This picture basically sums up the last 4 weeks of our life; Put on respirator, crawl into small space, recite expletives, rinse, repeat. Shortly after this shot, Allyson was laying on her back in the anchor locker yelling "you're dead to me Neilan!"
The triangle of misery - This is what needed a replacement. All Cape Dory's have a plate rusting out under the bow, not sure why they chose mild steel as a backing plate in an environment like the anchor locker. This one was very far gone, it came out along with blood, sweat and a half bucket of rust.
Prepping for the bowsprit installation
This was the final solution. A 1/16th inch and an 1/8th inch stainless steel plate used for backing the bowsprit and bow pulpit. The bottom plate has a welded triangle directly below the staystail chainplate which connects to an 8000lb rated bronze turnbuckle. The Turnbuckle runs to a 1.5 ft long 1/2 in steel rod glassed in under 6 layers of 10 oz fiberglass sheets.
Painted it with some barrier coat I had leftover from bottom painting. It won't stay white for long .
Allyson spent hours, sanding, cleaning and varnishing the bowsprit. Looks so much better than the grayed out piece of driftwood we had up there before. If you look at the 'before' post you will also see that there are 4 additional large bolts to hold the bowsprit down.
Should be launching this week!
I would like to thank some guys at the boatyard who helped me brainstorm a solution for replacing the plate. Lee, who was working on Stargazer (an Alberg 30), only a few inches away from Sarah suggested the turnbuckle idea and options of how to install it. Paul, who provided me with a stainless steel countertop used for the 1/16 inch plate and cut the steel plates once I had them patterned up.
It's more appropriate here to say ....Good Job!
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