Almost-A-SCAMP Progress Report #3-1B . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

Why you never trust a Weather Weasel.    (Or the thermometer in the back yard.) 
Forecast was for low 50's and the back yard thermometer read 48ºF, so I figured I was screwed, since the weather was going to be even worse, the next day.
But, just on an impulse I dug the laser thermometer out of the truck (the one I use for checking trailer hub temps, on the road) and slapped it on the roof.
62.5ºF!!    I was LIED to!!    Wonder how many painting/epoxying days I have lost, to bad forecasts and erroneous temperature measurements? 
Promptly slapped on another coat of paint, on the cabin roof. 
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And the transom cap. 
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Tried that trick again the next day; forecast was for 58ºF at 10 am and I hoped that by 1 or 2 o'clock the temps would be 60ºF+ again.
Nope. Cabin roof measured 58ºF at 10 am (when there's still too much humidity to paint) and measured 52ºF at 1 PM, when I wanted to paint.
No painting today, boys. 
This has happened to me right along, on this project.    One coat away from an end phase, and I get hit with more bad weather. 
Ah, well. 

The temps dropped even further as the day progressed to the point of bringing inside, my wife's more favored plants and forcing me inside as well, to do whatever I could.
Like making the eye splice for the yard, starting with a locking Brummel eye splice on a sail makers thimble.
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Followed by another locking Brummel splice, on the two tails
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The tails are rather short for buries, but I needed a very specific loop diameter. 

It's going around the yard, as either a double-cow hitch, or as a ⅔rds Prusik knot, depending on how you like to define these things. 
Pulled half the yarns out, to taper the bury.
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Like so.  It was more tapered than it appears in the pic, since the end was closer to the camera lens.
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Other side is already buried.

Always a good feeling,    when the end splice loop comes out to the originally desired measurements.
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Absolutely did NOT trust those short tapers in the Dyneema, locking Brummel or no, so I whip-stitched the length of the splice from one end to the other and back, then moved the thread at 90º to those stitches and ran back and forth the other way, twice. 
That splice is not going anywhere. 
Did I mention, this is what holds up the entire sail rig?!?   
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Annnnddddd . . . . . . . . . .  it didn't fit. 
Short, by a ½-inch.  DOHHH!!!! 
Used a come-along to "persuade" it to lengthen, a little.
Wow!!    That Dyneema is as tough as they all say it is!! 
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And with a lot of prying, pulling, tweaking, and healthy swearing,  just barely made it.
Wife said she was glad the garage door was closed, so the neighbors couldn't hear me. 
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The original intent was so that the two loop-arounds, would keep it from sliding like a single loop might, but still allow enough movement when desired, for tuning the rig.
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And it DOES move (sort of!),    it just requires a block of wood and a mallet, to do so.  DOHHH!!!!! 
Hoping in a few days (weeks?) or so, all the fibers will have sorted themselves out enough, to move a little more easily.  WHERE is "Dyneema Creep" when you really NEED it?!? 
Thinking about it afterwards, I realized I had penetrated the line in front of my laundry marker marks instead of behind them; and had also failed to allow for the increase in line thickness from the buries affecting the line diameter and thus, accounting for the fit discrepancy. 
Strangely, the insight did not make me feel any better. 

Driving to and from the St Pete Boat Show, I allowed my sub-conscious to work on the problem, since it seems to be far more rational than I am and doesn't allow emotions to interfere with clear thinking. 
So when I returned home, I looked at the yard fitting, admired the workmanship and effort it had required; took a cue from Matthew 5:29 and un-folded the sheeps-foot serrated blade from my Leatherman Wave and coolly cut it off the yard.
I HAVE to be able to adjust that yard pick point, easily.  This is likely going to be the last boat I ever own and it HAS to be right.
Something else my sub-conscious didn't like, was the ¼-inch  sail makers thimble which looked clunky and out-of-scale, on the yard. So I had picked up a 3/16-inch sail makers thimble at the St Pete West Marine, along with another quart of Grand Banks Beige paint, because I was worried I might not have enough paint left, to finish the cabin roof and transom cap.
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New thimble and cut-up eye splice.

Made sure I had LOTS more tail this time, so I now had the length to taper and bury it, properly.
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One side already buried and an idea of the long bury tail.
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Another wrinkle gained from my hard-learned experience, was that I didn't really need a locking Brummel on the splice end. Instead, I used an off-set, as if for a soft shackle, so I could adjust the length more precisely. 
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It helps to have a model of the same diameter as the yard, to fine-tune those adjustments.
After I was satisfied as to the fit and function, I whip-stitched the end splice and buries, as before.
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So now, it fits perfectly,    adjusts easily, and best of all:
MY DAMN' SUB-CONSCIOUS QUIT NATTERING AT ME, ABOUT HOW I SCREWED UP TRYING TO INSTALL IT ANYWAY, WHEN I KNEW IT WAS WRONG!! 
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It really is a pretty smart sub-conscious, though.     I thought I might have enough paint left to get a last coat on but sure enough, ran out after I got only the transom cap painted. 
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Was glad for a new can of paint to get the final (OK 3rd!) coat on the cabin roof!! 
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Feeling more confident now, I used another cold, rainy, day to make up a boom down haul. 
It seems the only real trick is not to rely solely on measurements, but to have a model to base the dimensions on, so that it can be adjusted as required, until finished.
Like a short section of left-over boom extrusion.
BTW, notice that the lines on the outside loops are much thicker, the ones that contain the buries and which are what screwed up my original measurements.
May be slow, but I DO learn. 
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Things are going to start happening more quickly, from here on out!! 

Charles Brennan

[Riley Smith]

Yay! Rigging!

[Timm R Oday25]

It is currently 9 degrees outside Charles .I have plenty of wood out in the barn that is waiting for the temperature to get into the low thirties .
Running rigging is also going to be replaced once the 2 feet of snow finally melts .
My point is that I appreciate your posting steps of your progress ..

[Captain Kidd]

Trial and error process but the end result was worth it!

[Roland of Macatawa]

Trial and error process but the end result was worth it!

Not "trial and 'error'" but rather:
"successive convergent iteration"
  Roland