Building of SCAMP #349 "Argo" underway in Wisconsin, USA

[Brent65]

Jason,

Are you concerned at all about expansion and contraction of the UHMW? I want to follow the same approach by screwing the material to the skegs, but wonder if I need to slot the UHMW to allow for a little expansion/contraction.

Can any others, who have used this material, weigh in on whether or not expansion has been an issue?

[Jason Builder]

Hi Brent,

From what I have been able to find online I think uhmw expansion is similar to wood. I found a good technical sheet on uhmw at Emcoplastics.com (note that this is not where I bought my uhmw from). From that tech sheet:
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HOW THICK SHOULD UHMW LINERS BE?

The minimum UHMW thickness is usually 1/4″. The liner should be thicker in impact areas and thinner in slide areas. Important notes: UHMW cannot be firmly fastened to metals because of a large difference in thermal expansion. UHMW expands five times as fast as steel and three times as fast as aluminum and about the same as wood but slightly more than concrete.
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So I'm going try just screwing them on and see how it goes.

Jason


Jason

[ericleif]

I experimented a bit with screwing and epoxying a UHMW strip onto a wooden skeg with good results I think. That plastic is really slippery, but after doing some research, I sanded the gluing surface with 50 or 60 grit, then quickly brushed the surface with the blue part of flame from propane torch to oxidize the surface (but not melt the surface). I did a test glue up first with scrap and tried to peel it off - i broke the plastic free but it took wood with it. Did the skeg this way and it did not come loose (previous boat) so I think I will do the same with SCAMP.

[Jason Builder]

Howdy Y'all,

Well I bit the bullet and installed a garage heater. It was either that, or be done working on the boat till next summer. At this point, most remaining work is all epoxy/fiberglass, varnishing, and painting, and the garage should be +55deg F for this, preferably +60degF I think. To0 many things to get done, and it can't sit there idle for 8 months, so in went the heater. The deck, cabin, roof, coamings, etc... are all sanded and ready for finishing. They are not perfect, I have some bumpy filets, but there comes a time when you're done sanding, and for me that was today as regards the topsides of the boat. Vacuumed, solvent washed with Petit 120 thinner, and applied first coat Petit EZ Prime on the portion of the deck and roof that will be painted.

[Jason Builder]

Hei ystävät,

Autumn is here, and I'm very glad to have my heater in the garage, which maintaining sufficient heat for me to apply paint/varnish.

I have finished painting the roof-top and fore-deck, and I am now applying Epifanes varnish to the remainder of the deck and the cockpit coamings. Having seen the updated Bulkhead 4 design in the updated SCAMP design, I also took steps to update my Bulkhead 4 to the new style.

As the varnish dries, I also started work on the bow rub rail. I will be mounting Davey&Co 4" Closed Chock #1102 as a fairlead for the anchor rode. I designed a small platform to the top of the bow rub rail for this purpose. Additionally, I beveled the top of this mounting location, such that the fairlead will point up towards the rooftop, where I plan to mount my anchor rode cleat.

Happy Sailing.

[Timo]

Hei ystävät

Heipä hei! Quite unexpected to see my language used here. Educating to follow your boat building, Jason.

Timo

[Jason Builder]

Hujambo!

Well the bulkhead 4 modification pieces are sanded and primed, and last night took the big step of flipping the boat over. Did it the old fashioned way of just having 4 stout guys, two on each end, flip it over. First we lifted it off the jig and set it on the ground nearby. Then removed the jig and cleaned up the area. Then measured the exact spacing and location for two sawhorses and put them in place. When flipped over the seat tops would rest on the saw horses, as in the manual. Note that the saw horses need to be tall enough so as to keep the roof from hitting the ground. My sawhorses were about 29" tall and I blocked them up to 33.5". The we rolled the boat on it's side 90 deg, then lifted it vertically, rotated it the remaining 90 degrees so that it was upside down, and moved it over, and finally set it on the saw horses.

[jhippe]

Must feel good to hit this milestone. I just read about you installing heat in your garage. When I was in Waukesha I had heat in my garage with a similar type of heater and it worked quite well. Now that I am in Milwaukee, I don't have 220 in the garage so am going with propane heat. Not ideal for a variety of reasons (carbon monoxide and condensation spring to mind) but I think I will have enough ventilation while still being able to bring temperature up enough during the less freezing days. We will see.

[Jason Builder]

Pozdrav!

So I saw that there was a "video" button on the 'ole iPhone, and decided that rotating the SCAMP over during construction would be a great 1st time to try to incorporate video into my build log. I set up a tripod and recorded the flip. Turned out that the video and uploading to youtube was really easy, so I may add that to my toolbox of communication. So without further ado, here is a video of 3 Wiscononites and 1 Canadian, turning over a SCAMP. If your volume is on you can even hear this motley crew communicating during the flip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSXUHEq ... e=youtu.be

[Jason Builder]

Hi Everyone,

After much contemplation.....

SCAMP "Argo" will be equipped with two anchors: the primary anchor will be an 11lb stainless Bruce followed by 6' of chain rode, and the secondary will be a Fortress FX-7 Aluminum Danforth.

-Jason