I’m at a dock in the water this winter in NY and was considering removing the bowsprit, but leaving the mast up. That leaves me with one forestay 3/4 of the way up the mast through the winter… winter winds and ice, etc…
Does that sound like a bad plan?
Why remove the sprit? Well, I wanted to varnish/paint it, add a chafe plate, keep it out of the weather, and it’ll reduce my foot print in the slip, saving me money. Plus I wanted to oil the fore bitts/sampson posts.
There should be no problem, just ensure there is good tension on the remaining stay. If you want belt and braces, use a halyard from the mast top to the foredeck.
Ben:
I use the jib halyard as a jib stay when I take tension off the jib stay or
remove the jib stay, etc. I see no problems with your plans if you replace
the jib stay with the halyard.
R
P.S. Hauled IDUNA for the winter today - yuk.
On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 2:10 PM, BCC Forums bccforums@samlmorse.com wrote:
Hi Ben,
I concur with the others about removing the bowsprit - I’d also use the halyard for added stability.
What varnish are you planning to use on the bowsprit?
After months of searching, I found a stockist of Deks Olje 1 and 2 here in Dubai.
It seems the Australian company Flood are manufacturing it again.
The company was bought by Akzo Nobel, (International Paint) the biggest paint company in the world, but they were not interested in this product and dropped it from their range.
I have heard so many good things about this system I bought some and started a preliminary trial on the teak boom gallows yesterday.
Part 1 goes on wet on wet, and after sanding, I put nine coats on before it stopped being absorbed.
It can then be left as a matte finish, but after thorough drying, I plan to use No.2 gloss topcoat.
According to experienced users, the topcoat doesn’t blister or lift, even if it is dinged, and can be spot repaired.
I’ll report on the results in due course.
Has anyone else used this product before?
Not sure whether I should have started a new topic - I’ve changed the category 
What varnish are you planning to use on the
bowsprit?
THAT is a dangerous question for Ben.
Hah Aaron, you know it’s probably more a dangerous question for everyone else… cuz i might just go on and on and on about my varnish habits, deep inner thoughts on the subject of how many coats, and musings related to brushes, sandpaper and the like…
j/k
But to answer the question, i used Bristol Finish on the sprit before, and i just want to touch it up. Actually, I mostly want to get another coat of Awl Grip on the aft section, I think I only got 2 coats on.
FYI: my choice products are Epifanes Rapid Clear to build and Bristol Finish for top coats.
We have an ABI windlass mounted on a stainless steel fitting that encases the bowsprit with clearance so that the sprit can be retracted back to the scuttle hatch. Pretty neat but then the forestay will be slack or removed (with roller reefing gear). Nothing is perfect but it centered the windless and protects sprit from damage. Anchors then get stowed on deck.
nathaniel berkowitz, sausalito california
tel: 415 331 3314 fax: 415 331 1854
email:nathanielsf@yahoo.com
— On Mon, 11/15/10, BCC Forums bccforums@samlmorse.com wrote:
From: BCC Forums bccforums@samlmorse.com
Subject: [BCC Forum Post] Adventure: Re: Removing Bowsprit w/ Mast Up For Winter
To: bccforum@samlmorse.com
Date: Monday, November 15, 2010, 8:36 PM
Author: Adventure
Username: Adventure
Subject: Re: Removing Bowsprit w/ Mast Up For Winter
Forum: BCC Forum
Link: http://www.samlmorse.com/forum/read.php?5,9952,9958#msg-9958
Hi Ben,
I concur with the others about removing the bowsprit - I’d also use the halyard for added stability.
What varnish are you planning to use on the bowsprit?
After months of searching, I found a stockist of Deks Olje 1 and 2 here in Dubai.
It seems the Australian company Flood are manufacturing it again.
The company was bought by Akzo Nobel, (International Paint) the biggest paint company in the world, but they were not interested in this product and dropped it from their range.
I have heard so many good things about this system I bought some and started a preliminary trial on the teak boom gallows yesterday.
Part 1 goes on wet on wet, and after sanding, I put nine coats on before it stopped being absorbed.
It can then be left as a matte finish, but after thorough drying, I plan to use No.2 gloss topcoat.
According to experienced users, the topcoat doesn’t blister or lift, even if it is dinged, and can be spot repaired.
I’ll report on the results in due course.
Has anyone else used this product before?
Not sure whether I should have started a new topic - I’ve changed the category