Pensacola FL Sailing Blog - sailingnightwatch

We have met many wonderful people that are involved in the boating community, that we never would have met if we would have stayed hidden in our home in suburbia. My wife has less than 4 years to retirement. My dream is to sail in the islands for about 5 years. Good Lord willing, our health will last to that point and beyond. After 5 years, age will be part of the equation as we evaluate where we are at in life. Since the hurricane, we have lived in the canals of a subdivision. Our acquaintances have shifted from boaters and cruisers to landlubbers. They look at us as at least being strange. I can see some of their influence wearing off on the wife as we talk of cruising around them. She has never been to sea for any length of time and the storms we have gotten into have been in or near protected waters. There is average apprehension there. The few trips we have made she has enjoyed and is more than willing to share with you. We need to do more of those short trips and build up confidence.

We have lived on board for 12 years, the longest we have lived anywhere, and I am extremely happy with the lifestyle. I believe my wife is usually happy with the lifestyle. She is an accountant and having your largest investment being in a depreciating asset does bothers her. She does not have much experience at sea. She is riding alone in my dream. I do all the routine maintenance and she worries about my aging, and the day when I can not keep the boat up. At this point I am still like a teenager and feel invincible. Some days, most days, I got to keep exercising.

The stem head has 2 bolts that hold it on. Even with them removed, the fitting had to be sawed off and the wood drilled and chiseled out. The shape looks like an engineer spent some time figuring out all the stresses it would have to endure. The 4 planks where epoxied together and then shaped. It does sound easy, but it was a bear. There are no straight surfaces. Every side tapers to the stem head. That means everything is measured from the centerlines. I enjoyed the layout challenge, but I do not believe my contractor shared my enthusiasm.

Reinstallation was basically the reverse of its removal. A few minor adjustments and it was good to go. We did add a washout groove under the bowsprit right as it goes through the hole in the bow. We also coated the entire bowsprit with epoxy and varnish. The laminate joints on the old bowsprit were broke apart when I bought the boat. After a year and a half, the new joints have split apart in a couple places. Probably why there are 3 large bolts and backing plates through the laminate. If it would fail again, I would look at having a heavy mast extrusion made in it’s place.

About two years after the repair, I noticed that when using a wire to clean out the area where the bowsprit went through the hull, I could poke the wire into the wood.   Expletives. 

The bowsprit is 10’ long and 8”x6” at it’s largest point, where it goes through the hull.  I could tell by my work with the one plank that this was a bigger job then I wanted to do myself.  I contracted with one of the local marine wood workers to do the work.  I have know him for a while and he got involved more as a favor then a prudent business decision.  This was not a difficult job to do, just a heavy back breaking job.  The bow sprit had a stem head fitting that holds two large anchor rollers, the fitting for a 1” chromed staysail-stay attachment, a large chromed bronze cleat and the head stay.  When we did get this fitting off after removal of the bowsprit, it had to weigh 30-40 pounds.  The inside of the bowsprit is held in place with 4 bolts going through a kingpost style cleat and 4 bolts holding the staysail-stay in place.  These are through bolted through the deck and heavy backing plate in the anchor locker.  We used the topping lift (the only line that goes to the masthead) to hold up the bowsprit while we beat it out through the hole with a large sledge hammer. 

Where the bowsprit goes through the square opening, it is very tight and all kinds of dirt and leaves get into, around and under that point.  There was no way to clean in this area once everything is back together.  That is a point of worry for another time.

 We ended up cutting the top board ends on about a 9:1 ratio on each end and leaving a couple inches on each end past where the rot was.  The planks that made up the lower laminates seem fine.  The new top plank was cut and fitted and then epoxied in place.  That was a real miserable project.  We worked from the pier and the piece of wood we were working with was about 5’ – 6” above the pier.  The plank weighed about 35-40 pounds.  You really get tired of lifting that thing on and off over your head.  The final fitting included 3-1” bolt holes that help hold the laminate together.  The inside end fits through a square hole in the gunnels.  I mixed the epoxy to hot and it started to click as we were still tightening the bolts.  The epoxy that was squeezed from the joint hardened almost immediately.  That became a sanding challenge for another day.  It took two days to get everything back together and ready to be finished.