SCAMP Sail on Lake Weir . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

My back-ordered Newport NV-300 series (NV-46) trolling motor finally showed up and I wasted no time in wiring it up. 
It came with a 50 Amp circuit breaker, on the theory that if you run aground with a gas motor, the prop just stalls the motor.
But an electric motor simply keeps increasing torque and current draw, until something burns up inside, so the breaker (hopefully!)    mitigates that.
Looks like this:
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And I had to immediately modify it for my application,    since I wouldn't be able to easily reset the breaker, where I would have to wire it.

You can see the reset button on the left side of the breaker at the center of the pic.
Now imagine trying to get to it, if it were on the right hand side. 
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Bright and early the next morning, left at the crack of 10 o'clock    and went over to Lake Weir, a coupla hours from my home, to learn more about the characteristics of the boat I had just built. 
I wanted to wring it out a little on a lake and Lake Weir was a good candidate, since it had a nice ramp and docks I could tie off to and no treacherous shoals and mud flats 50 feet from the ramp.
(Still mildly gun-shy, from the initial launch at Cedar Key's inside ramp.) 
I also elected not to put up the Bimini top, so I could see all the rigging and sail shape, more easily.
While probably required for cruising, it's largely superfluous for day sails, I think.
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Rigged and ready to launch!! 
(With the sail down, this time!) 

Launching was once again fairly uneventful.  Felt like I had the trailer dialed in pretty good, at this point. 
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With the exception of an off-shore wind from the lake, pushing the boat around onto the ramp.     
Had to move the truck out of the way to reach the lines and maneuver it over to the dock where I wanted it.
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Once I was ready to go, I flipped the switch on the trolling motor and backed slowly out, at speed setting 2 (of 3) in reverse and directly  into a wind, on my stern.
Had there been no wind, speed setting 1 probably would have been sufficient.

Once I was out in the lake proper, I figured I'd play around with the trolling motor speed settings and watch the Bluetooth Smartshunt readings on my phone.
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MAN!!    That NV-46 trolling motor sucks down some current! 
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Here is the current draw I measured, from the 1 to 5 setting on the throttle:
Setting 1: 11 Amps
Setting 2: 14 Amps
Setting 3: 20 Amps
Setting 4: 24 Amps
Setting 5: 40 Amps 
The rule of thumb used to be about 1lb of thrust for 1Amp of current draw, so 40 Amps of draw at 46 lbs of thrust, shows that they're making the motors a little more efficient, these days.
Speed ranged from 2½ knots, down to 1 knot, motoring directly into the prevailing 10- 12 knot winds
The time remaining increased with speed/current attenuation, but they generally showed about a 5 nautical mile range with the sweet spot in the mid-range settings, at the different speeds, which was what I had expected.

All that playing around, got me from a 99% charge when I started, down to 97-98%. 
I can live with that! 
I hadn't even bothered with setting up the solar array, so it's good to see that on most day-sails, I won't really even need it.
After I had some preliminary data recorded to help my energy calculations along, I next concentrated on actually, ya know, sailing the boat.
Initially, I was underwhelmed. 
Got .8 knots, maybe 1¼ knots and wondered if this Project had been a mistake. 
Got in irons once,  and then  looked up.
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Hmmm . . . . .  maybe two reefs is a little aggressive in 10 -12 knots . . . . .

Although I seemed to be steadily moving away from where I launched, despite what the abysmal numbers were showing me.
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Decided to shake out all the reefs and see what happens.
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The boat suddenly comes to life, that's what happens!! 
The tiller suddenly felt like I was holding a living thing! 
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That's a LOT of sail up there!! 
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Charles, why is there a nettle missing on the second row of nettles?!? 
Because SOMEBODY    used too small a line and the knots kept pulling through the grommets; going to have to move up to ¼-inch line.

