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

[Captain Kidd]

Looking good!

I like the shrink wrap idea. I actually never put leather on my boom and yard. The wear is showing. I do plan on doing that before my "big trip" (where ever that turns out to be). Will probably do some touch up as well where it has rubbed on the mast.

[Krusen]

Wow, the coins that were in circulation when I was stationed in Italy are now found in antique stores!  They were nearly new replacements for older coins with about 5 times the weight of metal in them.  A thousand Lira was $1.60, US, and was a bit larger than an American dollar bill. Each higher denomination bill was larger.  Hundred thousand lira bills were folded cross wise, then length wise, to get them small enough to fit an American bill fold.  We called those large ones "road maps", and they were multicolored things of art and beauty.

At my rank, I only possessed 1, 5, and 10 thousand lira bills.

Just as you seem near the end of this structural voyage, you list the waiting project and it seems that this is un ending.

Then I give a good look at the structure that is done, and the reality of a nearly finished sailboat is sitting there with tape and paper all over it.

I particularly approve the shrink wrap abrasion protection.

Norman

[Charles Brennan]

Dale, Here is an ebay link to some heat shrink tubing.  Did not like ANYTHING, that Amazon had to offer. 
Don't know your required spar diameters,    so check the diameters closely, if you have different mast/boom/yard spar sizes.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203049616047


Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan

[Charles Brennan]

Norman, How do you think *I* feel, whenever I go into an antique store and see an antique tool, that I bought new and still have (and use) ?!? 
What does that make ME?!?!? 

Food for thought,
Charles Brennan

[Captain Kidd]

Dale, Here is an ebay link to some heat shrink tubing.  Did not like ANYTHING, that Amazon had to offer. 
Don't know your required spar diameters,    so check the diameters closely, if you have different mast/boom/yard spar sizes.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203049616047


Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan

Thanks for the link. I'll save it for future reference but I do plan to use leather when I get to it. I've already leathered my oars and my mast where it sits in the partner, so going to keep it uniform. On your metal spars it looks great.

[Captain Kidd]

Dale, Here is an ebay link to some heat shrink tubing.  Did not like ANYTHING, that Amazon had to offer. 
Don't know your required spar diameters,    so check the diameters closely, if you have different mast/boom/yard spar sizes.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203049616047


Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan

I looked at the product and a thought occurred to me. How would this work on wood? Would it trap moisture in the wood which would ultimately lead to rot? Metal I can see, but wood leaves a question.

[Riley Smith]

I'm with you Norman, the scrape protection is alright. Wish they made it in clear. Heck, maybe they do, I'll look. Hang on CB, you're almost there. The Japanese Magnolia is now trying to put on blooms, so that means Mardi Gras weather is on the way. Cold a few days and then warm for a couple. Yo-yo. It has already been doing that but usually the last part of January gets a little nasty.

[Charles Brennan]

Dale, Your query:

I looked at the product and a thought occurred to me. How would this work on wood? Would it trap moisture in the wood which would ultimately lead to rot?

Requires the usual TSBB response:
It depends! 
The answer varies from really good, to bullet-proof . . . . . .
 . . . . . . .depending on which heat shrink tubing, you're referring to.

Case 1: Polyolefin heat shrink tubing.  (Like is on my mast.)
It IS waterproof, BUT!!! For Marine usage, the manufacturers recommend dual-wall polyolefin heat shrink, over single-wall polyolefin.  That is why I am using two layers of single-wall heat shrink on all my spars. While not actual dual-wall, it is more than good enough for my application. I'm not trying to get anything past Lloyd's of London Marine Underwriters, who seem to be about the only guys requiring that.  (Although they've scared a lot of the industry, into using it.) 

Case 2: Polyolefin heat shrink tubing, on an irregular surface.
If there are gaps, or bumps, that the heat shrink has to conform around, it is possible to eventually get water ingress, since the heat shrink tube compression around the object is irregular and prone to capillary absorption.
(Think: Heat shrink on an Oak branch.)  We all remember the grade school science experiment, with a stalk of celery and a bottle of ink.

Case 3: Adhesive lined heat shrink tubing. (Like is on my yard.)
The Gold Standard and absolutely bullet-proof.  All the glue inside the tube forms a uniform coating around the object that no water can penetrate, whether the object is smooth or not. It was expressly developed for making water-proof electrical splices in the electrical and electronic industry.

The 2nd half of your question:

Would it trap moisture in the wood which would ultimately lead to rot?

Is a little misleading.  If moisture is already in the wood, the heat shrink tubing has no effect on it.  If the heat shrink tubing were already applied to the wood and then the wood was immersed in water, there would be no effect, since the water ingress wouldn't get past the heat shrink tubing (with the possible exception of case 2) and therefore, could not lead to rot.

So, IMHO, any wood that has at least a coat of epoxy, or a coat or two of varnish, would be unharmed by treatment with heat shrink tubing.  If you want to totally hedge your bets, adhesive-lined heat shrink tubing is the only way to go, but is hard to find in larger mast-sized diameters, unless you're willing to use black heat shrink.  (And probably why Gig Harbor Boat Works, uses it.)
I may have mentioned before, that my mast is somewhat experimental, in that many in the SCAMP community consider it too small and not up to the rigors of un-stayed usage. Obviously I disagree, but if they are ultimately correct and I have to build a wooden mast, I intend to make the chafe protection out of the identical heat shrink tubing, that I'm using now.

Hope this clarifies,
Charles Brennan

[Charles Brennan]

Riley,  Here ya go!! 

https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=81523

Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan