Problems with Bright Work

At the Skills Camp, I noticed my bright work started to look odd.  Now this is not the sort of thing that brings joy and comfort to one’s heart.  No, in fact, It causing feelings of frustration and overall doubt in the goodness of the varnish Gods.

How could it be…I tried to follow all the steps and do a good job.  But, there it was…as clear as the nose on your face.  My finish was failing.

Notice the cloudy sections.  These began to appear all over the boat.  At first we thought it might be blush, but as the week went on, I noticed I could rub off sections with my finger nail.  It appeared to be an adhesion problem and it was spreading.

So, what to do?  At first I was in denial…saying things like, ‘It’s a work boat, who cares’, but the more I looked at it, the more I realized, I care.  It just wasn’t right.  I have worked too hard on my boat to not care.  I want my boat to be right.  There was only one thing to do…scrap it off and apply it again.

I engaged the boys to remove all the deck hardware.

 And I began scraping.And scraping…

 And sanding…And more sanding…

8 hours later, the boat looked like this.  I had achieved a nice dull finish to the entire boat.  In places I had gouged into the wood, so I decided to apply a thin coat of epoxy to the entire bright side.

By the end of my Saturday, the boat looked like this.  It was a long day, but I feel so much better about it.  I’m tired, but pleased.

Summary:

Lying awake at night contemplating the root of the problem, I’m not sure I sanded between my final two coats of varnish.   I honestly can’t remember, but I’m placing the blame on not properly sanding between the coats.  Without proper sanding between the coats, there would be nothing for the varnish to bind to.  However, now that the bright work is ready for finish varnish, I have decided to use a high gloss varnish this time around.     I love the look of the satin finish, but I’m not convinced it provides the same level of UV protection as high gloss varnish.  

Why not just paint the bright work?  Phil asked me this very question on the loading ramp at Point Hudson Marina.  Well, I just can’t bring myself to smear paint over all this beautiful wood.  It seems a bit sacrilege to me.  Remember, I’m a woodworker and I love the look of real wood.  Shackleton also weighted in and asked to be left bright, so bright it will be.

Scamp Skills 2015

Last week fulfilled a long time goal of mine.  To attend a Scamp Skills course while sailing my very own hand built Scamp.  After 15 months of building, I was finally ready to realize this goal.  Furthermore, I had the chance to take Preston along with me.  This years Scamp Skills did not disappoint.  Did I get my life long memory?   Yes, I did.  

First let’s start with a few basic questions:

Question:  Why not just slap a motor on a boat, get out on the lake and go full throttle?

Answer:   Because you would get to the other end of the lake in 10 minutes and wonder what to do next.  Where is the adventure in that?

Question:  Why mess with all the lines, rigging and hardware, the set up time and other gobbelty goop?  Isn’t that all just a lot of work?

Answer:  Yes, but it’s worth every second.  It’s educational, it’s quiet, it’s natural and it’s fun.  It’s travel like Christopher knew.  In this fast paced world who needs more fast paced hobbies.  Sailing slows you down and allows you to think, absorb and take in your natural surroundings.

The educational list for sailing is long and impressive: 

1. Geometry
2. Physics
3. Appreciation for nature
4. Keen sense of wind direction
5. Patience
6. Mechanical advantages of blocks and tackle
7. Knots and how to tie them
8. Adventure
9. Map and compass
10. Preparation
11. Self reliance
12. Problem solving
13. Navigation

The list could continue, but you get the point.

Now for a few photos

Shackleton sitting quietly in her slip in Point Hudson Marina.  

First mate (Preston) ready to try his hand at sailing.

We had 5 Scamps attend the skills course.  All very beautiful boats…I was so impressed with everyones work and attention to detail.

There is a lot of wooden boat history in Port Townsend. I have seen this symbol many times in photographs. It was fun to finally stand by it and realize we are now part of the history.

Some of the boats are quite simple.

While others are quite elegant.

