How to treat this bow sprit?

[sgumedic]

I recently bought a boat that had a well painted bow sprit before the winter. Now I see cracks in the paint (see pics). The wood seems solid. Is this something I can epoxy to fill the voids, then paint? Or should I be worried about anything else?

Thanks for your help!

[minaret]

Where to begin? The sampson post is probably all right, but that sprit! I'd build a new one...

[Emmalina]

Looks like a laminate job! I would replace it !

[Kevin84]

Strip the paint. Then inspect for dry rot. A painted sprit is usually a warning of dry rot that the PO is trying to hide. Plan on having to replace it.

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[minaret]

Originally Posted by Emmalina

Looks like a laminate job! I would replace it !

Laminate is fine, good even, if you have some idea what you are doing. Whoever built that sprit didn't. Probably resorcinol or similar, and severely short planked; it's almost built out of scraps. Not a scarf in sight, only butts.

[SkiprJohn]

You didn't mention the boat design so I don't know the dimensions of the sprit. I've seen them made from all kinds of materials. Just a single piece of douglas fir would be ok but you need to keep it painted well. Laminated sprits are usually vertical laminations instead of horizontal in the ones I've seen. You could also use aluminum or fiberglass extrusions.

[sgumedic]

Thanks for the replies! I'm going to have a rigging company take a look at it. It's actually a good time since the masts are down and she's on the hard. It's a Kenner Skipjack. If you add Tacoma in the google search field, that's the boat. It's a ketch rig so two sails worth of force is on the bow sprit (I know, not a true skipjack despite the name).