G'day,
Seems a bit quiet around here so I thought I would post a few photos of progress on #15. All the 2D work is done just need to make foils and assembly jig for hull. Should be working on final assembly real soon now.
Cheers John.

John,
She looks great! I like your subtle modifications.

Have you seen our suggestion for builders regarding the aft compartments on either side under the seat tops (between B-7 & B-8)? We are suggesting not having the lightening cutout in B-7 and thereby isolating the two aft corners of the boat with sealed flotation compartments. You would then need to have a small (4"?) hatch in the seat longitudinal for access and being able to air the compartment out.
You could also put a hatch or access port on the seat top but there is not much room between the transom cap/side deck and the seat top.

The thinking is just for more safety redundancy; in the event the hull was holed or gashed on either side forward, the whole under seat area could become flooded. On the prototype SCAMP we found it was very hard to put that part of the boat to use for storage anyway.

Also, if you have your "centerboard" foil finished and glassed, then you can ensure that the cb trunk is sized correctly in width. As you know, the seat longitudinal side is fixed and you vary the spacing of the outboard side of the trunk. On the prototype SCAMP, the cb trunk was made first and I had a bit of difficultly and had to rout the board a bit thinner while trying to estimate how thick the board would end up after glassing and painting.

Keep up the great work.

G'day Simeon,

Thanks for your response. You make some good points about the space between B-7 & B-8. At present I have a small 4" hatch in this location on the seat front face (upright). This would have allowed cross ventilation during haul outs. Filling in the B-7 lightening cutout would be no big drama. I still have to make the cutouts for the large square hatches on the two seat tops.

The cb trunk presents a number of traps for young players ! I think I have most of the "gotchas" thought thro in this area, but I am still going slowly !

The photos of SCAMP at Port Townsend look wonderful. To see John Welsford and Howard Rice in the same small boat - pure magic. I hope we will eventually get reports in this part of the world on some of those great discussions.

BTW has anybody thought of using a Hennessy Hammock for sleeping onboard SCAMP. Seems to me that it could be rigged easily with a hook under the verandah and the other end tied off to the topped up boom or yard. They have a Safari model which has a large hex fly that would easily cover the cockpit. Be interesting to hear what people think of the idea.

Cheers - John

John,

Looking great! Thanks for the update.

Best,
Josh

P.S. Some more photos from the Festival here: http://debracolvin.com/#id=album-25&num=1

Thanks for the link Josh.

Cheers - John

John,

Another small item we missed on the prototype build was reinforcing the transom for an external motor mount bracket. On the second kit build, Dan Phy's #6, he wanted his motor on the port side. We doubled up a piece in the area under the port quarter seat top, and then put a piece above the seat top, extending up 5" and then over to the doubler piece that was centered on the transom under the tiller cut-out. That location corresponded to the proper location for Dan's outboard and shaft length.

I don't have a photo of the finished product but here are a few of the intermediate steps

G'day Simeon,

Thanks for the additional information. I have no plans to use an outboard, and intend to try and get by with oars and sail only. Good for the soul if nothing else !

I enclose a photo of my transom which has larger doublers than shown on the plans. I would value your comments on this slight modification.

Cheers - John

It looks just fine. I like the way it serves to support the aft end of your extended seat tops. It adds a little more weight to the build but that would be more than compensated for since you are saving weight in the seat longitudinals by not extending them down to the hull bottom. That's what I like to call the "Monies-mod", as you have also done with the extended seat tops. Are you using 6mm & 9mm ply?

Whose deck plates are you using? Have you had, or do you know of, experience as to their watertightness? The prototype screw-in Beckson ones we used leak a little bit. I like the looks of yours. What about the forward hatches and what do you plan for the seat tops?

I'm glad to see you are using the gutter around the cockpit sole. It works very well in our experience. I don't think Mike Monies installed one on his SCAMP builds.

Cheers,
Simeon

I am using Hobie deck plates / hatches. Both the 6" and the 8" - they are expensive but so far they have proved to be good and waterproof on my Hobie i12 inflatable. As your Henry Ford said they come in any colour you like as long as it is black ! Two 8" under the cuddy and two 6" in the open part of the cockpit. The seat tops will have a single square hatch plus a small round hatch between B-7 and B-8. The square hatch will have the scupper arrangment as shown in the attached photo. These are by Nairn of New Zealand, as are the large square hatches to the forward compartment. Possibly not quite as watertight as the Hobie ones.

The seat extension idea is copied from the detail shown in John Welsfords book - page 73 ! I was reminded of it when Mike Monies mentioned he was extending his seats.

All plywood is 9mm (BS1088 7plys from Malaysia - heavy but good quality & cheap) where specified in the plans ditto for 6mm (Gaboon 5plys ) I would have liked to use Gaboon throughout but could not afford it. We are able to source very high quality Gaboon plywood here in Tasmania made by Jubert in France !

Cheers - John

Thanks for the info. That is very helpful. I have to laugh when you reference John's book; I've been trying to find a used copy at an affordable price but haven't been successful. John did tell me the other day that his new book will be available "very soon"

I'll be checking out those Hobie hatches locally. The large hatches in the forward bulkhead look good too. I like your scupper drains.

Looking at those nicely exposed upper bulkheads above the seat tops reminds me of the attachment points we decided to drill in them after the deck was on. It was very awkward and difficult and we didn't do a very clean job. They are used on either side to tie in the oarlocks, and for righting stirrups and lines, etc.

We have also discussed the merits of adding a small quarter circle cut-out in the bulkheads (5, 6 & 7) at the bulkhead/seat top/hull plank intersection. This would create limberways and allow any collected water on the low side of the healed boat to pool in one place. In our sailing to-date we have never collected water here though I'm sure that time will come. I'm envisioning a long tack during heavy rain conditions.

Thanks for sharing. This is all great stuff.
Cheers, Simeon