I finally finished the bowsprit and reinstalled it on Galena. She looks so much better with her nose than without.

The weather was fantastic and so there were several of my dock-mates on hand to help. Billy (s/v Betterdays), Terry (s/v Cloud Nine), and Gene (s/v SeaWoof) were all helpful in not only lifting the bowsprit into place, but also in solving the many inevitably problems that surfaced as I tried to bolt it into place.
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After painting the bowsprit with the same paint as was used on the hull I began reassembly.
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Time to get back to work.
The bow pulpit had been removed (to replace the bowsprite). While cruising last winter we had destroyed the port side navigation light. So I decided to replace the lights and the wiring.

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I rounded the tip of the bowsprit to accept the ringband. It fits very snugly, as it should. But there are some voids in there. When I'm ready to attach the ringband I'll give everything a good coating of thickened epoxy and let that fill the voids.

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I've begun to shape the new bowsprit. The three 2x6 planks are now one 4.5" x 5.5" spar. I need to work that down a bit and taper it to 4x4 at the tip.
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Glued the bowsprit together today. Used West System with 403 microfiber filler. The three 2x6's were clamped together and left to kickoff. The cold temperatures overnight gave me some pause but the epoxy seems to be curing just fine.
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After I took all the hardware off and started to probe about on the surface and around the holes drilled through it, I found significant rot. Probably not enough to cause the bowsprit to fail, but far too much to put this bowsprit back on Galena.
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Progress, however slowly, is being made.

I'm also reading cruising guides for the Maine coast for a probably cruise North next summer and guides for the Med for a possible cruise across the Atlantic in '08 or '09. Nothing like big plans to keep the body young.

Galena's bowsprit is now in my garage and she's lying in her slip with her nose cut off. She has lines and rigging scattered about her foredeck.
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