serious bow damage HELP!

[zachp7]

I recently acquired a spindrift ds i with serious damage to the bow. I've attached pictures below. I've done some minor fiberglass work to boat hulls before, but never done anything like this, especially on a particularly load bearing area (viz. point of tension for forestay). Any thoughts/suggestions/recommendations on how to repair this would be helpful. Thanks so much!

[GreenLake]

Welcome to the forum!

Your instincts are good, this is eminently repairable. And, yes, you need to think about the loads.

My suggestion would be that you research the older threads in this forum first. There have been several discussions of just this kind of damage and in various generations of the DS. That should allow you to come back here with your questions suitably narrowed down.

The last guy who came through here with this problem, we sent to this thread:

http://www.daysailer.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=183

While it's probably not the only one, it's a good start.

[ChrisB]

Zach,

Welcome to the DS forum. This problem has been seen by several owners on the forum. The problem results from inadaquate distribution of the jib/headstay loads to the hull. On my boat, there is an "L" shaped bracket that the stemhead fitting (where the forestay and jib tack attach) is bolted to. The "L" bracket runs down the inside of the bow and is fiberglassed to the hull. I can't tell for sure from your photos but it looks like you do not have this bracket. If it is not there, you need to add a bracket to support the headstay loads. I recommend drilling through the bow and through-bolting the bracket rather than glassing or epoxying it to the hull. The "epoxy only" approach has been known to fail over time. The deck-hull separation itself can be repaired by cleaning and roughing the failed joint and re-epoxying the deck to the hull. I would add stainless steel bolts through the deck and hull joint to add strength.

[GreenLake]

The link I gave will (eventually) lead to a rather detailed discussion of the "L" bracket issue that Chris has pointed out. There are also pictures.

[zachp7]

Wow, you guys are so helpful (and prompt)! Thanks so much. I perused several of the threads and found them very helpful. Once I start tackling the problem, I'll post again if I have more specific questions.

Thanks!

[GreenLake]

Glad you found the stuff. The topic is rather extensive, so none of us wanted to take the hit to summarize it

But, by the same token, we definitely expect that you will be back with (many) questions once you've looked over your options.