Almost-A-SCAMP Progress Report #3-2B . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

After having to deal with this on-road failure,    I beefed up the pipe couplers with 4 layers of 6 oz fiberglass cloth and epoxy.
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Even spray-painted gray, like the rest of the trailer they're still not terribly cosmetic,    but they're now certainly sturdy enough! 
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Hey!!     I sanded off, all the Really High spots!!   

Whenever I look in the side view mirrors, I don't want to be worrying about what trailer component, maybe decided to jump ship! 
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With all that now behind me, it was time to get the boat off the dolly and onto the trailer.
(Badly needed, to re-organize carport space.)
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And it all happened with Zero Drama. (For a change!!) 

Lined up perfectly. 
Now, if I can just get it to do that all the time,    at the ramp . . . . .
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Looking good! 
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Almost like it was designed and built, that way!! 

So, Charles: Why did you use a larger ⁵/₁₆-inch shackle bow eye, instead of the smaller ¼-inch shackle bow eye, like all the other SCAMP builders, use? 
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This is why.
Top to bottom: Boat cover snap shackle, winch hook, and (legally required) secondary restraint snap shackle.
It's when all the Planning Ahead, and Attention to Detail 2 years ago, starts paying off. 
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Why is the aft mast stand so high? 
Well . . . . . "high" is a relative term.
It's maybe too high to fit into the garage, but it's still low enough to get through 95% of all drive-thru junk-food joints, in the U.S.!!  (<8 feet.) 
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(A Boat Builder's gotta design and plan for everything, including hungry Grandkids.) 

But it was mainly designed to exploit the slope angle of the SCAMP ramp.
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Just roll the mast aft, on the mast stand rollers and then drop it in the ramp.

Like so:
Should greatly simplify stepping the mast and we Septuagenarians, we need all the mechanical advantages we can get!! 
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I like the short, side mounted tie-down straps, as opposed to the longer across-the-entire-hull, tie-down straps. 
I've seen the long straps pop free going over a bump (on other boats) and I've seen hulls slide around sideways on the trailer, (ditto) inside long strap tie-downs, even when the straps still held.
Just don't like (or trust!)    the geometry of the things. 
I always cut off the hooks at one end, since the hooks don't conform well to marine cleats, and they leave rust stains on the deck, after a while.
I also added a pool noodle, to avoid chafe against the side of the hull.
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Wonder where that idea came from? 
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Modified the boat cover to include bungee cords and snap shackles, for trailer frame tie-downs.
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Wonder where that idea came from? 
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Filler-boards locker latch redux: 
(Or: Guaranteed Boat Building; If We Don't Do It Right, We Do It Over!) 
I thought using magnets against a washer, was a clever and simple idea, to hold the lid down on the deck. 
Didn't work worth a damn'.   
Just didn't get that satisfying pull, then click! That you expect from magnets.
My first mistake was using a stainless steel (i.e. non-magnetic) screw    to hold the steel washer in place.
The screw head stuck up just far enough above the steel washers, to weaken the magnetic force (an inverse square function) on the washers, to near zero.
Swell. 
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Nothing for it, but to add a magnet to the lid, as well.
This way, it can be flush mounted and also have twice the magnetic force.
I didn't pay enough attention to magnetic polarity when I first installed the magnets on the deck side and sure enough, they're opposite N-S polarity, at each end. 
(Another example, of why details matter.)
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Fortunately, I caught that before I epoxied the new magnets, down inside the lid!     