We had a large group for breakfast each morning in the local cafe.  Lot’s of good sailing stories being shared here.

These are the two ring leaders.  John Welsford (Scamp desginer from New Zealand)  in the back with Howard Rice pointing the way.  These guys were great teachers and very knowledgable.  I don’t know where I could’ve gone for a better sailing experience.

Summary:

Was it worth the money?  Yes

Was it all I thought it would be?  It exceeded my expectations.  Sailing with Preston and Howard on Shackleton made the entire trip worthwhile for me.  

Would I go again?  Yes, if Howard will sail again with me.

Finally, my sincere thanks to both John and Howard for taking time out of their personal lives to put on such a great skills class

This is what it’s all about folks.  You only live once…get out and create a memory today.  

Second Outing with Shackleton

Every great Micro Adventure begins with food.  Since I don’t know how to make a sandwich, Bennett agreed to prepare the food.

I was actually Bennett’s second choice today, but since his brother was in driver education, he agreed to go sailing with me.  Kids have it so tough nowadays.  You’ve see this before.

Yes, I’m grateful for the little outboard motor.  This is Idaho folks.  Nuking wind or no wind at all seems to be our norm.  And, it changes every 10 minutes.

First half of our adventure was motoring and eating.  Notice the glassy smooth water behind us.  Bennett is licking his fingers after the Cheetos.  We used a Wave Front tiller clutch on the tiller handle…it allowed us to eat and motor at the same time.  Very convenient.

Beautiful Palisade Reservoir near the Wyoming boarder.  Now were talking…future R2AK participant here.  I love this expression.  This is no video game…this is the real deal.

We sailed all the way back to the dock on a broad reach.  Bennett did almost all of the sailing.  Kids are great, sailboats are great.

Summary:

1. Loved having both sail and outboard.  In fact, the outboard saved the day.
2. Rigging worked much better than Sea Trials #1.
3. Reefing is still not acceptable.   It was very difficult to reach the lark’s head line…things felt off balance reaching that far fore and aft (Simeon, you were right).
4. I have another idea in mind for my next outing using line, cheek blocks and cam cleats.  I’ll get there folks, but I’m not there yet.
5. The Wave Front tiller clutch was awesome.

It was great to get out again and get a little more experience with Shackleton.  I have a lot to learn, but every trip teaches me much more than I could ever glean from a book.  I love my Scamp…so glad I built this little sailing machine.  

Sea Trails #1, what worked, what didn’t

After 15 months of hard work, head scratching, glueing, sanding and glueing some more, I finally launched Shackleton.  I imagined this culminating act to be euphoric in nature, heavenly choirs singing above my head and a feeling of immense satisfaction settling over me like a warm blanket.  Instead what I felt was frustration, confusion and dumb stupor of thought. OK, it wasn’t quite that bad.  But, it was anything but simple.  I believe it can become simple…but I’m not there yet.

The front mast support was built too narrow, preventing me to step the mast with the boom, yard and sail still in the support.  I need to remake this part and widen it 2″ – 3″. Notice me leaning against it, to keep it from falling off the boat with my lower body.  This needs to be fixed.  I also need a longer halyard; notice how high it is up the mast (totally my mistake, I cut it too short).

Floating level on her lines…this makes the builder very happy.  Sail up, one reef in place (don’t have nettles yet).  Reboarding strap dragging off port side of vessel (Howard, aren’t you happy seeing those reboarding lines?)  Loose reefing lines dangling off the back of the boom.  But, I’m sailing…yes, I’m sailing.Limited downhaul movement, but sailing.  Hat blown off, raising the rudder before I hit bottom.  Center board already raised (the 2:1 line lift works excellent for the CB).

Immediate problems:

1. Lake was too small…felt a little trapped.
2. Wind was too high…around 18 mph gusting over 20 mph.
3. No lazy jacks.  The up & down process of sail, yard & boom was like a circus act.
4. Continuous reefing equalled continuous frustration.
5. Reefing lines were all over the place like spaghetti wrapping around my head.
6. Downhaul was too short.
7. Traveler was too long.

