: Another way of putting a blunt end on a kayak. The figurehead was carved out
: of basswood, cut into 3 pieces and carved out to fit the bow. The three
: pieces were glued on with thickened epoxy and painted with epoxy with
: pigment added. An extra clear coat of epoxy was followed by several of
: spar varnish. It is holding up well after years.

I just did something similar as the point of the bow snapped off in some unintended contact with the road. Wind ripped the Rhino bars and all off the Forester :-(. I was going to anyway as I almost speared a mate's boat in the surf. What I did was cut a slot into the end pour. Inserted a flat piece of wood which projected out past the bow. Used a hole saw to cut two wheels, drilled through the inserted piece and pushed a dowel through the two wheels and the inserted piece and epoxied it all together.
By the way Tony, your dog could still bite. Its nose is still rather pointy.
JohnK