[Public-list] pulpit

[J Bergquist]

Hi List Folks,

This is a bit embarrassing. 2 summers ago while single handing my boat I hit
a dock piling head on. This bent my bow pulpit and the feet attachments
pretty bad. This was back in the bad-old atomic 4 days and basically what
happened was the engine died as I was approaching the dock and in between
trying to drive, start the engine, and come to the dock, I something had to
give. I wasn't going so fast that I did major damage and I basically pounded
the pulpit more or less back into shape, but I have decided that the time
has come to get a new one. I went down to talk about this with a rigger and
I want to ask a few questions:

1. Our bow pulpits are 'traditional' in style which means that they have a
smooth, sweeping curve moving aft and they only have a rail on top (no
half-height rail). The rigger wants to build a more modern pulpit because
that is what his jigs are made for. This means the lines will be more
straight, with harder angles. There will be a half-height rail parallel to
the sheerline at the bow. Does anybody have thoughts on whether this is
acceptable?

2. As a consequence of 1, my lifelines will attach in line with the top
rail. This means that the upper lifeline will be much higher than it used to
be. I am concerned about the effect this might have on jib shape. Has
anybody got thoughts on that? In particular, if anybody has a modern-style
pulpit on their boat I would be interested in hearing whether this has been
an issue for you.

3. The rigger does not like mechanical fasteners and would rather make a
fully welded pulpit. This is stronger and safer, according to him. It's also
more labor, which makes it more expensive, but I am kind of in a 'while
you're at it' place right now. My question is does anybody on this list have
a particular preference for welded vs. mechanical fasteners for pulpit
joints and bases? (The rigger wants to even weld on the bases).

For pictures of what my new pulpit will pretty much look like, check out:

http://www.triton381.com/projects/restoration/pulpits.htm

The picture on top shows a pulpit which is similar in shape to my old one. I
tried to use these pix as a way to answer my sail shape question, but this
triton has a 135% genoa which is shown flying. Since my #1 is a 170% sail,
the geometry is not really the same. I can believe the higher forward upper
lifeline attachment wouldn't affect the 135 shape much, but the 170 is what
I am concerned about.

Kind regards,

JB