Oops -- Repairing broken bowsprit on Cutty Sark

[Lost and Confused]

Well, after she sat all of last year, I got my Cutty out and continued work on her. Had subassembled and rigged the foremast and stepped it. Was proceeding with standing and running rigging with the intention of working fore to aft.  I was pretty happy with my results until i installed the ratlines on the fore lower shrouds. I had made several errors ,each, not too bad yet accumulatively I was dissatisfied, so last evening I cut them away and started a do-over. It was going well when, checking to see if the new shrouds were in order, I looked too closely and hooked the bowsprit with my visor type magnifier/light. Oops, bummer, dagnabbit, and other comments that may not be appropriate. I broke off the dolphin striker?, and a few of the deadeye rigs securing the forestays. I had also broken off the starboard boomkin, which I was able to repair, but it had again been damaged. I been doing this long enough to know that if you're gonna make an omelet, you gotta break a few eggs. Pretty frustrating though. Looking at it, I know that when I did the bowsprit rigging I should have used hearts and lanyards as opposed to deadeyes. Looked cool though. I guess on the repair, I'll do it right. Am unsure how to repair the dolphin striker ( or whatever you call that object). Im looking at my round wooden toothpicks.

   Here's a kind of before and after photo, please forgive my photography, cant seem to do that right either. Will keep you advised if there is any interest. I look at this website every morning, part of my routine...happy holidays

 

[paul ron]

yea we all had those oops moments. in fact we had a 5 page thread on oops moments complete with some very creative ways to repair them.

 

i broke booms n bow sprits and many other parts by stupid accident so many times, i actually got good at fixing them. yup, reach over the ship and there goes the top mast and all its rigging you spent countless hours n days installing... snap in a blink of an eye! reach around the ship and off goes the bow sprit on the cuff of a sleeve... and its always at the same place.  poke inside the rigging and there goes a rail, belays or stays. its not so bad if the damage was only the part, but it takes a load of other stuff with it. thats the price of working inside a spider web. 

 

i feel your pain brother.

 

 

[Dr PR]

Been there, done that!

 

If it helps any, just think of it as fate giving you the opportunity to do the work better than before.