The Bowsprit

As mentioned in the past our bowsprit, the wooden part the juts out of the front and holds the wire rigging which, in turn holds the mast, is in need of repair. Repair is a generous word in this case not even rebuilding or replacing are strong enough words. At first look the wooden piece, 4 feet by 9" by 1.5", is rotted so much only about half is still present, no good at all. It is held down with nine bolts going through the deck and through a large piece of steel underneath the deck to support it all. This piece of steel is completely rusted and has an additional 12 bolts holding it down, pictured below.
Warning this post may be a rant but it is good therapy to write down your feelings, I have been told.

Since I was feeling confident about this being a big project, but a rewarding one, I started out with gusto. Problem one showed up immediately, after removing the wooden plugs that covered the 6 major bolts I was surprised to see no bolts. Someone in the past had rammed into something and shifted the entire wooden piece back a few inches. After some digging I found the bolts. Promptly hit with problem two, when the wood moved it bent the bolts making them almost impossible to loosen. Problem three, they are threaded into the rusty mess underneath, on top of having a rusty nut stuck to them. End of that story being out came the grinder and I had to cut, hammer and vice grip them off.

Did I mention it was raining so this all had to be done under a tarp? Just to make it more exciting the accident also separated the deck from the hull on the starboard side. Needless to say I was unhappy to find these issues but worked through it. However my dreaded part was yet to come. Removing the metal support has been haunting me for a while. The chain locker area is about as big as an ottoman and I have to fit in there with a grinder and cut all the old glass off a rusty blob. To start I needed to remove the other 12 bolts, six came out with a lot of protest only to find some amazing worker in the past decided to weld to close to the other six and tacked them all in place. Of course they are too close to the deck and hull for my grinder to fit (I'm still brainstorming how to get them off yet). Now the real games begin. The metal plate has a vertical piece conveniently placed to make it impossible to get a grinder or any tool past it. The metal plate is so in bedded in glass you can not tell where it ends and risk cutting through the hull. Just to make matter worse the dust us so thick in the tiny box I have to wedge into you can not see at all. I will succeed just not sure how as of yet.

When not at the boat I started attacking the construction of the new bowsprit. In the Fall I ordered up a beautiful piece of local white oak. Over the Winter it was kiln dried and milled to a beefy 48" X 9.5" X 2". While removing the old bronze hardware, which is also beautiful, I was quickly reminded of what a pain everything is when the six screw holding the main plate started acting up. After every trick I know from penetrating oil to torches three refused to come out. After breaking two screw drivers I had to give up the traditional methods. When the person attached them they threaded the bottom plate and then cut the bolt fairly flush to make it better then hammered it flat making it all but impossible to remove the bolts when combined with corrosion. It took a night sleep to come back prepared to battle them when I looked up and saw my axes and then figured out the easy way. Chop Chop I split the wood then was easily able to cut the bolts in the middle and vice grip them out. Next up is mounting hardware, removing all the metal, prepping to go replace everything and I am sure at least 5 more obstacles...