Hi Don:
Good question! At one time Fred was working
at eliminating the bow tube and built a heavier boat to withstand the pressure
generated in heavy wind sailing. The trade off of weight took away the
advantage of the bow tube not striking the water.
I have lifted the bow tube of a couple of Sea
Sprays so that it will rest on the top of the deck which would be about an inch
higher. On the newer Sea Spray I did this by taking off the casting at the
front, fabrocatomg a fibreglass fitting that is flat on two sides with a 2 inch
half circle which allows a longer bow tube to fit on top of the deck. This
has been on the boat for several years and works well until really extreme
conditions occur.
The other Sea Spray is an original US boat with
narrow bows. I have left the original fitting in place and simple went
with a longer bow tube which again is placed on top of the bow forward of the
casting which lifts it about an inch and a quarter. Again it solves the
problem except for really extreme conditions.
By extreme I am looking at survival mode.
Likely the race would either be abandoned or I would not be sailing as I don't
like the heavy wind - over 25 mph.
If you think it would help I could post a couple of
pictures to show what I have done.
Good luck with this and good to hear you are still
playing with Sea Sprays.
Stan
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2016 5:14
AM
Don Wylie <donwy...@gmail.com>: Mar 11
02:09PM -0800
Hello all especially Stan. Long time sailor
back into the Seaspray fold. Have a question about the bow tube and
I know what I am after is not class legal. Has anyone significantly
raised the bow tube or did not use it at all? I remember from when I
had a Seaspray years ago that it annoyed me when a wave hit the tube
and slowed the boat down or tripped over the tube. Can the hulls or
the extrusion in the bow resist the inward/upward pull of the
forestay? Has any one installed a bow tube with an arc or straight
sections that are welded? I have installed 2 3/8" bolts through the
beams in each doghouse and thickened the sleeves but I didn't
strengthen the structure under the bow tube
extrusion.
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