Boat's front bit attached to its prow at sea (8)
I believe the answer is:
bowsprit
'boat's' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'front bit attached to its prow at sea' is the wordplay.
'front' says to take the initial letters.
'attached to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'at sea' indicates an anagram.
The first letter of 'bit' is 'b'.
'its'+'prow'='itsprow'
'itsprow' anagrammed gives 'owsprit'.
'b'+'owsprit'='BOWSPRIT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bowsprit that I've seen before include "Projecting spar at front of sailing ship" , "Spar projecting from front of a boat" , "See component of boat" , "Spar projecting from the front of a sailing vessel" .)