Samson Post and Bowsprit

There were a few problems up forward we were hoping to resolve while working on the decks. Mainly leaks in the forward cabin around the samson post. Additionally, our windlass was bolted onto the bowsprit with a stainless bracket and the cable ran through the bowsprit and deck with liberal amounts of sealant mostly under the deck; there was no way to seal between the bowsprit and the deck.

The bowsprit was removed by unbolting the four bolts through the toerail into the chain locker then leveraging the bowsprit forward to remove the tab from the slot in the samson post.

Most of the water ingress was through a quarter inch gap between the deck and forward face of the samson post. This was sealed with SIS 440. We also built a spacer between the bowsprit and the deck. With sealant on both sides of the spacer the windlass cable could be sealed at the top only, under the windlass.