Almost-A-SCAMP Progress Report #2-4C . . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

Painting the first coat on the underside of the bench seats.
I really noticed the difference in how easy it was to see things, when I painted the interior compartments, so I figured available light reflecting from the underside of the bench seats, would probably also be a good thing.
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I was not happy    with the way the 6 mm fore deck "oil-canned", back when I was first playing with all the pieces to see how the boat fit together.
I do a lot of hanging out on fore decks at launch, docking, or beaching, etc. and I wanted some more support, than what the stock support from the center beams provides.
The logical solution would be additional support beams, but they would have been a nightmare to reach through and around to paint; it was tight enough quarters as it was.
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So I waited until the interior was finished with painting, to add the additional support beams.
They were glued in on one day and got their first coat of paint on the sides (and bottom), the next day.
(And Yes.    It WAS a pain to reach under the beams, to paint).
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Just another one of those things that everyone tells me I don't really need; causing me to stubbornly go my own way. 
I really DO listen to all the advice I seek, and I think about it quite a lot, before I decide to deviate from the norm.
The biggest impetus, was the fear of getting the whole boat built and then having the fore deck "oil-can" on me and KNOWING    I could have fixed it, way back when.
And didn't. 

On the on-going motor mount project, got the fourth coat of epoxy on; this time it was graphite infused.
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Got it pretty smooth!    When you can see your reflection . . . . . .

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Let it sit overnight.

Then flipped it over the next day, and got the other side coated.
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So what do you do with a shiny block of wood? 
Sand it until it's dull, of course.
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So you can apply a primer coat.
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With all the hull primer painted on and sanded smooth, and while waiting for bench seats and motor mounts to cure/dry, there was no other reason not to move forward and paint the hull.
Especially with the low humidity and mild temperatures we're getting, lately. 
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Most of my pics are taken after the fact, since in the throes of construction and fighting curing times/drying times, and not wanting to grundge up the camera, there's not always time to stop in the middle and take an in-progress pic. 
But I decided to give it a shot for once, right in the middle of painting and it only cost me an extra pair of latex gloves to do so.

First coat on the hull!   
Made a big difference, both in appearance and in my personal attitude.
Been having a Massive Mental Pity Party,    since the SCAMP is not going to make it in time for the Cedar Key Small Boat Meet, in May.
The bright colors, brightened my spirits, a lot. 
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And it took nearly .087 femto-seconds (10 ^-15 seconds) for a gnat to find the wet hull and entomb himself.   
(Or, 870 atto-seconds; the amount of time it takes light to travel the length of a coupla Hydrogen atoms, for those of you keeping track.)
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Second coat of paint on the bench seats.
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I vaguely wondered if I really needed a third coat, but then realized it was just Impatience trying to Rationalize a Shortcut. 
I haven't: "mickey-moused" it this far; keep to the plans and to SCAMP standards and practices, Brennan! 

At times like that, it's instructive to review what happened, when a guy got impatient while building a SCAMP, and then Doug SC acquired it and had to fix it.
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It's pics like that, that keeps me honest. 
Thanks, Doug.

And so, I did.   
Coat #3 and the tape removed for the bulkhead gluing surfaces in the hull.
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With the bench seat tops now out of the way, I could move on to the cuddy sole/ballast tank cover (foreground) and to the lazarette top and doubler (background).
Gathered all my clamps again.
This is the first time I've had to glue a puzzle joint together, and I was a little apprehensive that I would screw something up.
Hedged my bets a little, by keeping the glue in the fridge while I coated the wood with epoxy and then painted all that puzzle joint surface area with an acid brush, to apply the glue.
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And once again, every clamp I owned wasn't really as much as I wanted, but I did get enough squeeze-out to convince me that I must have had enough clamps, after all.
The 2 X 4's on either side of the puzzle joint were covered in wax paper and clamped really hard, since squeeze-out wasn't the goal, so much as achieving a completely flat scarf.
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Lazarette top and doubler, first coat and glued.
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Sanded all the glue slop and got the second coat of epoxy down.
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An on-going mental exercise was how to put a flare in both ends of the centerboard pipe without trashing the glue joint.
I had used a flat-head ¼-20 machine bolt to flare one end with great success, but had to leave the other end straight to insert and glue it in the centerboard trunk.
But I really wanted it flared at both ends, to minimize possible line chafe.
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After some thought,    I drilled a small pilot hole in a ¼-20 acorn nut then drilled it larger with a 7/32" bit and tapped it with a ¼-20 tap, as shown below.
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Threaded the nut onto the bolt, backwards.
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Then I inserted the ¼-20 flat-head bolt in the trunk, and threaded the backwards nut on and cranked down on it.
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It flared the straight end nicely and didn't deform anything, or stress the glue joint inside the centerboard trunk.
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Another back-burner project, was getting corners into my compass box so that I can screw the lid to the box, at some point.
All epoxied and finally glued in.
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Started the holes for the compass mount; I'm going to use nylon screws and nuts to mount the compass. No metal will be adjacent to the compass.
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Over-drilled and ready to fill the holes with epoxy.
We don't often enough, acknowledge the valuable contributions from other TSBB viewers.
Back in January, Krusen mentioned tapping ¼-20 threads into oak, to mount some hand rails.
That sparked an idea of using a ¼-20 tap, to tap threads into an epoxy-filled hole.
This way, I can unscrew the face plate multiple times without tearing up wood, like a wood screw or sheet metal screw would.
Then I came up with the idea of using a nylon ¼-20 pan head screw to hold the face plate; keeping any metal (ferrous or non-ferrous) away from the compass.
THANKS!!    NORM!! 
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The more niggling little details I can get off my plate, the better I feel.
The most interesting thing about a SCAMP build, is that all the individual steps are fairly simple.
But there's a LOT of those steps!! 

Charles Brennan

[Krusen]

Thanks for the credit for threading the wood, or in this case, the epoxy.  I have used a lot of nylon screws and bolts in magnetically sensitive locations.  Do not over torque them as all the stretch will be in the short distance between the epoxy and faceplate.  Those screws stretch easily, but fail slowly, a year or two. I replaced factory installed ones for that failure, after 2 failed, I replaced all the rest.

Fine workmanship throughout, Charles, as usual.

[Captain Kidd]

A lot of steps indeed! Painting the hull is a huge step. Great satisfaction in that.

Mentioning Cedar Key, I really want to attend. Of course, there's the FL120 too. I really hope when you finish we can attend one at the same time. Maybe next year.

As it turns out, there is a small gathering May 2-4 just north of Atlanta on Lake Lanier that I'm planning on attending for the Fri/Sat time. Just 2 hours from me so doable.

And that boat is going to be a tank when you're done! Keep up the good work.

[Doug SC]

Oh, that reminder of rotten wood and chasing leaks brings back fond memories...NOT! However, it's because of the problems that I acquired the boat for $1,500 the rest of the cost has been mostly repair time and aggravation but not much extra money. Upgrades on the other hand have added further cost, but those were my choices. There isn't any way for me to easily bring my Scamp up to the standards of yours, but it should suffice long enough for the time left to me and my sailing days on the water. I am very impressed with your due diligence.

I just returned from 6 days visiting with my Dad in Florida. Rented a house on a small lake near Apopka and would put my canoe in to paddle each morning. We missed his 101 birthday last fall due to Carol's health. So, it was good to spend time with him. I hope to get down your way again and this time with my Scamp.

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