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

[Charles Brennan]

This is a PVC ½-inch knock-out plug, used for plugging un-used fittings in exterior electrical boxes.
What does this have to do with a boat?!? 
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Its' threads are ½-inch NPT threads, same as the drain plug in the SCAMP's water ballast tank.
Grease the threads and screw it in all the way and you don't have to worry about epoxy from fiber glassing the hull from above, screwing up the threads and making the plug unusable. 
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Finishing the last of the fiberglass and placing a 2nd layer of glass over the nose, a high wear location.
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Also placed a 2nd layer of glass over the garboard plank/hull seams.
Everybody KNOWS, Brennan's are eternally damn'ed by the gods,    so this needs to be a very stout hull.
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Got the first coat of epoxy on the entire external hull; internal hull already has 3 coats of epoxy.
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Time to work on the skegs.
Got two humongous 2"X10"X10' planks of grade 2 (laughingly called: "Premium" by the Big Box stores)  Southern Yellow Pine, with the fewest knots I could manage.
The skegs were located in such a way as to avoid knots wherever possible, to get a clear piece of wood for the skegs.
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Might look like major overkill, but the REST of that wood is going to be seat board cleats, cabin side cleats, an oar or two, etc., etc.

Did not have access to a band saw, so I made do with what I had.
With some Major Patience and about 3 burned-out saber saw blades later . . . . .
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All the while reflecting that it could have been worse: Might have had to use a coping saw! 

And for all my efforts, once the skegs were released from the center of the plank, they promptly warped into a corkscrew!!   
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No, that is NOT camera lens distortion, that really IS that warped.
Also check out the knot that didn't show on either side,but turned up after cutting, begging the question:
WHY do I even BOTHER?!?!? 
Ah, well. 

More luck with the other skeg.
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As you can see, only the port skeg is warped at each end.
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Clamped it together and later, placed a block of wood in between at the warp points and clamped them together and then let them set, figuring maybe I could warp the wood BACK into true.
Otherwise, I'll have to resign myself to sailing in counter-clockwise circles the rest of my life! 
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Meanwhile, I sanded and faired all the fiberglass seams and added the 2nd coat of epoxy over the entire hull.
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And finally, the third coat on the bow, transom and upper two hull planks.
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Starting to look like a hull in need of paint! 
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Before I finish the third coat of epoxy on the bottom and garboard planks, I need to attach the skegs.  Then I can do the third coat of epoxy with graphite added.
It WOULD have been done NOW, but Hurricane Helene put me back a week. 
At that point, I can prime, then paint the hull with three coats of paint and flip the boat back upright.
Still need to finish the rudder and centerboard and will then be at 50% completion.

Charles Brennan

[Krusen]

I had an interesting adventure with warping boards, but my boards were free.

6 foot 2X8, I cut it into 2X2 tomato stakes with my 8 inch circular hand saw.  It twisted so much, and so fast, that it pinched the aft portion of the blade, and stalled the saw.  I had my wife hammer large nails into the slot as I went, to keep the slot open.

Finished stakes had a 45 degree twist in 6 feet.  No idea what kind of wood, but it must have had a hard life.

CB, just be glad that is not what you were cutting!  When you described your skegs warping into pretzels, that is what I visualized.

At 2 for zero dollars, I did not complain to the source, and they did not split or break when hammered into the soil.

[Riley Smith]

 Nothing a little sanding and head scratching won't fix. Nothing ever fits. That lie they show you on YouTube where the dowel slides in with just the right tightness or that dovetail that isn't a tiny bit sloppy, is just that, in many cases. Wood is a weird medium because of twist and warpage. I always liked steel much better but here's to overcoming. In the trades, sometimes margin for error is called for, and is called "green", as in "leave it a little green". Which  is the warning that you need to make it a small amount oversized and then work it into reality. You can rely on the longitudinal fastenings to provide athwart dimensional stability. In my case, the skeg set the rudder angle, and had to be exactly right as far as height went, but in these bilge skegs, it isn't as essential to be so perfect as far as that measurement goes. I WOULD advise you to get the interface between the two surfaces as close as feasible, which will add strength to this structure. The skeg on the catboat is really a half keel and is fastened with an inner doubler to strengthen it, and then big screws with big heavy duty washers to spread the load. A belt sander was my best friend. I remember working on that thing for days to get it where I wanted it. And you got TWO of 'em  I used a lamp and square to tell me how good it was. I sanded until there (almost) wasn't any light penetrating the crack and squared it with the vertical axis. Takes some doing, I'll admit.

[Noemi - Ensenada 20]

It was probably easier to maneuver the saber saw than it would have been to move that length of wood around a band saw.

Nice looking progress.