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Anyone had to replace/repair the piece of wood that forms the bow tip(at least in a mk 1)?

It seems water found it's way into the main bolt hole under the bow roller, causing some rot. It's hard to tell how much, but when the bolt came out it had soft wood on it. I'd noticed movement in the stem fitting while sailing, so I guess it's not surprising it leaked in.

I did a bit of exploratory drilling from in side the anchor locker, and the wood seemed degraded and soft.

Assuming it's rotted out, question is does it need a new piece of wood, or could it just be removed and the area strengthened from the inside with a few layers of glass? The latter seems a much easier fix.

The stem fitting needs some work too, so could easily be customised to work on a woodless bow tip, which seems to be the standard arrangement on most other boats.

Pulling the mast down seems to have opened a Pandora's box of jobs before it goes back up again, but it's slowly getting there!

Cheers,
Michael.

Michael,

Do a search through the old posts as I seem to recall someone has already been through this exercise.


[Seaka is at Mooloolaba]

Gday Mike, that was me with Felicite. Can't cut and paste so look under subject "Roller fairlead the calm before the storm".
It turns out the wood was rotten and let go. It was filled with fibreglass by the boat yard. It turns out the mooring was too short with an ineffective springer that tugged the fairlead sideways as the yacht yawed on the mooring. I expect this will be a more common problem as these yachts age.
Hope it helps.
Greg.

Hi Greg, I saw your post, looks like you had a close call there.

Do you mean that they removed the wood altogether and added fibreglass?

I think your right and this may be an issue that starts to creep up more frequently, but seems manageable if it's found in time.

I reckon I'll go all the way with this one and get a new roller/stem fitting made up, one that cups the bow- the old one looks a bit frail. Might even get carried away and get double rollers!

Michael.

Sounds like the way to go Mike. The boat yard suggested making a bridle and 2 fairleads back from the bow to take the strain off the roller fairlead as it has the forestay on it. One day it may get made up.
Happy sailing
Greg.