VICTORY did not come with a bowsprit, so we made one out of spruce. The first thing we did was grab a nice spruce 2x6, 14 footer left over from the Penobscot 14 spar stock. Our buddy Steve had sent a drawing and we had a few other inputs that told us the bowsprit should be around 67 inches from jibstay stop to mast center, with a couple more inches extending forward past the stop. I decided to round up to 6 feet, the bumpkin will need to be about the same length as well. We will do final fitting with the spars and sails on the boat to see where to trim. So out of the 14 foot piece we could easily get two 6 foot blanks. Cut long and trim back slowly!
I made a few measurements of the width and height of the stem facing, width was under 1 1/2 inches and the height was about 2 3/4 inches, so a 2x4 six feet long would be enough for a bowsprit or bumpkin.
We cut out 2 small blanks to capture shapes at the stem hole and thwart stop, ripped them to height on a table saw. Next we 8 sided them and shaped them with hand planes to make patterns for the stem hole and the thwart stop. We transferred measurements over to the blanks, found the measurements for the aft end notch first, it is a little wider than the stem hole, so we'll have to taper the spar before it pokes forward through the stem.
Shaped the bowsprit patterns for where the bowsprit goes through the stem (right) and where it notches into the aft stop (center). Tuned up the cut with my new Stanley 12-101 finger plane, it works great.
The bowsprit ia about a 1/4 inch wider at the aft stop than where it goes through the stem, so we'll get to taper it at one point.
Stem port profile.
I ripped two 72 inch blanks to height and length. The 2x4 width was good for the aft end, and I used the table saw to shave the side of the forward section of the spar to get the width we needed to fit through the stem hole. I made a mistake and cut all of the the difference off of one side, a heavy 1/8 inch, and then realized I should have taken a little of of each side. After sitting in the moaning chair for a few minutes I decided I could shave a little off of the other side as well and spend some time fairing that transition from wide spar aft of the stem hole to narrow spar going through the stem hole. Basically that means that the section of spar that extends forward of the stem will be straight but offset about 1/16th of an inch to port. I won't be noticeable from a galloping horse. But if you ever see us competing for Best of Show, make sure you mention it to us.
I marked the stem face line so I know where I can start tapering the oval forward to a circle on tip.
Used the Lugger bumpkin to get some ideas on shaping the bowsprit, they we built by Honnor Marine within a year of each other. We marked the taper where it will start at a circle on the tip and flow into an oblong shap by the stem.
Once the rectangular blank was cut, we made it 8 sided on the table saw where we could, then belt sanded with 60 grit to 16 sided, then tuned it a bit more with 120 grit on a disc sander and finished it off with 120 grit by hand. The Dabber jib is set off of a bowsprit that extends about 3 feet off the bow. That'll take a little getting used to, I almost clocked myself on it as soon as I installed it. ZIP wants one now...
The jibstay loops over the end of the bowsprit, I'll have to add something to keep it from sliding aft.
I'm happy with that.
Removable. Might have to for launch, I'm not sure if it will clear the tow vehicle.
Wow the spruce didn't darken at all with the first coat of varnish! I'll see of the Skipper likes the lighter wood, otherwise we'll put some mahogany stain on it to make it dark like the spar that is way back in the corner.
The spar off the stern that leads the mizzen sheet is called a bumpkin. I made a little pattern piece to get the shape of the hole in the transom.
Fun day!
http://smallboatrestoration.blogspot.com/p/drascombe-dabber.html
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