Almost-a-SCAMP Progress Report #1 . . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

Learned a little more about an unfinished SCAMP hull I purchased, last weekend.
Turns out, hull #637 was built by none other than Intrepid Explorer and SCAMP Guru, Howard Rice!
The original owner was not able to make it to the SCAMP Camp in Sheboygan, so Howard did the build himself.
My hull is the one in the center of the 5 boats, next to an unfinished SCAMP named Mozart on the left.
To the left of Mozart is Southern Cross, Howard's highly modified SCAMP.
He said he brought it in for "a little rouge and lipstick, after a windy voyage in the far south".
   WHOA!!   
Getting stuck in seaweed and having your anchor drag and going ashore on the rocks on the tip of South America, after battling 9 foot seas and winds in excess of 40 knots, requiring rescue by the Chilean Navy is just "a windy voyage in the far south"!
Then he went back and RETRIEVED his boat!!  There it is, below!
Guy like that, if we ever have to Indian Wrestle, I'm going to cheat!!
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Anyway, it's hard to beat soliciting advice, from a guy who knows every nook and cranny of your hull, because he's the one who built it!
I'm trying to get up to speed, by perusing all the builder logs of other SCAMP builders and fear I might fall into a familiar trap.

When I was in 3rd grade, we began playing baseball at school.
While I had reasonable eye-hand coordination, I also had a tendency to over-think things, a little.
So I would get up to bat and by the time I decided if I was going to emulate Roger Maris' stance and hold the bat like Ted Williams, then swing like Mickey Mantle, I was already struck out.
 As a result, I was always picked last.

The one time that really hurt, was when they picked a kid in a wheelchair, before they picked me.
As a consolation of sorts, (school rules stated that everybody must get picked and could play) all the kids decided that I could be a sort of "designated runner" pushing the kid's wheelchair to the bases.
The choice to select a crippled kid in a wheelchair, was a surprisingly astute decision.
The knees-to-shoulders strike zone of someone who is seated, is literally halved and makes for a very tight strike zone, so the kid invariably got walked.
This as you can imagine, was quite a thrill for me, since I seldom ever got on base.
We were doing pretty well too, until in a burst of enthusiasm, I/we tried to steal third base, ultimately costing us the game.   
Probably woulda made it too, if I hadn't been pushing that darn wheelchair!   

Trying to incorporate all the terrific ideas I see other builders applying to their boats, might end up in a similar type of disaster.
I've already been forced to make a list for prioritization of Cool Ideas.
On the Thursday night Sailfar chat, I asked so many questions about epoxy (been a polyester/vinylester guy my whole life, 'cause that's what Urchin was constructed from, so epoxy is a new whole ballgame for me) I was afraid I might start boring the other participants.

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I've got about a dozen years of SCAMP lore to catch up on, so the Mental Progress is going great guns, but the Physical Progress is a little slow, currently.
I'm still trying to figure out exactly where the progress left off and what is the next thing I'm supposed to do in the assembly process; I see about three simultaneous tracks and don't want to do something inadvertent, that is terribly out of sequence.
My Dad used to warn about not planning ahead far enough, when you were building something and then suddenly find yourself needing an 8-foot nail.   

We'll see,
Charles Brennan

[Timm R Oday25]

I commend you for commiting to a project at this late stage of life !  I'm kidding of coarse . From someone who gave away his last project boat ,I'll be watching your progress jealously .

[Tim West Coast]

Charles I am assuming you have been over to the SCA Scamp forum to mine it.
https://forum.smallcraftadvisor.com/message-board2/viewforum.php?f=3&sid=25b9a1e5dd455f3b223083d25c9a216b

[Doug SC]

Well, I just spent at least an hour posting a story about the trials of dealing with Scamp issues of a used wooden boat and resizing photos when on the last photo I tried to load, I ran into a problem of size. When I went to minimize so I could get back to the original I accidently deleted everything.

&%$#! Yes, that was my response. I will try again tomorrow. 

[Doug SC]

Here I go again.

Charles, not only do you have the gift of the gab, but also the luck of the Irish! I also was lucky to find a Scamp I could afford with one caveat. It goes like this. The original owner had damaged the mast while trailering the boat. He parked at the club and there it set for several years exposed to the elements. Rainwater puddled in the boat even though it has 2 bailers at the transom. Rusty bought it for $900 and did repairs. He sold it to me for $1,500. He also filled me in on all he had done. The one area he was not satisfied with was the water ballast tank. He said it was leaking at both the fore and aft floatation tanks. I sailed it off and on for abut 9 months drying it out after each time. I also made some minor rigging changes.

While out sailing in some rough water and high wind I noticed it sailed falter on a starboard tack than on a port tack. I thought that strange. When I pulled it out at the ramp water came pouring out a 5" crack in the starboard bow. That had to be addressed so home it came. Time to address the ballast tank and deal with the crack in the hull.

