Build #179 to start

[brucemoffatt]

Not sure why, but all the links to my construction videos seem to have disappeared from this forum. Anyway, it is taking a long time to get there, but I have another progress report for the build of SCAMP 179, Romana. I'll see if the editor will allow me to add a link to the latest video.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/Nycdi7jMWZw[/youtube]

[wdscobie]

Not sure why, but all the links to my construction videos seem to have disappeared from this forum.

strange .. i can still see them. Windows7 on Chrome.

[brucemoffatt]

Thanks Dave. Something odd happening there. Never mind; if you can see them, probably everyone else can as well.

Yesterday I finally got Romana out of the shed, so I can make room to work on all the boom fittings, and complete the rudder and centreboard stuff. There are still miscellaneous finishing jobs as well.

I may have found a trailer! A very good friend will have two dinghy trailers spare around the end of February. I'll need to slightly modify one for Romana, but it will be a huge win if I don't have to start from scratch.

Anyway here's a video to prove she came out of the shed.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWi2DpAr900[/youtube]

[brucemoffatt]

I have the rig pretty much finished now. I've had the mast up, in the yard, several times, and the sail hoisted. I've had a go at reefing and unreefing. All looks great. It's a terrible distraction though as I should be finishing off the rest of the work and getting Romana into the sea.

Recent work has been on the tiller and tiller extension, which are about 80% finished, and finishing off the centreboard. Then there's an endless list of completing things that never got 100% completed along the way.

I'm hoping to somehow get Romana to Hobart, Tamania, for the 2019 Wooden Boat Festival. I've recently been for a holiday to Tasmania and love the place.

[brucemoffatt]

It's coming up to six years since I bought my SCAMP plans and I'm just about finished building Romana. I floated her a week ago just to see if there would be any issues when I do a full launching party thing. Apart from having a set of very short dinghy oars from a yacht tender all went well. So now I'm doing the last touch up coats of paint and varnish and looking for a real launch date. Here in South Australia it's winter and the weather has just started to turn nasty so that date is not yet written in stone, however it will be soon.

Anyway, Romana de Scamp has been in the water so we can count her as done.

[dsimonson]

Looking good, Bruce!

[brucemoffatt]

Romana was officially launched today at Largs Bay, South Australia. Zero wind, pretty much. She did somehow manage to sail along the beach a bit, and return. Only issue today was that I had the lazyjacks rigged incorrectly.

[brucemoffatt]

A few more pics of the first sail.

[brucemoffatt]

Reporting that Romana, SCAMP 179 has finally completed sea trials. An issue with the flexibility of the tapered carbon fibre mast has been solved by reinforcing the top 1.5 metres of the mast with bidirectional carbon fibre cloth.

The final sea trial was conducted by sailing from Largs Bay beach to Glenelg and return, a total of approx 21 nautical miles. Conditions varied through the day from dead calm to 10-15 knots. Points of sail dead run, broad reach, shy reach. Sail not reefed.
Average speed approximately 4 knots, top speed recorded by tracking software 5.5 knots.

Next big day out is to do an overnighter. Options for a destination include Sheoak Flat Beach at 30 nautical miles across Gulf St Vincent, Rapid Bay on Fleurieu Peninsula at 45 nautical miles, or Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island at apprx 60 Nautical miles.

Local day sailing at Largs in the meantime will be fun. I now have to sort out fine tuning the rig. I'll be putting in some stopper knots in the mainsheet horse to prevent full width of travel. I have to check and fine tune the yard haul location. Apart from that there's not much to do.

So, I have said I'll sail Romana as far as she will take me in relative safety, and that has to be at least to Glenelg or I'll not be satisfied. The final sea trial trip was a big milestone for me. Of course, Romana had no trouble at all meeting the requirements. Now it's up to me to set realistic goals that are not too timid. My aim is distance solo sailing, and I'm going to try to define 'distance' over the next couple of years.

Wish me luck.