Seeing light through the bowsprit

[Clyde Jenkins]

A friend of mine owns a Cape George cutter. 36 feet on deck. 42 feet LOA. 10.5 feet beam. 23200 lbs displacement. Full keel. The bowsprit is a wood lamination, painted. In the current state of rig tune there are some visible horizontal cracks in the sprit. When he put the foresail on the roller furler and went sailing in light air he found that he could see through the sprit from side to side.

How worrisome or risky is this? Does it make sense to try to fix it by driving fasteners in to draw the gaps together? He assumes that epoxy was used as the adhesive for lamination. Could epoxy be injected and then clamp the piece to draw it up? Is replacement the best fix?

Clyde

[Clyde Jenkins]

Cape George 36 is 36 feet LOA and probably 30 feet LOD.

Clyde

[Douglas]

Just a note , is that some long-time cruisers have seen epoxy laminations of wood , to delaminate in service .

Could it be poor prep of the surfaces, or could it be softening of the epoxy glue, due to heat, from tropical sun,,,,

My bottom line is ,,,, are the adhesives involved , approved for aircraft construction ?

I Love and admire that Brion Toss used the self thought out term, of,,,, " building in a reserve, of neglect " , when planning your rigging application . He had very good reason , to take this direction ,,,,, His experience, dictated, this policy !

L & L Pardey , believe that adhesive epoxy softens at a temperature of 150 degrees F , and they have proof , of that claim ,,,, just ask them ! or did I get my numbers wrong ?

Could be ! , What ever , but my best bet would be to re-laminate that bowsprit with an approved structural glue and using the approved guidelines of that adhesive .

Without question my confidence in Brion's recommendations , is beyond reproach,,,,, it is just so bad that he is spread soooo thin, among us ,,, Ouch !

Douglas

[benz]

Hi Clyde,

The Cape George marine works is still in business, and the owner, Todd Uecker, is very helpful over the phone. If it's a bowsprit that they built, it might be glued with Resorcinol, but Todd would know, esp. if you had the boat's basic information. A lot of Cape Georges are owner-finished, so all bets are off as to construction in that case.....either way, if you find the Marine Works on the web and give Todd a call, he'll be able to give you the most expert advice.
Best,
Ben
By the way, I built the bowsprit for my CG 31 out of fiberglass. We'll find out how it works in a few months.....