Immediate appreciations:

1. Shackleton floated level on her lines.
2. She felt stable.
3. She felt quite stiff.
4. Wet storage in BH 7-8 worked well to toss miscellaneous items.
5. Long tongue on trailer proved essential (good call Simeon)
6. Ergonomics were comfortable.

Summary:

Through driveway sailing (mocking everything up in the driveway), I learned several things. There are a lot of initial problems that need to be overcome.  I’ll take one at a time:

1. If you don’t have lazy jacks, the whole ensemble becomes entirely unmanageable.  Things come crashing down into the cockpit with lines going everywhere.  I knew this had to be fixed.  Since sea trials #1, I have rigged up lazy jacks.  The entire process of raising and lowering the sail now becomes very manageable, even might I say enjoyable.  The lazy jacks also allow you to drop the sail out on the water and still motor around with the sail being completely out of the way and stowed safely over head.  I can’t say enough about the importance of lazy jacks.
2. I need some way to hold the sail & boom from drifting forward.  I rigged up a snotter line that wrapped around the mast.  This helped stabilize the sail immensely.
3. There were just too many lines…mainly the reefing lines.  And, anytime you make an adjustment to the halyard or downhaul, all those reefing lines need to be readjusted.  It was a constant head ache and needed to be simplified.  Also, there was too much resistance in the lines to function as advertised.  The sail didn’t reef quickly or shake out quickly.  I had to apply significant pressure to coax the lines loose.  It was just all wrong.  After staring at the problem for over 2 hours and regretting all the hardware I purchased to make it work, there was only one solution…get it off.  Get it all off.  Clear the slate so my mind could come up with a quicker and simpler solution.  Here’s what I came up with.

I remembered reading a comment from Phil McCowin on the Scamp blog about a simpler way to reef.  He referenced kite boarding and how they rig the sail to the lines.  This reminded me of the same system used to rig stunt kites.  If this works, it will be the simplest, fastest way to reef known to mankind on planet earth.  You simply tie a figure 8 knot in each fore & aft reefing cringle.  Three along the luff & three along the leach side of the sail.Slip the lark’s head knot over the figure 8 knot.  Tighten the lark’s head around the figure 8 knot and your done.  The lark’s head knot is fastened to each end of the boom.  This line should be much smaller in diameter than the line used to tie the figure 8 knot.  Now you can adjust your downhaul and halyard all day long without ever needing to re-tension all those reefing lines.  I can’t wait to test this new system.  Tying in and shacking out a reef should be very simple and fast utilizing this system.  Time will tell.

4.  I hadn’t yet wrapped the spars to protect them from rubbing and banging against each other.  Many have used leather to protect the spars.  I was concerned about getting the leather tight and preventing slippage with tapered spars, so I settled on a simpler, lazier solution (remember, I’m a Ham n Egger).

I have no idea if this will work…but I’ll sure let you know.

I first wrapped the spars with bandage wrap.  This stuff sticks amazingly well to itself.  The purpose of the wrap is to add cushioning.  I then wrapped electricians tape over the bandage wrapping.  The nice thing about electricians tape is that you can add a little tension for a nice secure wrap.  This seems to provide both protection and a nice cushion for the spars.  It will be very easy to add a little more tape as needed.

I’ll really looking forward to trying out these tweaks during sea trials #2.

Mast Crutch Supports

Here are the mast supports I designed for Shackleton.  

Warning:  this may be way too many photos for your liking.   I used 2″ nylon webbing to wrap the supports.  I secured the supports with 1/4″ ss bolts and fender washers.

Still on track to launch this Saturday ˜

Bright Work Complete

I can feel it in my bones.

