So after about a month of effort, I've finally broken through and I  finally have the front end complete -- I think. (Edit: I think I'll have one more trim piece to add just below the cannon, but again, that's for tomorrow).

I had been having problems cleaning up internal errors in the front-end white structure because the original piece (ironically, a "one piece) was just too complex to clean up. I also couldn't combine parts to clean up overlaps ("boolean") so the piece would mount cleanly to the hull. To clean up the internal structure (making it "manifold" - let me know if you'd like to know more about what that means and how it impacts models), I used Blender, Nomad, Meshmixer, Windows, and a couple of other packages - all either froze or gave up. 

So I went back to the original parts and made the front rail a separate piece from the ram's head and scroll work. I down-sampled the pieces to keep the triangle count somewhat sane. I worked to keep everything clean. That said, there are some manifold errors in the ram's head now, but I decided to leave them, as the piece printed cleanly.

The piece shown in the photos won't be the final piece - a part of the spirals didn't print correctly because I was trying a different orientation of the piece. I'll re-print tonight and mount the piece.

My next step will be to assemble the aft mast structure -- the "mizzen" mast. I'll complete the mizzen sail and mast, then work on the front mast and mainsail. After that, it's the rigging and I have a pretty cool idea for putting the jolly roger on the sail.

This has been BY FAR the most complex piece I've created -- in its basic model prior to prepping for printing, it's had nearly 1,500 pieces -- so when I finally release this model, I'll ask folks to let me know about any fitment issues. It's been too difficult to reprint all the pieces after any small change, which I often do with more simple models. 

The mizzen sail work will begin tomorrow night, as it's too late for me to start the next stage tonight - I'm simply too tired. The issues I foresee are how to realistically bind the boom and mast, have some sail mounting rings that make sense, and figure the best way to print the sale to minimize waste and maximize its strength.Anyway, I finally feel like I'm over the last month of being stuck.