What are the decorative strips under the bowsprit called?

[Captain Greg]

Oh, well. I re-did mine so I thought I'd share the project with you. Please do not ask why this was a priority. It wasn't, but I did it anyhow. I was sick of the ugly beige coloring.(Photo 1)

 

I was surprised to learn they were fibreglass and not wood. I also removed the nameplates off the transom because I'm renaming the boat. These turned out to be cheap pine, so I'm probably going to replace them with something better.

 

The scrolly-thingies turned out to be an interesting project. I'll share the process with you so you can duplicate my mistakes.

 

The first step is to remove them. Start by trying to hang upside-down from the bowsprit. Unscrew two screws and splash them before changing your mind and lowering the Zodiac and standing in that. Now discover that when you push the Makita against the screws the Zodiac moves backward. This is easily remedied by placing your head inside of the stays to hold the boat. Do the outside screws first and leave the middle-most one for last.

 

Now look and admire what you've accomplished. You just bought yourself a few hours' work. Knowing from experience that if you do something really spotlessly it will make everything near it look terrible, I opted to do them kind of rustic. This is also an advantage because when you make mistakes you can claim it was intentional.

 

I started by running a palm sander over them until I realized all I was doing was dusting up my dinette and failing to hear my favorite blues show on the radio. I then wiped them with paint thinner so I could get really fried from the fumes. I opened the door so I could get the inside of my boat nice and cold again.

I opted for a rustic approach to the scrollwork. I took a foam brush and used Rustoleum Navy Blue. Originally I was going to do several coats because it wasn't sticking real well, but then I changed my mind and left it. The brush strokes added a texture that looks really cool.

Feel free to get blue all over everything, because you're going to do the white last. later you'll realize that white doesn't cover blue very well and it's going to take about three coats to cover it. (Pics 2 and 3.)

(Continued in Part 2)

[bob mitchell]

fiddleheads? They look good.

[Hans Petrie]

So I tried to re-do my fiddleheads many years ago and they looked so aweful I gave up and ended up donating them to another Newporter 40 owner who didn't have his. I was suprised also to find that they were fiberglass ski's rather than wood. They tend to trap moisture.

I actually like the look of the boat better without them as I don't like "gingerbread" ornamentations. Other thing's I got rid of that trap moisture are the 1" half round molding below the toerail and around the pilothouse. While it looks great it sorta demands a different color paint. Since mine was all rotten I removed it and then drilled out all the little rotten screw holes with a hole saw - then plugged the holes with fresh plywood (using the same hole saw). Just fill the holes with epoxy and push in the new piece - wipe smooth - let dry - then sand to make smooth. Then paint over. You have now saves yourself about an extra day of painting and never have to worry about water getting in through the half round and rotting out your hull (which is what it does when your not looking).


Getting rid of all the gingerbread has made the boat far easier to maintain because now I have one solid hull that can be painted a single color which saves time. Looks a bit more simple but I like it.

[Clyde A. Phillips]

Greg,

I don't come on board "Newporter 40" often enough! But I enjoyed reading your post on the trailboards. Traditionally, trailboards were put on sailing vessels to be useful as a piece of useless material, and Newporters were designed to be traditional. Just a piece of decoration for the head rigging.

The trailboards in my days with the Newporter were totally gel-coated with a bronze (fake gold leaf) all over and the flat areas were painted white, hiding the gold, leaving the edges and scroll looking rich. Since the first boat I worked on was number 87 your trailboards may not have been made that way. But your blue looks good and paint was traditionly used on workboat trailboards. Do your thing, and enjoy

Clyde

[jim sherk]

i have one trail board and need the second. any idea of how to re-create one. or make a new pair?

jim sherk

Clyde A. Phillips said:

Greg,

I don't come on board "Newporter 40" often enough! But I enjoyed reading your post on the trailboards. Traditionally, trailboards were put on sailing vessels to be useful as a piece of useless material, and Newporters were designed to be traditional. Just a piece of decoration for the head rigging.

The trailboards in my days with the Newporter were totally gel-coated with a bronze (fake gold leaf) all over and the flat areas were painted white, hiding the gold, leaving the edges and scroll looking rich. Since the first boat I worked on was number 87 your trailboards may not have been made that way. But your blue looks good and paint was traditionly used on workboat trailboards. Do your thing, and enjoy

Clyde

[sail1313]

I removed them when we were hauled out and sprayed them white (prime and epoxy) when we did the hull paint. Then asked my friend who really wanted to help & had no talent with tools. She used a small craft paintbrush to fill in the scrolls with 1 part polyurathane. I explained it was like coloring in the lines. It turned out great, she was happy to have such an "important" job, and it didn't give me grief or cost valuable yard time. When I put them back on I used 5200 sealant on the screws and didn't seal the edges of the fiddleheads so they could "breath" and drain. I didn't bother with putting them back on before we got out of the yard as the photo shows them on the newly painted fantail. I hope this helps for another attempt someday:)