Running bow sprit in and out

[westernman]

Does any one do this?

Any tips on how to do it (e.g. raise the end on the topsail halyard etc) to stop it sticking?

I tried to retract mine the other day and could not move it.

If I can run it in and out without too much bother, I can save a fair amount of money on my parking space!

 

[Tranona]

Think you have to design the fittings to allow it. I have seen heel fittings that have a removable stop to allow the sprit to be be pulled back (Heard 28 s have this) and swivelling fittings to allow the sprit to be raised vertically. A Cornish Crabber Pilot Cutter in our club has this arrangement.

Hope this helps

 

[mclark]

Mine is held out with a heel rope running in a groove in the bowsprit. The bowsprit then has a traveller ring that runs along it to which the tack of the jib is shackled. The traveler ring is hauled to the bowsprit end by an outhaul through a large sheave morticed into the end of the bowsprit (though I have seen a block simply shackeled to the cranse used for this purpose.
Anyway - the bowsprit is hauled out by hauling the heel rope and hauled in using both parts of the outhaul at the same time.

Hope this helps

Mike

 

[westernman]

it has a roller (top and bottom) at the inboard end. However where it goes out the front, it rests on the hole in the bow which makes for far to much friction to be able to move it and I am not aware of any easy method.

I suppose for running it in I could heave up the outboard end on the topsail or jib halyard - as it comes in I would have to swig up the halyard of course. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

But then how to run it out - the strop across the inboard end would have to work against the halyard. This does not seem a combination which is going to make it just slide out....... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[FWB]

My Heard 28 has a roller under the sprit and a removable pin. The sprit is 14ft with 5in diam. I have seen other gaffers which have in addition a roller inboard and above the sprit---this keeps it horizontal.
Other Heards have a lifting sprit.
Mine is fairly easy to retract, but much easier if the bobstay is handed. The bobstay is chain and is fairly heavy.
I dont retract it much since the whisker stays have to be eased and I have them on turnbuckles. I'm fortunate in that the Marina where she overwinters take the enlightened view that I dont need to retract the bowsprit since the boat takes up one finger pontoon with the sprit in or out. So I only pay for LOD.
She is in commission year round on a mooring for summer(?!) and marina for winter.

 

[FWB]

Perhaps another roller outboard and under the sprit would help.This is the arrangement I have. You have a big ship though!

 

[bobstrawson]

I have seen boats your size with a sheave in the back of the sprit to run it out but an easier way is to put an eye pad at the aft end and hook a tackle (4:1) through it, attach the other end to something similar near the stem and hey presto. Presuming that you have a tackle on the lower end of your top forestay, you can usually get sufficient purchase just pulling on the fall of that as getting it in is much easier. You should have a roller just inside the hole through the bulwark to support the front of the sprit.

 

[FWB]

I don't have a problem with my boat, it's easy to do. I just cant be bothered to do it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Seagreen]

A picture of the problem would be good. However, I do run mine in if I'm away from the boat for a while. How big's your sprit? (Didn't mean to sound quite so camp.. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif ) Mine is some 18' and just about a "1 man lift". I have a solid gammon iron which is leathered, and the sprit is supposed to slide across the leather. I have a handy billy (technically, a gun tackle) which easily hauls it forward to clear it ahead of the bitts. (Slacken the bobstay and sprit shrouds first to allow it room to move.) It then is will swing downward so I need to have a lashing on the heel to act as a preventer. I also have a pre-set point on the jibtopsl stay set to the outer end which prevents the sprit from dropping too far. The tackle is then re-set round the mast and hauls it in to a point where I can easily drag it aftward. It has then to be lashed while stowed to the hook on the throat halyard for convenience. Its only a job to be attempted in quiet water single-handed.

By the look of your avatar, I'd say what you ideally need is a roller incorporated into the underside of the gammon iron and the sprit rests on this, but is easily hauled in. A new Gammon with roller set on the side of the stem forrard of the bulwark will do the trick. You then may need to set up the staysl halyard to support the end of the sprit as you haul it aft.

 

[westernman]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Indeed I have no rollers forward - just at the aft end. So I guess the key to thing is to find some way to take the weight of the outboard end to ensure not too much weight is pushing down on the gammon iron. This could be done with the jib topsail halyard for running it in - it is after all pushing in the right direction. Everything should run freely enough in that direction.

Then I suppose for running it out, the same in reverse but I need to push the end of the sprit against the its own weight trying to drive it back in as the end hangs off the topsail halyard.

I didn't get the bit about the lashing on the heel.

Also when pushing the heel where do you attach the tackle to? I cannot find anywhere obvious to do this and get a good purchase.

 

[Transcur]

It is very difficult to answer your question without knowing your individual set up.
We regularly bring inboard out bowsprit, when on a mooring or going through locks. It takes no more than 1 minute to do. The bowsprit is 21ft long and 6.5 inches in diameter and heavy. I can just lift it. It requires very little effort to bring it in or put it out.

