Repairing a Teak Bow Sprit

[redshift721]

Hello everyone. I am a new member of the forum in the midst of a very challenging project. I am the proud owner of a 1975 Vagabond 47 and I am doing a total refit. Although not wooden, she is wrapped in teak inside and out and I have a lot of wood working ahead of me. I am currently focused on the solid teak bow sprit. It is over 12 feet long and 10" x 12" at the widest point. There are several areas where bolts ran through the sprit that have rotted. I was hoping to repair these areas by removing the rotten wood and insering teak plugs. After removing the paint, I discovered that several areas had been repaired in the past using this approach. However, I am concerned about strength. Has anyone done anything like this before and, if so, do you have any advice? Many thanks!

[TimmS]

Photos are always helpful. Many here will have good advise. Are you sure it's teak? That would be really heavy for a bowsprit, especially one that size.

And welcome to the forum!

[redshift721]

Timm,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. Attached you will find a couple of photos. I am pretty sure that it is teak, but I could be wrong.

http://s830.photobucket.com/albums/zz226/redshift721/bow%20sprit/

[Lucky Luke]

Hi Tim,
That is definitely NOT teak but some kind of reddish wood like what is found all round SE Asia (and Taiwan), often prone to rot. You will also find that quite a lot of the wood, inside and outside, is not teak either...and "a lot of wood working" is ahead of you, certainly!
Since these boats carry quite some sail on their bowsprit, better be careful...and - if you don't mind - make a new one, using (depending of where you are) more appropriate timber.
These Vagabonds are very pleasant boats to wonder around with, anyway! Not the fastest, but nice live-aboard :)

[Thorne]

Please go to the USER CP link in the upper left and modify your profile to show your location -- will save a lot of typing and questions.

Personally, if you plan much offshore work or sail in heavy weather, I'd sure be tempted to replace the whole spar with Doug Fir or whatever you can afford that is strong and possibly local. But I'm a small boat guy, so you will want opinions from those experienced with larger boats.

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[Ian McColgin]

Anyway, on to the bow sprit. It will be far easier to make a new one. If you can't find a single stick you can laminate one easily enough. You may or may not want to stick to the original design depending on crans and gammon irons, etc.

An aside: Many rig a chain as the bobstay, thinking it stronger and saltier than stainless cable. Negatory. Chain is prone to stretching till it simply breaks. Also every link-to-link is a cluster of corrosion sites in waiting.

I do not feel that a turnbuckle is at all necessary. Measure very accurately for the set-up to be a bit tight. For a sprit of this length and heft, hanging 200# off the end should steve it down about the right amount. It'll come up to about straight when you attach and tighten the jib stay. And - lo - one less part, an expensive part at that, to worry about.

Depending on the gear you have and want to reuse, there are some interesting choises about the bowsprit shape and pulpit and lifelines, perhaps. You want to consider how happy you'll be out on the end on a stark and dormy night wrestling a recalcitrant furling drum into submission.

Once you start posting pictures and designing the replacement, I'll have some comments on all that based on my experience with both safe and dangerous sprits.

G'luck

[redshift721]

thanks everyone for the comments. i am going to take the safe route and build a new sprit. one suggestion was douglas fur. i have also been told that white ash would be good. any further thoughts on the wood that I should use? thanks again.

[Ian McColgin]

Ash would not be my first choise as it's 70% or more heavier than the more usual spar choises of doug fir - readily available - and sitka spruce, which is considerably more expensive than anything you really need. You could even go with one of the harder pines so long as it's not pitch.

[Mrleft8]

Don't use Ash. You'll be replacing it in a few years. D-fir would be my choice. Get good straight stock with fine grain, NO sapwood, and no wind shakes. It'll be a couple of dollars to get, but worth your life. (And less than a piece of Teak)