Still trying to reconstruct the accident. I was single handing and had come from offshore into St. Simonds Sound and ended up hitting a 40 ft bridge.No sails were up at the time. Surveyor here 6 hrs today and the best we can figure is the following. The forestay with roller furling made contact with the bridge. I had already slowed down when I realized this didn't look right. Incoming tide didn't help. When contact made we think the boat turned broadside in the channel,showing you how strong the forestay is. I was able to turn between the bridge bulwarks and get clear of the bridge although the inflatable and davits took a big hit.
We think the mast never went under the bridge because the VHF and wind instruments are still up there and working. Several feet below the mast top there is a bend in the furler which is where it hit the bridge. The mast didn't come down although it was very wobbly. With no forward support the whole stress was taken by the two forward stays on each side. The forward chainplate on stbd side pulled and bent, but held.
The bolt you asked about is still in place in the deck piece which tore. All the forward pieces stayed together including the bowsprit, 3 anchors, bow pulpit, whisker stays and most of the teak rail. And that is the modern sculpture you see in the picture. The weak spot was the weld on the bobstay fitting at the waterline. The good news in that situation is that the shift of all that weight 10 ft. aft raised the bow 5 or 6 inches above the water so that if there is a hole the water didn't reach it. The scary part was the movement of the mast while singlehanding. It took Tow Boat US over a half an hour to get to me. We then used the running backstays to firm up the mast which had a considerable rake and a lot of movement. I couldn't leave the wheel because of the narrow channel and frankly I was afraid the mast might com down. I was wearing my life jacket anyway and was trying to decide which way to go if she started to come down figuring I would see and hear it in enough time to move? No hull damage we can see. Will have to have the bobstay fitting redone since it looks bent with the tang still attached to the bobstay. Once we are hauled, that area will have to be opened from inside to see what the damage is.We now have the spin halyard taken forward and attached to a strop between the hawser pipes and the sculpture lashed down. Because of my concern for the stability of everything I'm reluctant to try to disassemble the sculpture before the mast is held by a crane
My stress now is fighting with Tow Boat to get a 100 mile tow to a major yard. Hard to go under my own power since I have to go ICW and can't use my anchors. READ THE FINE PRINT MY FRIENDS YOU DON'T HAVE WHAT YOU THINK YOU HAVE FOR "UNLIMITED"TOWING COVERAGE IF YOU ALSO HAVE REGULAR HULL INSURANCE.
The fact that the mast didn't come down is a testament to the strength of the Tayana 37. Still finding things out of line because of the huge stress
Sorry this is somewhat disjointed but it's been a tough time and the end is not in sight dealing with towing, insurance and later a yard. I'm taking the time and energy to write this as some return for all the information and help I've gotten from this group. John