Upgrade MKIII to MKIV bobstay

[HeaveToo]

Since my bobstay was broken I elected to upgrade to the MKIV bobstay.  I am extremely pleased with this upgrade/replacement.  It looks good and has other added benefits.

The job was straight forward and I consulted Compac before doing this.  All you do is detach the old bobstay and attack the new solid bobstay to the fitting on the bowsprit.  Next you swing the solid bobstay until the bracket makes contact with the hull.  Mark the location of the bolt holes (Prior to doing this I taped over this area of the bow with blue painters tape).  Drill the holes.  Bevel out the holes a little.

I used butyl tape for the bedding.  I put the tape in the method described here:  http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/rebedding_hardware

I followed this method and slowly tightened down the new bracket.

Attached is a picture of the upgrade.

Good call Brackish!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm199/HeaveToo/BowSpritnewbobstay_zps2b147d71.jpg

[HeaveToo]

One last thing:

The price for the new bobstay upgrade, with shipping, was about $83.  If you have bedding materials on hand that is the total cost of the upgrade.  The bolts are supplied as well as the backing bracket (this is pretty heavy duty).  The bolts are pretty long so you will need a long ratchet socket (7/16" I believe).  It is a bit of a reach to get into the area to put the backing bracket and bolts.  It is a two person job because someone is needed outside to hold the Phillips bolt heads still.

It took about an hour to mount the bobstay and bracket.  It took a lot longer to tighten the bolts because of the gradual increments of tightening.  Cleaning up the butyl tape was easy.

Overall, this is a pretty easy job.  I highly recommend it over replacing the cable bobstay.