And there's even more sail, up front!!
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A little heeling.
Ya know when you're driving the family sedan down the Interstate at a sedate 70 mph?? 
Then you get out and go in to the rental go-kart track and suddenly feel like you're ZOOMING (at all of 30mph) because your butt is so close to the ground?!? 
That felt like much the same difference to me, from the SCAMP's cockpit being closer to the water than when I was sailing in Urchin's cockpit.
I was doing 2½ - 3½ knots and felt like I was ZIPPING!! 
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After a while, I became aware of what seemed like a lot of slapping and wave action on the hull, which was odd,    on a comparatively calm day.
I eventually figured out that I had neglected to screw in the ballast tank plug, before I topped the tank off with the bilge pump.
DOHHH!!!! 
The tank had receded to its normal  ½ full level, level with the hull's waterline and was sloshing!!
Then looking up, I noticed that I had also forgotten to put the halyard end around the right-hand side of the mast!! (Which explained the tacking efficiency and getting caught in irons.)
DOHHH!!!! 
Wondered for a moment, whether it was Inexperience or Senility, behind all these issues!! 
No doubt about it: I need to make me up a detailed checklist and start using it, until this stuff becomes second nature.

The SCAMP foot well is one of the major ergonomic improvements to the SCAMP design and I finally had a chance to appreciate it in action.
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I sailed back and forth across the lake on various points of sail and discovered the SCAMP points easily as close to the wind, as the Windrose did.
(i.e. about as close as your average Spanish Galleon.) 
I decided to drop the sail while still well out in the lake and much further away from the docks, than where I usually drop sails.
It's actually much easier to do, rigged with lazy jacks.
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Motored in without issues and made a perfect docking, since nobody was around to see it. 
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Right here is where things went sideways and where the gods decided to remind me that as a Brennan, I'm eternally damn'ed. 
Retrieved the boat and pulled it out to the staging area and discovered that it was not centered on the trailer properly.  The skegs had completely missed the aft self-centering rollers.
Backed it in again, so I could re-float the hull and position it better.  The wind kept trying to push the hull sideways and I needed to use a dock line to hold it in alignment.
Since I had backed in quite a ways, I was concerned about the water level height and left my keys in the truck, so I wouldn't get the electronics on the key chain wet.
A wind gust closed the truck door.
And apparently from decades of electronic security and access control, I had reflexively locked the door, as I exited the truck.
Locked out of my truck with the engine running and with my phone also locked in the truck, so I couldn't even call for a locksmith.
DOHHH!!!! 

Finally flagged down a park ranger and borrowed her cell phone, to call for a locksmith.
While waiting, I basked in the compliments of passing boaters, launching and retrieving their boats from the lake.
Seems like EVERYBODY, loves a SCAMP. 
After I was back in my truck again, I decided to add another procedure to my checklist:
Windows down, when launching or retrieving. 
On the drive home, I came to the conclusion that the same depth of immersion that made for a successful retrieval at Cedar Key's inside (shallower!) ramp, put the trailer in too deep at Lake Weir.
As a result, the aft end of the hull floated too high above the end rollers and never took advantage of the self-centering rollers to center the skegs; gonna have to watch out for that. 
But for the first time really SAILING the boat, up until then, the sailing had been GREAT!! 
I decided overall, it was a good day with a slightly sour finish but also, one with much food for thought.

Charles Brennan

[Doug SC]

Your story about the keys and the wind at a deep ramp sound like you are talking about me...October 2018 Mark my nephew and Joe his friend on their first overnight kayaking trip, Mark's uncle locked his keys in the car. Joe found the end of an old car antenna which we bent to a shape that we could unlock the car by snaking it down inside the window. Just today as we took out at the ramp on Lake Monticello the wind picked up enough to cause the scamp to do what yours did. We also got it right on the second try. It just sounds like sailing to me. 

Bill and I sailed my Scamp yesterday and today on Lake Monticello staying overnight on one of the islands. We had good winds for sailing yesterday. Today was calm in the morning so we use the new electric motor. We both found it to be impressive using the voodoo method (no numbers)! The wind picked up enough to sail but you had to try to stay in it as it was spotty. That is until we got near the ramp to takeout when it freshened.
A few photos of camping at the island. I slept on the scamp and Bill in a tent.
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