Do It Yourself Bow Sprit

[bob lamb]

Wondering if anyone has an info (dimensions/mat'ls, etc) on a "do-it-yourself" bowsprit for a cp16?

[mgoller]

Hi Bob,
My 16 II had the bowsprit.  My 19 didn't and I wanted it.  I had the pattern for the wood, the stainless parts and the locations.  It turns out that Hutchins provided me with everything I needed for less than the cost of fabricating the thing.  This was even after I would do as much as possible my self.  Total price was about $600.
Another thought is that when you are done you don't want to make any apologies for the bow sprit.  If you were to sell the boat in the future you don't want a buyer to say " I'll take her if you remove the ugly bow sprit."
On the other hand you would probably get a better price if the bow sprit was stock.
That said, I did see a homemade bow sprit made of an Oak 4X4 newl post, tapered and camphered on the corners.  It projected 2' off the bow and off the boats center line to clear the cleat.  It had a cutter style look and didn't look bad.  The front stay needed a 1/2" extension to reach the new tack which was a stainless 1" x 1/8" thick by 6" long piece slid through a slot in the bow sprit and bolted through.  The bottom of this strap had a hole for the Bob stay which attached down to a plate bolted with the bow ring.
This bow sprit was cool because it could be removed leaving only two holes in the deck.  I believe it was through bolted by two carriage bolts.  I thought it looked good.
As far as function, it would work well, and be convertible.  It wouldn't hold an anchor the way the stock bow sprit did, but you could live with that.
You could probably fly an asymetrical spinnaker better with this bow sprit.  It might look like a racy updated Com-Pac 16ZX.