Almost-A-SCAMP Progress Report #10 . . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

SKEGS:

The SCAMP has two skegs that allow it to sit on a beach, which is highly useful for beach camping.
(And for guys that don't pay enough attention to their charts, or tide-tables!) 
I'm going to put a S-S rub rail on it and don't want to risk rot in the wood, so I needed to over-drill some holes with a Forstner bit and then fill them back in with thickened epoxy.
My goal is for every fastener in this boat (as much as possible) to be sitting in epoxy and not in wood; and merely only wood-adjacent.
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Closer view of filled-in holes.
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I chamfered the holes with a counter-sink bit before filling.
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Besides gluing with epoxy, the skegs also have screws going through the hull, as this is one of the higher-stress loads the boat has to deal with.
Consensus in the various SCAMP forums, is at least 7 screws along the 7-foot length.
I used 12 screws for each skeg, but I had some other issues I was dealing with, which required additional screws.
The screws will be dipped in epoxy glue before screwing into the skegs.
However, I wanted to exclude the ballast tank from being penetrated with screws, so I measured carefully and made myself a no-drill zone.
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After a coat of epoxy . . . . .
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 . . . .  and a second coat of epoxy.
Ready for mounting!
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Check the curve/warp on the skeg to the right. 

Did not have enough room to screw in the holes from underneath, with my saw-horses in place, so I needed to use jack stands on the 4 corners of the hull, so I could remove them.
Break out the hydraulic jacks and have it? 
Uhhh . . . .  no.
I simply lifted one corner at a time and slid the jack stand underneath, with my foot. 
Ya gotta love building a small boat. 
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I wanted a trial run for skeg placement and epoxy glue clamping pressure.
A lot of SCAMP video blogs show the skegs being weighted down with boxes of tiles, bricks, paint cans, car batteries, etc.
It occurred to me that tensile loads are every bit as good as compressive loads.
Even better, you can control glue squeeze-out, literally a ratchet-strap tooth at a time, for very fine adjustment. 
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Looks like it'll work quite well; made a few more modifications to make it quick and easy to deploy the straps, since I'm always fighting pot life of the epoxy.
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Readers of this series might remember that I had a severe warping issue with one of the skegs.   
One skeg responded to straightening, by bending it against a scrap block and clamping it over several days, but the other skeg remained far too stubborn.
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You can see the front end of the skeg wandering off to port, (remember, the hull is upside down!)  in this pic.
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My solution to this was to clamp the skeg between two 4' levels to force it straight, and then rely on the epoxy glue and the through-hull screws to to hold it in place.
(Why I needed a dozen screws, instead of 7 screws.)
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Look, Ma! No curves and warps and twists! 
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After gluing and screwing and cleaning up all the ooze-out, I FINALLY got the straight skegs I was looking for and (even better!) parallel,  + or - 2mm from each other, along their entire length.
After dealing with aerospace-type tolerances from working in the electronics industry for so many years, I thought this was amazing for a wood project.
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Thought they came out pretty good . . . . . .
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Except for one Screw-up. 
Or perhaps I should say: Screw-out.   
Hey! I was working underneath the hull in a tight space, and too close to a bulkhead, when the screw-in angle got away from me!! 
To add insult to injury, when I attempted to remove the errant screw, the screw head angle was such that I could not back it back out again and tore up the Philips head, on the screw.
Like we used to say back when I worked back in construction:
"No extra charge, for tamper-proofing the fasteners!"   
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My solution was to use a cut-off wheel from a Dremel tool, to make a horizontal cut in the wood and then cut the screw in half.
That was followed by a vertical cut, so I could use a cold chisel and a hammer to break off the screw and knock it out of the skeg.
When I apply the epoxy fillets around the skegs I'll fill that in, using my wood skewer and epoxy trick.
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Ah, well.
If this is the worst mistake I make in the construction of this boat, I'll count myself as Lucky.
After the glue cures and hardens a little more, I'll add epoxy fillets around the skegs to strengthen them, and apply the final coat of graphite-infused epoxy on the hull bottom.
Then comes primer and 3 coats of paint, then the same for the sides of the hull.
Then flipping the hull over again, to finish the insides of the boat, now that the through-hull screws have been fastened.

I find myself now, always looking ahead to the succeeding building steps and planning ahead, to most efficiently devise the procedures to accomplish this.
Oh, that I had done that with my Life!   

Charles Brennan

[Norm L.]

I am truly impressed with the tension system you set up. More even and controllable than any box of bricks.