The centerboard trunk cover needed some modifications, as well.
Originally, I was just going to use that higher end at left, as a handle to lift up the cover.
Doesn't happen, if there's moisture on the trunk cover or your fingers, or if you don't get a good enough grip on the end tab. 
It will be even harder to get a good grip, when there is EVA foam decking being added, right next to it.
(Why you always need to practice and try out your Great Ideas over time and in varying conditions; just in case it turns out they're not really that great, after all.) 
Time to add the flush ring pull, that I had originally talked myself out of, as being un-necessary.
(Shoulda gone with my gut and heeded my first impression.) 
Routing out for the hardware:
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Checking for fit.
The left side of the cover also needed some sanding down, to get a better fit from the hold-down fast-pin.
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Taped up the back of the ring pull with packing tape, to keep epoxy from seeping in everywhere and interfering with the ring pull operation.
You know: Like gluing the ring down!! 
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Sanded everything, then applied epoxy to the exposed wood at left, filled the routed hole with more epoxy and finally clamped everything in place.
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Shown here, installed.
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Along with the rest of the center board rigging.
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Taped up some paint-bleed places for touch-up paint,    so I could fix random dings, scrapes, gouges, and bleed-throughs, all at once.
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And since the weather was cooperating for a change, I dipped the teak plugs in some varnish (in lieu of extremely permanent, epoxy!)    and placed them in the bolt holes.
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And then tapped them in, with a mallet.
After the varnish dries, the plugs will be sanded fair to conform with the rail curvature and then the tops will be varnished to match.
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A buncha niggling little details again,    but many of them were a necessary pre-requisite, to installing EVA deck flooring, bench seats, and hatches.
FORWARD!!    Ever moving, Forward!!!   

Charles Brennan

[Doug SC]

Boat on wheels now and almost ready to get wet. It is looking great!

[Riley Smith]

On the trailer! Way to go! Won't be too much longer before you're figuring out how to sail this babe! I use a very sharp chisel to get my plugs down most of the way. Saves a lot of sanding but it must be razor sharp. I have a dedicated set that I keep in a wooden case and sharpen them with a fine diamond stone. We're talking dangerous weapon here and you don't get body parts in the way of those things. You can control a chisel very well because of the length. Sanding is good too but more work.

[Charles Brennan]

Riley,

I use a very sharp chisel to get my plugs down most of the way.

Yup.
Me too.
I also hedged my bets, by making sure I put the grain of the teak plugs, in line with the grain of the hand rails.
That way, I won't get as much "chip-out" with the chisel, cutting across the grain.
DAMHIKT 
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(Details matter!) 

I'm very grateful, for all suggestions I've received during this build.
I don't say it enough, but I greatly appreciate all the advice I've gotten, from people like you, Spot, Dale, Doug, Charlie Jones, Frank, Fred, Dave Scobie and probably a half dozen other guys I've forgotten to name. 
That's what makes the TSBB such an invaluable resource.

Thanks,
Charles Brennan

[Captain Kidd]

Charles, your genius, your attention to detail, and your commitment to build a boat that will last a very long time have all been very impressive. You're close and no doubt, very eager and excited about splashing Urchin.

I'm guessing you are planning to make Cedar Key. I'm still trying to plan a 70th birthday adventure. I'm not going to promise, but Cedar Key has the possibility to be a part of the adventure. I would love to see your boat, not to mention meeting you in person and sailing in company with you. Still a lot on the table. I'll keep you posted.

[Charles Brennan]

Dale, Thank you for your kind words.
It is ABSOLUTELY my intention to bring the boat to the Cedar Key Small Boat Meet this year, (May 1st - 3rd, although Saturday, is the really big day) even if I have to ROW it the mile over to Atsena Otie Key!! 
I still have tons of tasks to accomplish at this point, primarily some extensive Bimini top modifications.

And I haven't even started on the rigging yet, beyond getting the mast and spars built and painted.
The SCAMP's balanced lug rig is a surprisingly complex system (at least, it is the way I'm doing it!) and will take some effort.  And even with such a clear goal in sight, I am not compromising any step in the process.
It will take as long as it takes, and that's all there is to it.

Hope to see you there,
Charles Brennan

[Spot]

How much more complicated are you thinking of making this CB?
 
Is your hull/sail #3?

PS If it were mine, I'd be test sailing before lazy jacks and jiffy reefing, mainly because I am impatient and because I don't have any other boats with lazy jacks or jiffy reefing.

[Charles Brennan]

Spot, Your query:

How much more complicated are you thinking of making this CB?

Let me count the ways!! 
For one thing, that pic only has two reefs and I need 3 reefs. 
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Compare the SCAMP to a standard (i.e. Urchin sized) sloop.
On a light winds day, you swap the jib out for a genoa or a drifter/reacher.
On a moderate winds day you go out with your main and your jib.
On a strong winds day, you take in a reef in the main, and leave the jib.
In even stronger winds, you drop the jib and take in another reef in the main.
In Small Craft Conditions, you keep in all the main reefs and put up the storm jib and HEAD FOR PORT, with all due haste!!   

