Hoping I can repair my bowsprit! Yikes!

[sailandbail]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Replacement is the only viable option. Some have suggested chipping out all unsound wood and then filling the resulting void with a "Dutchman". IMO that is NOT good enuff due to the constant flexing of a sprit, however well it may be stayed. The Dutchman will pop out and you are back where you started.

Removing the existing sprit should not be difficult since destruction of it is of no great consequence. It's gone anyway. Just make sure you take accurate measurements of its dimensions before you start pulling it out.

Shape a new one to the same measurements. The new one having the exact same measurements is critical only as to the length and to the moulded and sided dimensions where the sprit passes through the moulded GRP hull. You can do it on sawhorses using the tools most handymen would already have, although you might find a power plane a great boon.

You will be able to buy the required tools many times over for the cost of having a new srit professionally made, let alone the cost of repairing your rigging if this sprits let go.

Someone mentioned softwood. I concur. There is NO need to spend the money that teak would cost even if the existing sprit is teak. Clear, straight grain Douglas Fir, available from specialty lumber suppliers or even (in these dimensions) from retailers such as Windsor Plywood (here in Canada) is MUCH cheaper than teak and actually better suited for a purpose such as this. If I were doing the job I would laminate the stock from 2 x 8 or 2 x 10 DF using epoxy for the glue. It could even be done from 2 x 4 DF.

You can make the new sprit before you remove the old one. Make sure that for the period the boat is sans sprit you have set up a temporary forestay. It needn't be complicate since you'll not be sailing the boat so there will be little strain on it, but you do need to have one.

Let's know how you go.

All the best

TrentePieds

This is really encouraging. I know it's a big project to undertake but I now see how absolutely necessary it is. A lot is depending and relying on the strength of the sprit, which to a completely naive (idiotic) novice like me, I've been conveniently ignoring. I'll tackle this project and count myself very lucky, because I've taken her out sailing in pretty heavy winds dozens of times in the last couple months. Makes me nervous now just thinking about the risk I was taking.

I'm a woodworker by trade and have some great tools and some really beautiful old growth VG fir beams that I think will work beautifully. Until I posted this I hadn't realized fir would be an option because it is softer and couldn't be more pleased that I can put those beams I've been saving to use. I think that I've got a beam or two that are large enough to construct the new sprit out of one piece which would be great, otherwise I'm assuming I can epoxy two of them together?

If anyone is local in the Washington area, I would be happy to share some of my clear, vertical grain fir beams if you have a boat project in mind. I traded my labor a couple years ago for a large stack of good looking old growth fir fresh from a sawmill 50+ years ago that has never been used.

Let the measuring begin... I will make the new bowsprit before I remove the existing. Really hoping that this project doesn't eat up too much time as this weather is changing and it's a beautiful time of year to be out on the water!!

Thank you so much, everyone, for all of the advice.

Evan
Sea Bird