The PO of my 1981 CP16 installed a homebuilt bowsprit - unfortunately he was not that great a woodworker and things are falling apart. I personally like the look of the sprit and plan to replace it this winter. Being handy (and cheap) I plan to craft it all myself. I have access to a variety of wood types and was wondering if anyone had any specific recommendations of wood to use or to stay away from?
Hey Wroundey:
I was having trouble with our recently sold C16 bowsprits. The original was split when we bought it. I replaced it with a teak one, that split because of the downward pressure exerted by the bobstay forcing the bowsprit onto the bow of the boat. The next one was made of oak with teak laminated onto it. It split just before I had switched the bow roller to hit under the bobstay. (This introduced another set of problems with the boat bobbing while trailering unless a downward tie down was used on the bow.) The third bowsprit was made of 3/4 plywood with 1/4 oak bead-board laminated onto it. I was out of teak at the time. This worked. I mentioned the problem to Keith Scott. His solution was great, remove the bobstay when trailering, using quick fasten pins andkeep the bow eye under the front roller on the trailer. So I would use teak, and have a removable bobstay for trailering to keep it from splitting and the boat from bobbing. There are some pictures of the bowsprit on the site.
good luck
charlie