I noticed in the FAQ that there was a question in relation to bow sprits and I have had a friend with a digital camera take some shots of ours.
We had the bowsprit made up by another friend with an F25 (it is based on the one used by F24s in Australia) after an accident carried away our original pullpit, bowsprit and the bow of one of the floats. Up until the accident the bowsprit was fixed (i.e. it had to be removed for travelling). The new one folds and can be left attached to the boat while travelling but because of the trailer winch post, can only be secured in place when the boat is either fully or part way off the trailer. There are location 'wires' going to the bow of each float, and these are automatically tensioned when the floats are unfolded.
	An aluminium tube, rather than wire, is used to stop the bowsprit rising. This provides support for the bowsprit should the spinnaker end up in the water and be pulling the bowsprit down. The bottom of the tube attaches to the standard tow ring on the stem of the bow.
Obviously we use an asymetrical spinnaker - it greatly adds to the speed of the boat and we try and fly it at every opportunity. As you probably know yourself, the whole character of the Tramp changes and it becomes exhilarating once it is up on the plane. The bowsprit can also be used to fly a screecher (in the same way the more modern Farrier designs do) and we have been thinking about doing this as well, simply to get the boat on the plane more often. The screecher is normally on a furler and can use the same tack line and sheets as the spinnaker. When Ian Farrier was in Australia for our Nationals at Lake Mcquarier, maybe three or four years ago, he expressed the view that the new developments (square top main - adding about 10% extra sail area [our sail makers estimates, not Ian's]) and the screecher would result in the largest improvements for the older designs. I hope my recollections are accurate and that I am not misrepresenting Ian.
I realise that these type of developments are outside class rules etc but we don't normally sail against other Tramps, more against the F24s, 25s, Trailertris and keel boats. In a 30nm ocean race, when we were sailing at our full potential, the best Australian F24 was 47 minutes faster than us over the distance. We want to finish closer without having to spend the extra money (several 10s of thousands of dollars) on a new boat, any way the Tramp is such a great boat and is the right size for us.
But back to the bowsprit, if anyone is interested I can take some measurements and provide those as well. Regards, John Primrose Canberra, Australia

I have just taken some measurements to send to an American inquirer so will include them here.

Aluminium tube for bowsprit is 6'8'' long, with walls of about 1/8". The advice I got from the now defunk Queensland company was that Tramps went well with a 6' bowspit - ours is around this length. Forgot to measure the diameter, but would be about 3". The tip, which provides attachment points for shackles is about 2 & 3/4" long. Couldn't see the part no, but it is a standard marine part.

The smaller alumunium support tube is 6'2 & 3/4" long with 1 &1/2" diameter.

The aluminium plate attached to the deck is 1/4" solid plate - there is a similar plate that goes under the deck to reinforce the attachment point. We had to put in an inspection port inside the front storage compartment to get to the underneath of the foredeck area to put this second plate in place - there is a built in bouyancy compartment in the road.

The pin going through the bowsprit and the mounting plate looks is 3/8".

I am not too sure how useful the measurements are - I would leave it up to the technical expertise of who ever you get to fabricate it to make the final decisions on the sizes.