This project is nearing completion .  I’ve got it on the run now.  Enjoy the photos. Rigging the mast, yard and boom this week.  I’m hoping for a Saturday June 20, launch.

Securing Center Board Bolt

It just wasn’t right…I could feel it in my bones.  Remember, if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong if I’m within 20 feet of the problem.  My life experience has taught me this.  Like the time I rode Todd Treasures motorcycle in 4th grade without asking…long story but it turned out bad; or the time I flipped my bicycle trailer while descending at 34 mph down a wet hill on the Oregon Coast.  The experiences go on and on.

I knew the center board bolt would come winging out on me when I least expected it, if I didn’t come up with a solution to this problem.

Thanks to many for their input on the Scamp forum.  I settled on this simple solution.

 The bolt plate has previously been epoxied to the center board case.  This left only the bolt that needed to be sealed.  I slathered it with 100% silicon caulk.

Then I took a small piece of wood, measuring 1 3/4″ x 3″, and drilled out the center with a 1 1/8″ forsner bit.  I test fit the depth on the bit cut for a snug fit against the bolt head.

 Then I drilled out the outside of the block with a counter sink bit.  I plan to use 1 1/4″ ss screws.  They protrude through the block 5/8″.  I calculated the thickness of the case at this point to be 3/4″.   Notice I offset the counter sink holes, holding them up toward the top of the block a bit.  This allows better access in hatch #5 to set the screws.

This is the block positioned over the bolt.  I will epoxy and varnish this block and then screw it in position.  It fits nicely along side the Vault.  Now I can sleep again at night.

One of these days, any day now, I won’t have anything left to build.

Deck Rigging Hardware

I decided to add backer plates to the deck rigging hardware.  This lifts the rigging a bit and makes it easier to engage  and tie off lines.

This is a simple pad eye, located on the port side of the mast.  It will hold the Ronstan double becket block.  The cam cleat with fairlead, also on the port side, will secure the downhaul line.

Moving to the Starboard side, the swivel base deck block to run the halyard.

 And a 5″ cleat to secure the halyard…I don’t want this one coming unloose.

Cabin top looking aft.

Steps I followed:

1. Glued up the backer blocks from left over scraps.
2. Shaped backer blocks according to rigging hardware shape.
3. Used rigging to drill holes in backer blocks for proper alignment.
4. Used backer blocks to drill holes in cabin top.
5. Used screws through rigging to clamp epoxied backer blocks to the cabin deck.
6. Used fender washers underneath to secure all rigging.

Summary:

This took some patience running back and forth to the hardware store.  The holes for the various rigging parts were not all the same diameter, so I had a lot to keep track… bolt diameter, bolt length, fender washers and nuts to fit everything.  Now getting ready to sand and varnish the top of Shackleton.  

Rigging Hardware

Warning:  This blog post may be boring, especially if you already know how to rig a Scamp.

Rigging hardware has always been a bit of a mystery to me…largely because I don’t understand it.  There are very few sailboats in Idaho, so there’s not much to look at.  Also, Scamp is a little different from other sailboats…simpler…yet different, with the balance lug rid and all.  I knew I was in over my head, so I called Chuck at Ductworks to get his input and advise.  He helped me with my wants and needs.   $600 dollars later, I almost have what I need.

This is a glance at most of the hardware I will be using.  A couple of pieces are backordered (traveler swivel block and sail outhaul cleat).   Let’s look at each piece separately.

First off the lines.  The black at far left is bungie cording I plan to use as sail ties.  The white is 100′ of 1/8″ solid braid polyester for sail lacing, the red is 35′ of 5mm Marlow Excel for the halyard.  The 4mm (3mm?) Marlow Excel in blue, lime and black will be used for reefing.

2 closed bow eyes for anchoring.

Four 6″ deck cleats for tying up at a dock.

I decided to try the continuous reefing system explained by others.  The following 3 images pertain to the parts needed for the continuous reefing setup.

