about 3/16". My guess is that this
:: :: would put the mast leaning towards the stern and as the
:: :: shrouds are tightened it would the mast forward??
:: :: Thoughts or does it really make a difference?
:: ::
:: :: The link for the pics is
:: :: http://express27.org/photos/?gallery=119 . Also, if
:: :: anyone looks at the deck, any suggestions / improvements
:: :: are welcome!