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

[Charles Brennan]

It's tough, getting anything done near the Holidays.   
In between Thanksgiving, hanging lights all over the property, and dragging crates and crates of ornaments out of the attic, I only managed a few chores and am now starting to be seriously behind where I thought I would be, by now.
It was a major feat just to get the first coat of epoxy on the tiller.
Multi-coat varnishing is next, but probably not in THESE temps! 
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Have had to move stuff into the garage (which has a couple small space-heaters) in order to finish up temp sensitive odds and ends.
For instance, I discovered that I TOTALLY FORGOT!!    To coat the bottom edge of the centerboard with graphite epoxy.
Dunno how I managed that. 
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That's not un-coated wood on the end; that's a wood spacer to keep the end from sticking to the table.

So what do we do with a nice shiny graphite-coated epoxy centerboard?   
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We sand it, so the primer coats of paint can be applied.
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Ditto for the rudder stock.
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One of the things I see in SCAMP build blogs, is guys coating the rudder case in black graphite epoxy, then discovering that the pintles don't fit.
So they rout out a slot for the pintles and then just paint the bare wood!
    GEEZE, GUYS!! 
Thought the whole idea was to coat ALL the wood with epoxy, THEN paint, so water can't get to the wood!
My pintles were equally too narrow for the stock, uhhh . . . .  rudder stock, so I marked, masked and routed it out as well.
Also drilled out the epoxy filled holes for the 10-24 machine screws for mounting the pintles.
Going along pretty good . . . . .
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Until I noticed the pintle holes are sized for ¼-20 bolts, NOT 10-24 screws, like I had thought!!    DOHHHHH!!!!   
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Had to drill the pintle holes out to 3/8" and refill with epoxy.

Which was far tougher to do, than I had realized.
For the small holes for the 10-24 screws, I simply taped the bottom side with packing tape and filled the holes.
For whatever reason, the 3/8" holes were too much for packing tape and they started leaking out the edges of the packing tape.
Which of course, I didn't discover until AFTER it was leaking all over the work surface.
I quickly folded a paper towel into the slot width, wrapped it in wax paper and placed it underneath the lower slot and used weights to force the wax paper against the holes.
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That at least, had the advantage of slowing down the leaks.
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Which necessitated adding some more epoxy to finish filling in the holes after the original epoxy had cured.
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Had occasion to go to St. Augustine and stopped by Sailor's Exchange and got some more stainless steel wear strip, because I wanted to armor the bottom of my centerboard.
I've seen what I've done to a 400 lb cast iron swing keel on Urchin over 48 years  and figured a fiberglass covered hunk of wood didn't stand a chance, without some help.
I drilled oversized holes for the end, stood the centerboard on its end and filled the holes and taped them securely.
Then I drilled and filled holes on the leading edge
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While I was there I also tripped over a deal on a Plastimo mini Contest compass.
   SCORE!!! 
I was originally going to get a Ritchie V-537 bulkhead compass, which seems to be very popular on SCAMP builds.
Until I saw one in a West Marine store and realized I was not going to be able to read that small compass card from the cockpit, if I mounted it on the bulkhead.
The much larger mini Contest compass card solves that problem for me.
As long as I can get this project finished, before my eyesight deteriorates further! 

My original battery plan was to obtain two 50A/Hr LiFePO4 batteries, since a 100A/Hr battery wouldn't fit in the space under the deck up forward.
Two things have happened since I made those plans:
1) They came out with a 100A/Hr "mini" size that is small enough, to be doable in my space.
2) They had some amazing Black Friday sales (apparently, China is dumping stuff as fast as they can, in anticipation of a new administration and possible tariffs) and I was able to get two 100A/Hr batteries for less than half the money that I had been prepared to pay for two 50A/Hr batteries. 
4 times the A/Hrs, per buck?    Wasn't about to turn THAT deal down! 
Took their sweet time getting here, but finally they arrived and I got them charged up, per the instructions and then re-boxed them, until I'm ready to use/install them.
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How will I know the charge state while packed away in a cardboard box?
With this cool phone app: 
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These things have Bluetooth communications built in for monitoring the battery
This is battery 1.  (I put the -1 on at the end of the serial number.)

Battery 2:
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Check the 18ºC temperature reading in my 65ºF garage.
Being an inveterate Gadget Nut, I can already tell these things are going to be fun. 

Going to spend the rest of the holidays, pondering what to do with the hull.
I had originally thought to get the third coat of graphite epoxy on the hull, then primer, then three finish coats.
Not happening in this weather.
Plus, I have to do a little more filling and fairing, that I discovered while sanding the hull.
After I get the seats, decks, cabin sides and cabin roof done, it will have to be flipped again anyway to fillet and paint the undersides of the roof and deck, so I might finish the hull at that time.
I'm not going to be able to do much in the winter months, epoxy-wise, but there are plenty of carpentry chores and whatnot that won't require temperate weather.
But only if the hull is upright.

Still mulling  . . . . . .
Charles Brennan

[Timm R Oday25]

Nice to see some progress is being made . When you refer to "these temps " ,it made me chuckle .
Can you see your breath outside ? I'm thinking no.
Right now ,I have the fourth version of the outboard mounting pad in  a corner of the kitchen
waiting for the glue to cure .
Bobbie understands that sometimes it's just too cold for some things to be done outside.
I'm curious as to how the graphite is supposed to keep things slippery when it is coated with paint ?

[Riley Smith]

I like the metal leading edge idea. As there is something going on with my centerboard, I may have to install one!