 9 Cheek blocks 9 pad eyes (to keep all the reefing lines straight).3 cleats to cleat off the reefing lines.

Rudder uphaul & downhaul cleats (note the downhaul is the auto release type to allow the rudder to release upon impact)

Top of mast & sail outhaul blocks with straps.

Halyard swivel base deck block.

5″ Halyard deck cleat and two 4″ veranda cleats (to tend the halyard & downhaul lines).

Downhaul double blocks (deck block with becket).

Downhaul deck cleat with fairlead.

Boom swivel block and mainsheet stand-up tiller block (I will be bringing the mainsheet down to the tiller for one handed sailing).

Mainsheet tiller cam cleat (for occasionally cleating off the mainsheet when conditions permit).

Summary:

Wish me luck.  I’m sure if you asked 100 people how to rig a Scamp you would get 101 opinions.  This is my first attempt…we’ll see how I like things and then make changes from there.  Sometimes in life you just have to move forward and see how things work out.  This is my ready, fire, aim approach.  

 

 

Putting the Heart into Shackleton

As you know, if you read my blog, I chose fixed ballast for Shackleton.

 Possible advantages may include:

1. Simplicity (fixed and always present)
2. Lower center of gravity (placed directly onto the bottom of the hull)
3. Lower maintenance (no water intrusion into the hull)
4. No mussel transport (big deal in Idaho…mandatory inspections at state lines)
5. Increased storage (not that anyone needs more storage in a Scamp)
6. Safer (impossible to forget to fill with water)
7. Quicker (nothing to fill & top off)
8. Adjustable (by cutting 3/4″ dummy blanks to take the place of the steel)

Possible disadvantages may include:

1. Steel plates may rust (but I don’t think they will because I epoxied them with graphite)
2. The steel plates could clank around inside the vault and gain momentum (I built the vault very tight to the steel.  I then added nylon straps around the steel to keep them off each other and to provide a bit of a bumper effect.  These straps also allow me to lift out the steel plates if needed)
3. I may get condensation in the vault (I’ll need to keep an eye on this and possibly drill a few holes through the vault for proper ventilation if it becomes a problem.  The nylon straps also provide a slight air gap around all the plates)
4. Heavier trailering weight (not much though…like hauling around your skinny buddy in the trailer, approx. 175 lb.)
5. Inadequate hull strength (I epoxied an additional 3/4″ bottom plate directly onto the 3/8″ hull, and then filleted this plate to all the surrounding bulkheads to tie it in place.  The sides of the vault were built onto this bottom plate)

Enough talk…let’s see the photos

This is looking down into the vault.  The lid has been places onto the hinged hatch cover.  You can see the stainless thumb screws and washers on the non skid.  Yes, the lid fits through the hatch…but just barely.  And, yes I did have this figured out ahead of time…but just barely.

If you look very closely, you can see the head of the center board pivot bolt at the far right side of the storage compartment.  I reversed the head position of the CB bolt for easier access.  This will allow me to keep an eye on the CB bolt.

Behold the mighty six steel plates.  This is the moment of pure and utter reverence…please offer up a minute of silence here.  Notice the nylon straps going around each plate. They provide a cushion between the plates and allow me to lift them out of the vault if needed.  Otherwise, it would be next to impossible to remove the plates.  They weight around 27 lb. each.  Notice how tightly they fit.  Possibly another moment of silence may be in order.  The top also snugs down onto the nylon straps, so in the event of a capsize, the plates are held securely in place.  I’m feeling some serious love here!

 Notice the cut out on the right side of the vault lid.  This allows me to pull the CB pivot bolt without removing the vault lid.

Summary:

It felt a little symbolic dropping the weights down into the vault today.  Sort of like I was breathing life into Shackleton.  I wanted to share this moment with you so you could revel in the joy that both boat and builder felt at this time.  I can feel things coming together for Shackleton.  I’m hoping to have everything completed within another 2 -3 weeks.  I’ll keep posting my progress.