Spars Part I

It was a long winters work after launching the boat and my list of jobs on Astrid for the summer was long. Top priority was to get the spars built and to warm up I started with the bowsprit and boom. After a very long rainy winter we have had a great summer so the weather really co-operated with outside spar work.

The wood for the bowsprit is Douglas fir I have seasoned for about 10 years. I had spent a couple of days watching fir getting milled up before finding this piece of rift sawn tight grained clear fir. I was very careful air drying it and there was no cracks.

Tapered and eight sided with the cranze iron fitted.

 Shaping complete. The sections that have a brownish finish will be painted. The sealer I applied is varnish with turpentine with a splash of creosote