[Captain Kidd]

I'm curious as to how the graphite is supposed to keep things slippery when it is coated with paint ?

I was wondering the same thing. Are we missing something?

Good work though. As anyone can see, the devil is in the details.

[Frank B.]

I'm curious as to how the graphite is supposed to keep things slippery when it is coated with paint ?

I was wondering the same thing. Are we missing something?

Good work though. As anyone can see, the devil is in the details.

Also a bit confused, I thought the graphite was mixed in to "toughen" the coat on things under the waterline that might come into contact with various "stuff".  I included graphite in the final coats of epoxy on my skiff hull below the waterline, but did not do a good job to leave it as final, had to sand smooth and then applied black cat poly to regain the smooth and slippery surface and have it look good.  Additionally I would think this time of year would be ideal for cure where you are, when I was doing the aforementioned skiff, I couldn't get a cure in two or three weeks but the temps were in the twenties for lows, and forties for highs.  I tried tarping and running a heater, but gave up and just waited till spring.

[Charles Brennan]

Timm, Dale, Frank, et al.
As I'm given to understand it, sufficient graphite powder when added to epoxy, makes for a very hard finish compared to bare epoxy. It also makes for a more slippery surface (shiny, or not) encouraging things to glance off, rather than impact the surface.
Some SCAMP builders prefer to leave the centerboard and the rudder unfinished (black) and some paint over it, purely for cosmetic reasons; count me among the latter. Several builders have finished the entire lower hull to the design waterline with graphite epoxy and left the lower hull black. 
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A lot of Rugged Individualists in this group!     

I will be finishing my hull with graphite, also, but will be painting over it, since I have to deal not only with the Elements but with my wife's color sensibilities, if I ever want to have her step aboard.
No one can convince me differently, that women can not see colors past infrared, and clear on down into the Police Band.   
My wife thinks that beige, ecru, and taupe, are three different colors; all I see, is light brown. 
More proof for my Theory, that Men and Women are two entirely separate species that happen to be able to interbreed, kind of like how they make Mules. 

I've seen close-up pics of Howard Rice's SCAMP, Southern Cross, after it dragged across the rocks, in 50 knot winds and very high waves.  The paint was quite scuffed, exposing numerous areas of graphite/epoxy where it had been scraped across the rocks.
Nowhere on the hull, was there any exposed wood showing.
This also seems to be the experience of other builders who have dragged their hulls across rocky areas, and one parking lot. (Although their posted pics are not nearly so dramatic.)  But neither do they show any exposed wood.

The wooden outboard runabout in our family when I was a boy, was prone to numerous scrapes and dings, owing to my Father's lack of seamanship skills.    So I was used to sanding, filling and painting, after boating outings.
A lot. 
I am equally resigned to performing touch-up on this boat, but it appears that adding graphite might allow me to hedge my bets a little and just have to apply occasional touch up paint, and not have to fill and repair wood all the time.

Timm, Once you get below around 40ºF it matters not, how much further lower the temps get, it's COLD!! 
I assure you, I can quite clearly see my breath, as I'm cursing the temps!   
Where is Jim B., now that we need him, with some Cold Sux® for these terrible times?!? 

Frank, one of the "Gotchas" when you read down to the bottom of the instructions, (where they put that * that no one ever reads) is that the minimum temps must occur for the entire length of cure time.  For example, it's not just that cure time below 60ºF doubles, it is that the ideal curing temps (70º -80º) MUST occur for the minimum curing time (typically 4 hours).  The other item of concern besides cure time doubling for every 18°F drop below 70°F, is that humidity also gets a vote into how well (or if) the epoxy cures.
That puts us in a kind of Catch-22 situation here in north central Florida.  This time of year, the higher temps are accompanied by super high humidity.  And the lower humidity brings with it, too-low temps for effective curing.

So it is not so much a particular temp or humidity, as it is a "window" of acceptable temp and humidity.
Those usable windows of time, are a little scarce right about now.
Now, having said all that, after the rains this weekend, next week is forecast to be quite usable! 
I intend to be ready, if the Weather Weasels actually turn out to be right, for a change! 
Otherwise, I'll be flipping the hull and doing other things, until Spring.

Hope this clarifies,
Charles Brennan 

[Doug SC]

Really wish my Scamp was shown the same level of proficiency and care before I became its caretaker.

I believe I have sealed the remaining leak which was finally found at the transom and port scupper. I now have cross boards for sleeping 2 and the boat tent so hope Carol will do some camping with me on the boat. We can always pitch a tent if we need the room. I decided to put the 100W solar panel and electrics with a 100Ah lithium iron phosphate battery in my Scamp and leave the Potter with its existing system. Thanks for edumacating me on the how-to CB! I added electric outlets both USB_A and C, as well as a 300W inverter for AC, and a DC car outlet. I have a small USB fan and 200W AC desk heater that work with the system and will be able to keep phones, tablets, cameras, GPS, VHF, rechargeable batteries, etc. charged. Then I did a bit of touchup painting.

I also added "goal posts" to the trailer and changed out the hard roller at the trailer winch to 2 vertical foam stops.

I hope to do a bit of camping on it starting in January. Maybe a trip or 2 to FL along with Lake Jocassee, Cape Romain, Charleston Habor, and St Helene Sound. All are on my potential to do this year list. Of course, it is dependent on time and circumstance.

[Travis Chapman]

Glad to hear Sailor's Exchange is still a success! I had many visits while living aboard on Fernandina Beach and always tripped over a great find. Looking great as always