The Windrose 18 has roughly 150 Sq ft of main and jib.
The SCAMP, at 2/3rds the length of a Windrose 18, has 2/3rds the sail area, (100 sq ft) so far so good, EXCEPT it has only 1/3rd the displacement of a Windrose. (500 lb vs 1500 lb.)
IMHO, that makes the SCAMP a little over-canvassed.
As proof, consider if the Windrose sail area was suddenly tripled, compared to her displacement: That would be a whopping 450 sq ft of sail area!! 

So another way to think of SCAMP canvassing, is that a very light winds day on the Windrose (with main and genoa), is like running the SCAMP with no reefs.
A moderate winds day on a Windrose (main and jib) is equivalent to using a single reef on a SCAMP.
A strong winds day on a Windrose with a jib and a main sail reef, is like a double reef on a  SCAMP.
And a stronger winds day on the Windrose with storm jib and two main sail reefs, is like the 3rd reef on a SCAMP.
And in Small Craft Conditions for the SCAMP, you drop the sail entirely and limp in, on bare poles!! 
I NEED those reefs!!  ALL OF THEM!! 

Take another look, at the two reefing locations on the pic you posted:
The forward reef tie-off points are forward of the mast and a bit of a reach, IMHO.
(Especially, when you should have reefed, 15 minutes ago.) 
The aft reef tie-off points are led well forward, in fact, right over the guy's head, which should be good, no? 
Yes, EXCEPT!! I am going to have a Bimini top that precludes reaching anything except at the very aft end, or the very front end, of the cockpit.
To that end, I am going with single-line reefing, with the reef terminations aft of the mast and ahead of the front of the Bimini top. 
I have to have a Bimini top, in order to minimize how many melanomas, my dermatologist keeps having to cut off of me! 
That guy's got 4 pad-eyes, where I'm going to have 9 cheek blocks.

Check the lazy jacks; they go through a pad-eye at each end and are fixed in place.
I'm going to have a tent and may need to move the aft end of the boom, upward. I intend to have some fender snap hooks mounted on the bottom of the boom, with an extra one aft of the aft lazy jack, so I can move the lazy jack loop even further (on the third fender hook) aft, to raise the boom.

Look at the small length of line wrapped around the mast and going down about a foot in front of the boom.
That was originally a boom lift, only used for holding the boom off the deck for rigging, and largely superseded by the lazy jacks.  But it does nothing for holding the boom close against the mast on starboard tacks.
All the SCAMP brethren have taken a page from Michael Storer and used a line clipped to the boom on a pad-eye forward, led aft around the mast and cleated off to a clam cleat on the boom, both holding the boom close to the mast, but also controlling the amount of fore and aft boom position, for race tuning.

And I haven't even GOTTEN to the out haul, or the sail tie arrangement I've envisioned, since as you recently pointed out in another post, I explain things with too many words! 
But that should give you some idea of the challenges I am facing, with rigging.

Is your hull/sail #3?

Yes, this is hull/sail #3.
Built up to a SCAMP camp level by Howard Rice, (basically, an empty hull) which he donated to the Sheboygan Yacht Club, for a project that failed to materialize and was finally acquired by me, in December, 2023.

PS If it were mine, I'd be test sailing before lazy jacks and jiffy reefing,

Respectfully, disagree. I am prepared to face all the rigging challenges, drive-way sailing with the sail up, in front of my house.  We've had plenty of winds to test things with, lately!! 

Hope this clarifies,
Charles Brennan

[Spot]

Charles, Charles, my dear Charles...
That sail obviously has 3 reefs. The JIFFY lines are only hooked to TWO of them.
 
(still trying to figure out where the nettles are...)

Thanks for the additional explanations. Carry on, your plan is sound!

[Doug SC]

I love having the lazy jacks on my Scamp. They catch and contain the yard and boom both. You don't want to deal with a yard swing one way and the boom another. I can also lift the yard and boom with my lazy jacks.

[Riley Smith]

Yes, they hold the rig up on my boat too, which is a big help much of the time and keeps you from having to use the topping lift. Very handy on a very small boat.