Almost-A-SCAMP Progress Report #2-7D . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

Well, you know what "THEY" say . . . . . . 
All the self-proclaimed experts. 
Was getting some flack on some of the SCAMP forums when I had the temerity to ask why all the learned SCAMP builders were insisting on 12 foot long booms, or longer, on an 11'-11" boat.
So I asked. 
"Follow the plans!"    (They said.) "Trust the Designer!"    (They said.)
"You need it to have room for the out haul!"    (The Designer said.)
So I did. 
Then, I carefully measured the plans and Pg. 8 of the plans showed 11 feet, not 12 feet, for the boom.
What did "THEY" seem to know, that I was missing?!? 
At this point, I was no longer trusting anything anyone was telling me    and it suddenly occurred to me:
Hey! I GOT a sail!!   
I can Lemon Test this: Suck it and see! 
So I spread it out on the lawn under a tree. (Spreading it on the lawn in the blazing sun, in this heat, would have melted both the sail AND me!!) 
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Counter-clockwise around the sail, this is the throat end, with my spar cap temporarily inserted and the sail clamped into its future position.

This is the peak end with a mark on the spar for where I SHOULD have cut it,    had I not been in thrall to all the August, Learned, Experts.
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This is the tack of the loose footed sail, with a pin through the tack grommet.
That eye nut will be the future fastening point, for the three reefing lines. 
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This is the clew end.  You can see how the 10 foot sail foot and the 10 foot original boom would have been problematic for an out haul.
Cutting off raggedy ends didn't help, either.
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Notice all the un-necessary boom, to the right of the boom end cap? 
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So the boom really DID need to be extended; just not to 12 feet. 
I'm using a sail track fitting from some of the original hardware that came with the mast, in lieu of adding a sail track and slider to the boom, like they do on wooden booms.
The two blocks will comprise a 2:1 two-part out haul, with a line that will be led well forward to reach and secure the out haul from the cockpit.

Yeah, that's how much aluminum I cut off after I had a for-sure measurement from the plans, and from direct measurements, using the sail.
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Ah, well.   
Not the first time I've ignored everybody else and gone my own way. 

The cast aluminum boom ends that came with the spars and the mast end that I had purchased, needed to be primed before painting.
So I wire-brushed the bejesus out of them.
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Hit them with several coats of some self-etching aluminum primer.
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From left to right: Forward boom end, mast foot, aft boom end.

From the inside (bottom):
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And a coupla top coats of black paint; should make for a nice contrast from the Hatteras Off-White that will be painted on the spars.
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Next morning, I applied glue to the bench seat rails and glued the bottom mast step plate to the bottom mast positioning block.
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Clamped the starboard bench seat rail.
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And the port side rail.
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Having learned that glued pieces tend to slide a little after clamping, as the glue oozes out, I went back and re-aligned the bottom plate with the block.
Also wiped away any excess glue in the step cavity, to minimize sanding it later.
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With the last of the unused glue, I glued in the end caps to the yard spar. (Peak end.) 
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And the throat end. Scored the inside walls of the spar with a cheapie scratch awl bent to a 90º angle, for better epoxy adhesion.
I always try to have another small "reserve project" on hand, so as not to waste any unused epoxy, wherever possible.
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Progress is about to come to a screeching halt, while I deal with an unexpected kidney stone. 
(Man, THAT was dumb!    Is ANY kidney stone EVER "expected"?!?) 
But I still made pretty fair progress this month, even in horrendous heat and humidity conditions.
I'm down to about a 2-hour window to perform epoxy tasks in. 
In the mornings, the temps are fine but the humidity is too high, which can lead to sticky, partial cures and Amine blush.
In the afternoons, the humidity is sufficiently low, but the high temperatures can cause the epoxy to kick off, before you've even finished stirring it! 
Gives me from about 11am to 1pm to do epoxy work, right at the edge of the environmental temp/humidity numbers; still I persist! 

Charles Brennan

[Captain Kidd]

Perfect solution: pull out the sail!

Like what you've done with those caps.

Nice work.