REBrueckner
Legendary Member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2005
- Messages
- 4,168
- Status
- OWNER - I own a Hatteras Yacht
- Hatteras Model
- 48' YACHT FISHERMAN (1972 - 1975)
Here's how to make a durable anchor pulpit. It's time consuming, but inexpensive. Cost is no more than $150 plus a roller or stainless anchor arm and paint
Buy some 3/4 inch thick hardwood plywood, say from Home Depot. It's virtully free of voids, like marine plywood. The pulpit will likely be about four or five feet long, depending on your boat and anchor size. Perhaps 15 inches wide at the aft (wide end). Mimic the outline of a pulpit shape you see and like: I made the forward end narrower than the aft end and rounded the four vertical corners considerably to a pleasing degree. I also rounded the horizontal corners to assure a firm fastening of fiberglass cloth; I actually used dynel which is a bit more flexible. Epoxy five layers of the plywood together, perhaps an extra layer of wood at the aft end to account for forward deck edging and achieve a pleasing near horizontal angle, likely parallel to your forard deck sheer.
You can also add some copper tubing inside for a chain washdown by leaving a channel in one interior layer of plywood. Fill the remaining void with resin and continue laminating plywood layers. Solder a copper elbow and tubing extension down thru the lower layers of plywood for connection inside your rope/chain locker.
I added a hi pressure saltwater washdown pump, switches at each steering station, and crushed a copper fitting at the forward end of the pulpit to get the spray pattern I desired; likely there is a more elegant solution, but I was anxious to get cruising. People stare at incoming chain being spray washed, and nobody is on the forward deck. One problem: wind blows some spray back on the forward deck. Haven't solved that one yet.
I screwed each layer of plywood together after saturating with epoxy,and fiberglassed the outer surfaces with cloth and resin and painted with a two part linar polyurethane. I fastened the windlass and pulpit via thru bolts in my forward deck. On my 48ft yachtfish I had to go thru a 1/4 thick aluminum plate embedded in the forward deck, so don't use a wood drill. Affix a roller or stainless arm and roller to the forward end of the pulpit as desired. Embed all in caulk such as lifecaulk. Be sure to coat the exposed deck coring in the chain entry hole to your locker with epoxy as this is a common source of forward deck moisture.
Buy some 3/4 inch thick hardwood plywood, say from Home Depot. It's virtully free of voids, like marine plywood. The pulpit will likely be about four or five feet long, depending on your boat and anchor size. Perhaps 15 inches wide at the aft (wide end). Mimic the outline of a pulpit shape you see and like: I made the forward end narrower than the aft end and rounded the four vertical corners considerably to a pleasing degree. I also rounded the horizontal corners to assure a firm fastening of fiberglass cloth; I actually used dynel which is a bit more flexible. Epoxy five layers of the plywood together, perhaps an extra layer of wood at the aft end to account for forward deck edging and achieve a pleasing near horizontal angle, likely parallel to your forard deck sheer.
You can also add some copper tubing inside for a chain washdown by leaving a channel in one interior layer of plywood. Fill the remaining void with resin and continue laminating plywood layers. Solder a copper elbow and tubing extension down thru the lower layers of plywood for connection inside your rope/chain locker.
I added a hi pressure saltwater washdown pump, switches at each steering station, and crushed a copper fitting at the forward end of the pulpit to get the spray pattern I desired; likely there is a more elegant solution, but I was anxious to get cruising. People stare at incoming chain being spray washed, and nobody is on the forward deck. One problem: wind blows some spray back on the forward deck. Haven't solved that one yet.
I screwed each layer of plywood together after saturating with epoxy,and fiberglassed the outer surfaces with cloth and resin and painted with a two part linar polyurethane. I fastened the windlass and pulpit via thru bolts in my forward deck. On my 48ft yachtfish I had to go thru a 1/4 thick aluminum plate embedded in the forward deck, so don't use a wood drill. Affix a roller or stainless arm and roller to the forward end of the pulpit as desired. Embed all in caulk such as lifecaulk. Be sure to coat the exposed deck coring in the chain entry hole to your locker with epoxy as this is a common source of forward deck moisture.
