First the exam, then the lesson

 

The CNC cut kit has puzzle joints to scarf together side planks and hull bottom panel, plus some other critical bits.  My experience with scarfing ply on other boat, using 5:1 scarf joints, has not been fantastic- always a bit dubious and bumpy. 

The SCAMP manual says, in large font: " Don't try to test fit the puzzle joints". In other words, you only get one shot at this. First the exam, then the lesson.

I set up to join the side planks, six joints. Lots of plastic. Lots of anxious sanding and fussing. It actually went pretty well, tho I needed a mallet to tap down a few of the fingers. And my batch of epoxy went off before I finished, I was taking so long. 

Next day I could sand back and bingo I have the side planks done. The best scarf joints I have ever done and I don't have to worry whether I have aligned the ends right. I like this cnc caper.

Encouraged, I did the bottom sheet yesterday. 

Meanwhile rain was forecast so I put together the base legs for the jig, so I could get the mdf pieces up off the ground.

The manual suggests building the centreboard first so you can tailor the centreboard case to fit. So, the centreboard epic continues. I laminated one out of various hardwoods, which I happened to have around. Not surprisingly it is extremely hard to work. Routing out a cavity for the lead was a workout. I got a roll lead sheet from Bunnings, poured epoxy round it, and I have been topping the gap up with left over epoxy as I go. 

I am not super confident this will work but I can always make one out of ply if it doesn't.

I can see some serious sanding I my future.

Sail and build

 

My plan for this year is to sail on the good sailing days and build the SCAMP on the not so good days. Well, get out least once a week with luck. So far so good. On Tuesday I met Andrew with his laser down at AYC. He had opened the club house, got the keys for the gate, then lost his door card. I called Sandra who lives locally, she came down, and opened the building again.

I asked if she wanted a sail, and what do you know, she had a set of sailing clothes on her car. Got to admire that for style. The wind was gusting well over 15 knots, probably not the best day to introduce someone to a new boat, new rig and push pull tiller, but she is a natural sailor and took it all in her stride. A good blast over to Williamstown Beach and back, a really good outing.

Andrew found his card the next day, hiding in the long grass. He suggested another sail, one on which he could relax and enjoy sailing without worrying where the card might have got to. We got out on Thursday, a beautiful autumn day, with almost no wind. I like those days, the reflections on the water are mesmerising. I rowed most of the way out to the reef marker. The water was super clear,and I  enjoyed the slow glide back in at about 1.5 knots, watching the underwater world slip past.

Jim who has been doing the cnc cutting called saying the kit was ready to collect. I also collected fibreglass, epoxy and screws.

I spent a happy few hours today cutting the tabs to free the pieces and sanding the fluff round the edges.  It is time consuming but I am heartily glad I got the cnc file!  I learned after my first rush to carefully identify each piece in the manual and write that in pencil on the piece ... it would not be good to confuse the plank pieces. I found my Japanese saw the best tool for cutting tabs. 

On the way back from Ozzie's walk this morning I bumped into a neighbour up the street who has his house for sale. Via the neighbourhood network he had heard of my boat building and he had a bunch of wood he wants to get rid of. I got some nice and some ok Oregon, with another nice big piece waiting to be extracted from his pile, all for a slab of VB. I feel like the force is with me!

Flat pack

 

The ply arrived. Can it turn into a boat? Ozzie is extremely sceptical.

I have taken it and some incredibly heavy mdf sheets round to Jim at the Dinghy shop who has a cnc cutting machine. Hopefully next week they return with the 70 plus parts precision cut into them. 

The manual says to make the centreboard first so I have been working away on that.  I had no ply, and thought I would try a lamination. This is left over Oregon, Tas ash, and Messmate. It is heavy and hard, and sure takes a while to shape. My technique with using the router and a jig is getting better. I mananaged to run the router through the wall of the jig a few times but I have worked it out now. Proving the maxim that you have the skills when you finish a job that ideally you should have had when you started. Oh well. I think it will work.

Meanwhile my theoretical approach is I will get out on the water on the nice days, and build on the not so nice days. Lovely day earlier this week, autumn on the Bay is magic.

And maybe a glimpse of the past and the future from Dale Simonson, who took this lovely photo of Derry sailing next to Mat Conboy's Salty Dog the Scamp off Simpson's point.