Day 319

I have been wanting to get the bow finished for what seems like ages! Before the bow sprit is added on, a couple of hawse pipes must be cut out. These are to feed our lines through when tied up at a marina from the samson post. One could just run the lines over the bulwark but wear and chafe on the lines, bulwark, and our nerves makes a hawse pipe a necessity.

The photo to the right is of the starboard opening. Unfortunately, I had to vacuum water trapped inside there. It must have got in during the difficult weather we experienced at the time I was putting the anchor roller assemblies in. Kinda makes me nervous when I see water in places like that! There was no way to access it from the bow tip, now there is.

The openings are bridged by the shown 1/8" flatbar bent into an oval shape. This is actually 2 pieces bent 180º then cut to size and welded carefully together. Not a big job with all the experience I've had doing this sort of thing.

It's comforting to know that if the need for electronics tech's ever diminishes, I can always get a job as a fabricator haha!


After welding it in, the inside was smoothed off with a "cone stone" on the big grinder, and immediately coated with primer.

The hawse pipe, shown above is stainless of course, and will be mounted with some bedding compound and bolts right through. Those screws are counter sink ( not included ) and have a nut that looks like a screw again, except it a deep nut, perfect for this application.