Almost-A-SCAMP Progress Report #3-1

[Charles Brennan]

3-1.
Ouch. 
Third year, first month, on this SCAMP build. 
Decided instead, to think of it as the 25th month, so I wouldn't feel so bad. 
At least things are still slowly moving along, as best as the weather allows.
Only thing worse than rain, is rain that is COLD!! 
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And when the weather DOESN'T allow you to step out the door, you just do other things.
Like, finally gluing coins in the mast step block, to assuage my Peasant Irish superstitions. 
(Don't feel TOO Superior to me;    the U.S. Navy to this day, still places coins under radio towers/masts before welding them, on all their warships.)
Found these aluminum 5-Lire Italian coins from the '50's at an antique store and liked the dolphins on them    and thought they would be fitting mast step coins.
Didn't really feel all that safe though, trusting those coins to pay my way into the after-life from a ship disaster,    after I learned that all three coins put together were worth less than a penny. 
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The weather was so cold I had to take the mast step inside the house, just to get the epoxy to set up and cure. 
(Hole at the top of pic, is for incidental water drainage.)

Arranged them so they were chasing each other, in a circle. 
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Got a sudden surprise, when I turned the coins over to apply the epoxy:
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A sailboat rudder!! Including the tiller, pintle straps, and pintles! 
Considered (for just a moment) gluing them in that way, as being more nautically appropriate, but ultimately decided against it since the dolphins were what I had been so taken with, in the first place.
Couldn't believe I'd had them all these months    and never noticed the significance of the other side of the coin; just hadn't been interested enough, even to look.

When in doubt, (or cold!) throw on another coat of oil on the rub rails; think this is around coats 6, or 7.
(Yeah, my Grandson laughed. Google it.) 
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Getting fewer dull spots, after every wipe-down. 

Another coat of paint on the mast partner done inside the garage, with the help of space heaters.
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While it was still too cold to do anything else, I toyed with this idea based on something I saw somewhere, in somebody's SCAMP video.
Prototyped it in cardboard and duct tape (as is my wont) and wrote down all the measurements and dimensions; but doubt if I'll spend the time to build it, unless the weather gets REALLY cold and bad and I can't do anything else. 
Maybe, next winter.
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Would probably be Easter, before I could epoxy again, anyway. 

(Cue Phil Collins: )
♫  I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord! ♫
FINALLY!!! This cold we've been fighting lately, felt noticeably warmer that night! 
Next day, wasted no time getting a 2nd coat of paint on the hull!
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Was glad to see that the second coat of paint softened the harsh contrast on the non-skid areas and the smooth areas. 
Guess that was just the grit bleeding through the paint; still very non-skid, though.

Cockpit always looks so good, before all the gnats show up! 
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One more coat of Hatteras Cream to go . . . .
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More coats on all the pieces/parts; like the mast partner, painted in Hatteras Off White.
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1st coat on the underside of the main-sheet cam-cleat board.
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Final "ding" touch-up, on the compass face plate.

And the final "ding" touch-up, on the filler-boards locker cover.
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1st coat on the 2nd side of the cockpit grate.
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And why you really need to apply three coats:
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It looked fine when I first coated it and then showed significant "bleed-through," after it had dried a little.

Next morning, I hustled outside for the final coat of paint on the cockpit, only to find that the paint was nowhere near cured enough, for a final coat. 
Forgot that warmer weather frequently comes with higher humidity and got a pointed reminder of just that, from Mother Nature.
Forced me into finding other stuff to do, ahead of when I originally planned to do it. 

In Ye Olden Dayes, back when Men were Men, and Women were Two-Breasted,    all the Manly-Men who built wooden boats always leathered their spars to prevent chafe and probably also to avoid ruining their varnish work, I'm guessing. 
The builders in the SCAMP community fervently follow this same obsession, with all kinds of discussions about adding leather to spars, what type of leather to use, how long to wet it, what kind of stitches, (baseball vs spiral) etc., etc.
Looks like a lot of work, to me! 
Plus, it's highly problematic to maintain in Florida, with mold, mildew, salt water, and squirrels that like to chew on things in the car port,    all attacking the leather, 24/7/365.
Gig Harbor Boat Works uses heat shrink tubing on their SCAMP spars and by golly, if THEY can do it, *I* can do it too!! 
For reasons that escape me,    they use black heat shrink on their white spars.
Not me.  I went with white heat shrink adhesive-lined tubing.
Had to measure for the "pick point" (where the halyard attaches to the yard) and overlap each side, to allow for rig tuning.
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It also happens to be where the two tubes were spliced together, to make the yard.
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Used two layers of heat shrink, for maximum chafe resistance.
Now you can see why I went for Hatteras Off White on the spars, instead of continuing with the Hatteras Cream from the cockpit. 

Some adhesive, oozing out the end of the heat shrink.
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If that tubing splice wasn't water-tight before, from all the epoxy then I betcha it's watertight, NOW!! 

And since I had a little left over, why not seal the ends of the yard, as well? 
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Had a bigger diameter heat shrink,  for the mast, which is also two layers thick.
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Two more places to add heat shrink are on the boom and where the boom contacts the mast, but I won't know exactly where those go,    until I actually start rigging the spars.

Then it was time to dig out the Tef-Gel for the mast head hardware fasteners, just in case I ever want to change my mind at some later date.
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Like so:
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Pad eye is for the main halyard block, the small double block is for the lazy jack lines.

Champing at the bit, to get that last coat of paint on in the cockpit and veranda, so I can move on to the trim colors; but I'm also holding out until all the environmental parameters are exactly right.
( > 50ºF for more than 6 hours and < 75% humidity for more than 4 hours.)
Don't want to mess things up by panicking and jumping the gun, just to try and get ahead of another cold snap. 
But SOMETIMES, the Weather Weasels get it wrong, in your favor!! 

Weather, the following day was great!! 
Barring any touch-ups for dings and scrapes, that's the final coat of paint for the veranda, cockpit, and decks!! 
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COLOR ME HAPPY!! 
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2nd coat on the 2nd side of the accessories.
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Still to go is more coats inside the mast trunk, the cabin roof, transom cap, eye brows, and hand rails.
Aching to start screwing hardware and hatches, to this hull! 
Followed by the wiring. . . .
And the equipment mounting . . . .
And the rigging . . . . .
OK, I'm going to stop now, before all the details that remain on the list, start weighing me down! 

Charles Brennan