It was soft enough to use my finger to easily remove this much rot.
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I proceeded to remove material until there was only solid wood. It seems the water penetrated at the junction of a crosspiece in the forward starboard compartment and ran along the bottom to the other side.
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I traced the cutout with a piece of cardboard taped to the outside of the hull.
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I then used the cardboard pattern to cut out a slightly oversize piece of marine plywood I had left over from another project. I then fitted it tightly into the opening with all the edges coated with epoxy. After it dried, I cut out an oversized piece of 6oz fiberglass. I laid it on some wax paper and wetted out the glass with epoxy and epoxied the ply insert. I lifted the wax paper and wetted glass into place. I did this because I was working overhead, and it worked well. I'm highly allergic to any contact with uncured epoxy and I wanted to reduce any chance of dripping. Thankfully Rusty had given me his left-over paint when I bought the Scamp.
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 Then I cut the sole over the water ballast tank and removed all soft areas of wood. Filled those with fillet and epoxied the entire inside of the tank and the sole. After all that dried, I set the sole back in place over fillet to seal it all.
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Then back to the club.
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[Jim B., CD-25]

Good to have a project, huh, Charles?  I admire you for taking this on... should keep you out of the bars and the pool halls.  I have no doubt you'll make it a fine and stout vessel.  Wish you all the best on this.

Jim

[Riley Smith]

Whoot! Whoot! A project!!!! I like!!!
No, I am not knowledgeable about Scamps or Howard. ( Well, only just so and having heard them mentioned). Relax about the epoxy. It's only different colored polyester. If you can get some calibrated pumps for it you'll save yourself much worry. Welcome to Engineering 101, where every decision you make will have far reaching consequences  ( where's that dang devil emoji???) And combined with THAT is the scavenge hunt you are now involved in! Good luck CB and hang in there. Persistence will get you places that skill has never visited!!

[Charles Brennan]

Tim, I have indeed been perusing that site daily, since October, when I first defined my sailing needs for the remainder of my life.

I am also on the SCAMP FaceBook group, but if you find other sources, send 'em my way!

Thanks,
Charles Brennan

[Charles Brennan]

Timm, What is WITH you Wisconsin guys!?!?   

First, Mike in Cedar Grove and now you, in Lake Mills.
Thought all you up-north guys had long winters to work on boat projects until the water softened a little, again. 
Be advised, this is not some dilettante "I'm bored, think I'll build a boat" project.
This is more like a "I need something I can go sailing in and still survive the experience" kind of a project. 
No way am I building this because I want to; I'm building it because I have to.

Hope this clarifies,
Charles Brennan

[Charles Brennan]

Doug, Thanks for a sobering, cautionary post.  I had already intended to give the ballast tank several epoxy  coats; am now considering fiberglass tape on the seams, as well.   
So, did you build the replacement mast?
If so, how long did it take you? What issues did you have?

Inquiring minds want to know,
Charles Brennan

[Charles Brennan]

Doug, Forgot to mention it previously, but whenever I'm writing a post, every time I pause for thought, I press Ctrl-A (select all) then Ctrl-C (copy) almost as a reflexive tic.  If I lose it, or the application crashes or whatever, I merely restart the app or browser and select Ctrl-V (paste) and I'm right back to where I was before the cat stepped on the keyboard, or whatever.  The clipboard is always running in the background soaking up CPU cycles anyway, why not make it earn it's keep?
Not a bad habit to form.

Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan

[Doug SC]

Thanks for the computer lesson. I needed that!

Rusty took the original mast and used a heavy stainless sleeve to make a two-part mast to do the repair. The man that built the boat just made a solid wooden mast not a hollow one. In fact, I think as he got closer to the finished product, he stared cutting some corners. The workmanship seemed to suffer some. Other than the rot the boat is very sound. It is the old style where the mast has to be vertical to go into the hole in the cabana top. I think the newer ones have a trough to slide the mast into place like the Gig Habor production Scamps. I may consider going with their two-piece aluminum mast when I get too weak to set the one now with the boat. I would love to build another boat but anymore I think my time on the water is more important. I want to add a Honda 2.3 hp air cooled outboard at some point. Right now, I don't mind rowing even though it isn't a rowing hull per say as I enjoy paddling canoes and sea kayaks.

I would consider running a bead of fillet along the top of the water tank before setting the floor. I first tried to epoxy the inside without cutting into the floor. Hench the mirror in one of the photos. I would also consider an 8" hatch instead of a 6" if you plan on running fiberglass tape along the top seams. Mine has a 6" hatch.

Speaking of hatch selection, I really like the Armstrong hatches. All you do to install them is cut the right size hole and seal the cut. Check them out if you aren't familiar with them.

You can see the sleeve in this photo. I set the bottom piece in first then the rest with the sleeve over it. I also did away with the jiffy reefing as I didn't like the clutter on the boom. I did something along the lines of what the "Boat Rambler" did with his Goat Island Skiff.
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