If your bowsprit passes through bitts its easier. You need a leathered pad just under the bowsprit and a simple roller above it. For the roller above we use a 5/8 dia bolt with some plastic sleeving over it , greased on the inside. THe top roller will stop the bowsprit from dipping too much when the fid is removed. Make sure the gammon iron is well tallowed, also apply tallow to the leather pad under the sprit. The sprit should be tallowed on the under surface anyway to help the travellor go out.

Now just pull on the traveller outhaul(making sure the inhaul is tied off )and the sprit will glide in. Next to no effort. We dont even use a tackle on the bowsprit to help it out. Needs tallow.

Most working craft do it this way. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Seanick]

I agree with seagreen, a roller set into the bottom of your gammon iron is what you need. I think Luke Powell does that with his Scilonian pilot cutters.

I find with my 25' bowsprit, a tackle attached to the bottom of the sprit, heel end, either with a loop over the end or a pad eye, then taken to the stem low down. This pulls the heel down and fwd, and helps line up for the pin.
In practice I don't find it easy! Last year I added a roller just aft of the gammon iron, on the deck. This keeps it off the gammon iron IF you keep the heel down. I intend to add a roller above the sprit on the bitts to help this. Ideally though, a roller on or just fwd of the g/iron is best.
I can, however, run it out without any halyards supporting it.

Good gaffering!

 

[Seanick]

Thanks for those tips Transcur,I will apply them liberally,and the tallow! My traveller alwasys sticks!

 

[Seagreen]

At the heel of the sprit, I've a thimbled eye permanently rove on a short length of rope (1ft) which can pass between the sprit and the Bitts and allow the pull from the gun tackle from the heel and which belays to a ring on the aft side of the stem. This pulls the sprit forrard out of the bitts and this makes the tipping point of the sprit to move outboard of the gammon iron. Thus it needs to either be supported by the jib topsl stay rove through a fiddle block on the cranse iron and thus adjustable either at the pinrail or stem, or by a short lashing from the heel to the bitts or back to a ringbolt at the foot of the mast. This stops the sprit from jamming downward in the gammon iron and also dragging in the sea. It also allows me to move the gun tackle (on snap hooks) from the stem back to the mast. Once I've hauled it in about 1/3rd its length, the centre of balance comes inboard and the sprit easily runs back in. Greasing the gammon leather with slush.. (Err. tallow) is a great idea, and something I'll do this year. The pity is that old sprit broke and the new one is just too wide to fit snugly between the horns of the bitts and has to be triced up to the hook of the lower throat halyard.

A solution which may not appeal to you is the steeving upward of sprits as done in the dutch or Lancashire fashion, where the gammon is so fashioned as to have the top half swing open at the bow and the heel of the sprit has a pivot bolt through it. I've seen this done on both prawners and those round ar@ed dutch built things. The outboard end of the sprit is hauled upward to a 70 degree angle. Leaves the deck clear, but I'd not like my sprit wanging about in a tideway on an exposed mooring.

I apologise if this all sounds a bit like Aubrey enlightening Maturin, but I've now had half a bottle of excellent antipodean red wine, and have recently finished "Far side of the World". I fear the language has seeped into my bones, like Madder, for all love...

 

[Carlotta]

Here's a couple examples.
You can just see the leather padding that sits beside and under the bowsprit between the bitts in this shot. The other boat has a roller both under and above the sprit - and the heel rope on that one runs to a tackle just visible on the port side in the bow.

 

[westernman]

Super photos. Thanks.

I am missing all those eyes in those useful places.
I will see what can be done.

Thanks.

 

[Kukri]

[image]

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Another version. Like Transcur's, this one is run in on the mooring and in locks, etc. Loads of tallow!

I find that a large diameter roller helps quite a bit.

The score in the heel of the bowsprit takes the heel rope if needed - usually a firm application of the sole of one's boot gets it the last half inch to get the fid in.

This is a retrofit of what had been a fixed bowsprit; it clears the windlass by a good eighth of an inch!

 

[Transcur]

Here is a rather poor picture, to much string in the way. End of season derigging. The picture shows the Bitts and the leathered "table" and cheeks of the bits with the small roller above. Also the leathered support by the mast onto which the bowsprit rests/slides on. It is virtually a straight line from the mast support, bitts "table" and gammon iron. May help a little.

 

[Kukri]

Pete -

I have to ask - can you open your forehatch with the bowsprit run in?

Because I can't! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif


I can and do leave it part open for ventilation but as a fire escape it would be a failure!

Only after making the bowsprit run in did I realise why Bristol Channel pilot cutters had the forehatch offset from the centre line!

 

[fluffc]

My outer forestay (set up to the gammon iron at the end of the bowsprit) has a lanyard on the last six feet or so. This leads back to the deck, and can be used to support or pre-bend the topmast forwards.

It also makes bringing the bowsprit in easy, as once all the lines are slackened off you only need to gently pull on the lanyard and it results in a combination of lifting the outer end of the bowsprit and pulling it in at the same time. The bowsprit fair flies in!