Almost-A-SCAMP Progress Report #2-12D . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

  HAH!!    Made it in just under the wire, for the last progress report of the year! 
Happy New Year, everybody!!   
Used up the last of the good weather for a while, in making good on my threat to re-paint the mast head in black after I had forgotten to mask it off,    when painting the mast.
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Rainy (and soon to be cold)    weather tends to force onto you, side projects that will have to get done eventually, anyway.
So why not do them now, while you wait for good painting weather? 
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I didn't want to have to fish out 8 filler boards every time I wanted to set up for camping aboard, so I re-purposed some one-inch nylon webbing to make filler board pairs.

Melted all the cut ends with a heat gun and screwed them down.
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Here's the stack:
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DOHHH!!! 
Just kidding! 
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It was actually planned this way; there is a ¾-inch overhang from the cleats on both sides and you put the 1st pair of filler boards against the front of the locker and the 2nd pair against the back and the other two pair of fillers fit in the middle.
Little to no rattling back and forth in a seaway, this way.     Just another one of the myriad sub-conscious solutions that get worked out, in the wee hours of the night.

Got a Black Friday deal on a 2 X 6 foot piece of foam, to make cockpit cushions, which are 12 inches wide per side.
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Cut it in half with an electric knife (Wife got me one at a yard sale somewhere, to keep me from using hers!)    and used the plywood work table edge as a fence. 

Plopped it in the cockpit to mark it for trimming, to conform to the curves,
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Like so.
I was faced with a bit of a quandary,    in that the entire cockpit length was around 7 feet, but the usable seating area was closer to 5 feet.
So a 6 foot piece of foam was either a foot too short, or a foot too long, and might interfere with equipment operation near the lazarette.
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I mentally debated back and forth, as to what to do. 

I had tripped over a partial roll of Sunbrella for 5 bucks, at a flea market and figured I might have enough to cover the cushions.
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The color seemed to be compatible with the Sea Foam and in the same general shade range.
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Should I cut off the excess length, or let it ride? 
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Turns out, the fabric made up my mind FOR me,    since it was just a little too short to cover the extended length ends.
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The next day wasn't rainy, but it WAS pretty cold.    Noon, before I even ventured outside.
How cold was it?!? 
It was soooooooooooo COLD, I hadda wear SOCKS!!!    And a HOODIE!! 
Casting about for something useful to do, I decided to assemble the rudder.
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Starting with threading the up haul and down haul lines, through the rudder body.
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The down haul line is knotted  inside the rudder blade.
The manual would have you fill that knothole with epoxy, but I decided (and not for the first time!)    to go my own way and forego the epoxy, in favor of the ability to maintain/repair the down haul line out on the water, if need be.
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Down haul in place and rudder blade pivot bolt installed.
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Next, was knotting the up haul line on the trailing edge of the rudder blade.
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The tiller is affixed to the rudder, with a Quick-Pin
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And there's a BUNCH of stuff, soon to be hanging on that tiller! 

But in order to figure out just  where all that stuff goes, I needed to have it on the hull, first.
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Temporarily attached the gudgeons to hang the rudder.

Masking tape to mark where all the hardware goes.
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L - R: Tiller extender socket, end of tiller wrap, tiller pilot pin, rudder up haul/ down haul cleats.

Like this:
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Rudder up haul cleat at left, to the right is the tiller extender from Urchin (Thanks, Ed!!)    which BTW, fits PERFECTLY in the cockpit! 

Rudder down haul break-away clam cleat:
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It's designed to disconnect if the rudder blade hits something (like an Oyster bar!!)    and allow the rudder blade to pop up; a handy thing for Florida waters. 

I had a spiral tiller wrap on Urchin that was very comfortable, so I saw no reason not to have one on this boat, as well.
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My previous wrap was made from white parachute cord and the saltwater, sweat, sunblock and various outboard lubricants, turned it dark grey almost immediately. 
People would remark on how nautical my battleship-grey tiller wrap looked. (I never enlightened them.) 
The rudder now looks so good (especially since it's FINISHED!)    I didn't want to leave it to be banged around in the garage and now have it in my computer room, along with all the other stuff that's going to go in the boat, if I can just get it painted!! 

In my last report, I was a little surprised that no one has tried to guess what this thing is, yet. 
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Any thoughts?   

All I need is about 5 good days of painting-type weather and I can really get things moving.
In the mean time, any progress is still and all: Progress! 

Charles Brennan

[Krusen]

Happy New year, Charles!    

And all the rest of our Trailer Sailor friends!    

[Riley Smith]

Pig stick?

[Charles Brennan]

Riley, We have a Winner!! 

I'm a BIG flag waver, from wayy back! 
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It's a little tougher, when you have a mast sans spreaders and flag halyards, so I was forced into a more historic, nautical solution.
Should have known, a fellow spreader-less sailor would know.

Charles Brennan

[Captain Kidd]

Progress indeed!

Happy New Year!

[Riley Smith]

I have never solved the problem on S R Cat about the flag. First, etiquette suggests that you fly a flag from the gaff. Well, let me tell you THAT ain't happening and I'll tell you why. That gaff moves up and down and therefore whatever you use to hoist said flag is ALSO going to move up and down. Which would put a pile of tangled line in the cockpit at the EXACT time you don't need it when dousing the rig. I did rig a pigstick once for a while, but I was afraid it would get tangled in the halyards and topping lift at the top of the mast, so I stopped doing that. Besides, S R Cat has a great assortment of lines and most of the time it was just too much trouble. Since then I've used that sheave in the mast for a boom lift line, which I consider a lot more important than a flag halyard. I do have a means of adding another halyard with a stainless strap but haven't done it. And I'm running out of acreage at the top of the mast. And so for the most part, S R Cat has spent her life without a flag. I always wanted to fly the 1894 Mississippi flag at BEER but never did. But I had it with me.

[Chris Muthig]

You gotta be proud of how it's turning out... BEER cruise here we come!  All I need are the dates so I can put in my PTO.  Not that I get much, I just can't get sick and I can go!