Trojan Boat Forum

Hoping some of you that have removed and re-bed an F32 bow pulpit can give some advice. My pulpit was growing moss on it when I purchased the boat so I removed it to recondition it. I am glad I did as it was starting to allow water penetration into the deck. That has since dried out and I don't have any rot, so I plan to run CPES into the bolt holes to seal the core at those sites.

What I am curious about is the bottom side of the pulpit looked like this when I removed it. the thin material in a "T" shape was pretty rotted out. I repaired the rot on the pulpit itself with an epoxy filler and sealed it. I think this is a factory spacer? is that a good assumption?

My thought is the shape allows "gunk" to collect in the corners and I would be better off replacing with the same thickness of material in this shape Any insight? I know I will create alot more deck contact area, I don't know if that is good or bad.

I had coring issues when I bought my F32 from the anchor chocks and the deck pipe for the anchor rode bedding leaking. I replaced the core. When I added my bow pulpit, I over drilled the hole in the outer skin of the fiberglass. Then took an allen wrench and chucked it in a drill and reefed out the core around the holes in the deck. Used thickened epoxy to completely fill the holes and the reefed out areas. After it had gone off, I then drilled out the correct size hole all the way through the deck in the middle of the oversized hole. That way there is an epoxy plug surrounding the bolts and the core will not be crushed when you tighten up the bolts. I then countersunk the final hole so that the bedding compound will form a gasket around the bolts and not be squeezed out when the bolts are tightened. I had a pulpit made from Seateak. I had to make a beveled spacer under the aft end of the pulpit since the bow deck slopes down to the tip of the bow. I would not trust just coating the exposed core with epoxy. After seeing how much work it is to repair the core, I would go the extra step and reef out the holes and fill with epoxy. It is not really difficult, maybe an extra hour of work.

I think the spacers you are talking about were there to 'level' the pulpit (seeing as the toe rail is raised from the deck surface) as well as to lift the pulpit enough to let water / dirt out from under it easily (and eliminate a 'pinch point'). Does the backing plate for the cleat go right to the deck, or is it thinner than the one across the aft end of the pulpit? I thought the underlying block on mine was more than 1/2" thick (the anchor line you see in the second shot is 1/2")


I don't see any reason why your revised design won't work just as well, other than the block may be more visible.

Thanks Guys!!! I knew the collective knowledge here would have good advice.

ComoDave- That is a great idea. I'm going to do that. ( never even crossed my mind to get rid of the problem completely )

Capt. M- Your pulpit is beautiful.

the spacer on mine was pretty much rotted away, so it may have been beveled. the cleat studs and rear bolts went through it. I only have there rear 3" of material, and that was `1/2 in

When I added my pulpit, I had a 1" spacer from Seateak and then took a piece of white 1/2" starboard and planed it on an angle to fit the slope of the deck. The 1" did not even reach down to the deck, but I have a teak toe rail that adds about 3/4" height to the fiberglass toe rail. My spacer is about 8" fore and aft in order to get a solid base under my windlass. I will try to attach a photo.

Well it seems like mine is different than either of yours. I do not have wood on my toe rail, so I will be thinner for the spacer board.

Layout of chain pipe and cleats seems different also. I think I like the idea of getting a piece of starboard and then I can custom fit as needed


Thnaks guys!!

Gitch, what your showing is a pulpit that looks very much the same as mine. I rebuilt mine last winter in the shape and dimensions as to what was on the boat when we bought 3 years ago. It started to rot badly. We do not have teak on the toe rail either. The support for the deck is simply two pieces of plastic composite about 2 inch square under each left and right corner. The same composite is used under the deck to spread the load across a larger area. Wish I had some photos to post.

I just thought I would chime in about the anchor pulpit, mine is all steel easy maintenance, easy to sand and a coat of paint, also very strong. Just thought I would put this out there so people know there is another option, I am sure most do, I like the least amount of maintenance possible, and teak is high maintenance but yes it looks great, there is enough teak inside the boat as you all know, I know this not quite on topic but it is an option.

Craig