Almost-A-SCAMP Progress Report #2-9D . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

1st coat of epoxy on the second side of the mast ramp extension pieces, the bulkhead #4 cleat doublers, the bulkhead #4 stiffeners, and the (new!)    handrail cabin roof doublers.
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Also filled in the over-drilled holes in the roof grab rail.

Next, I filled in all the grab rail holes (again).
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Hey, Charles: What's that extra filled-in white hole? 
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   I DONWANNA TALK ABOUT IT!! 

And since I had the filler out, I used the leftovers for filling in my previous attempts to locate the bulkhead #4 cleats. 
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Also faired in a few gaps in the bulkhead wing extension

Filled and faired all the damage from my disastrous cabin roof grab rail doubler fiasco. 
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Not messin' around this time;    hex bolts well greased, for clamping doublers. 
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2nd coat of epoxy on the pieces.
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Realized with a sudden shock, that except for the coaming transition and  rail cap pieces which haven't even been fabricated yet, there are no more pieces to cut, fit, shape, sand, epoxy, and glue in place. 
Probably down to less than 8 more pieces/parts in total, aside from what is shown here.

Glued and clamped the bulkhead #4 stiffeners
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View from inside the veranda.  Pic taken by sticking my arm through the port hole. 
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Port  side bulkhead #4 cleat doubler.
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During my previous failure analysis, I discovered that I had tightened down the nuts a little too much, with a wrench.
This created excessive squeeze-out of the epoxy glue and possibly starved the joint, so these nuts are only tightened ½ turn, past finger tight.
Just enough to start glue squeeze-out. 

Sanded, drilled and ready to install.
I may be a Slow Learner, but I do learn. 
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Clamped in place with greased bolts (also ½-turn past finger tight) on all four locations.
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Another project that was forced on me out of sequence,    was increasing the "SCAMP ramp" height to allow a water resistant mast boot, to be installed at a later date.
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Originally, I had been concerned about the rear edge (important to keep rain water from leaking into the mast trunk) interfering with mast stepping. 
As it turns out, the geometry of the front grab rail precludes that from happening.
Amazing, how much stuff I worry about, that I don't really need to worry about. 
I keep worrying, anyway. 

One slightly out-of-square side kept trying to lift up, so I persuaded it to lay still, with  about 13 pounds of lead weights.
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Flipping a Boat:
They say there is nothing quite so dangerous as a Redneck, with a come-along and a hydraulic jack. 
I have three of each; what does that make me?!? 

STARTED out, conventionally enough.
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Run the straps, rig the come-alongs, even take advantage of the bow eye that wasn't there the last time the hull was inverted.

Additional straps to keep the main straps from sliding, or slipping off the end of the hull.
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We tend to do the things that worked for us the last time; like using a 2X4 in the centerboard trunk as a lever and a handle.
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Allows you to lever the hull without ever getting completely underneath it, a Big Criterion of mine and of Scary Engineering guys, everywhere.   
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And right about here, is where things started going pear-shaped. 
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Hull would not move. 

Even the Tried and True: Attach a strap to the opposite gun whale proved nearly useless.
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Figured that if I couldn't move the hull physically, myself, I'd just use Mr. Ratchet Strap to force the issue; didn't happen. 
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But from this point, the hull was effectively frozen; no amount of pushing, pulling, levering, cajoling, cursing, etc. would move it beyond this point.
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I walked around and around the boat, considering the situation.
Geeze!!    Was the boat this big, when I started?!? 
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It was nice and stable; it just wouldn't move. 

It slowly dawned on me that the hull was much heavier than when it was last turned, from all the parts that were added and the weight exceeded the strap friction which I could move by hand, the last time I turned the hull over.
The new weight effectively locked the strapping in place.
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Once the problem was analyzed, the solution was simple:
Let Gravity do all the work. 
Unbalance the hull on one side . . . .
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And begin lowering the straps, achieving two functions:
1) Reduced strap tension allows the hull to slide within the straps.
2) The hull rotates.
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Letting Gravity do its thing . . . . .

Success!! 
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Just goes to show, Gravity is a Powerful Force;    only a few guys, have ever escaped it.

8X8 cribbing under the bow.
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Sawhorses and multiple 2X4's at the stern.
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Wanted it solid, since I was going to be crawling around under there and leaning on things. 
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I also wanted it to be easy to crawl in and out of the hull. 
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The hull's going to be like this for a while; I need to fillet three different compartments on the deck and roof.  (The reason for inverting the hull.)
I also need multiple coats of primer and 3 top coats of Easy Poxy paint which will be easier to do with the roof upside down.
But first, I need the rest of the weekend, to recuperate    from my Battle with Gravity! 

Charles Brennan

[Captain Kidd]

Quite the chore!

These pics give a great perspective on the Scamp.

BTW: I'm posting during church time - ugh! Sitting this one out.