About

A blog about SCAMP (Small Craft Advisor Magazine Project) boats. Covering the build, sailing the boat and the scamp community that has formed around this little portly boat.

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Please Welcome the PT Puffin!

We had a successful launch!
Today I christened her the PT Puffin. The PT stands Portly Tufted Puffin. This is from a children's book of poetry that I used to read to my kids.
Alaska Mother Goose by Shelley Gill. (clickable link to amazon where you can view inside and see the art)
The portly tufted puffin waddles in the sand;
a plump and shy old parrot, he's clumsy on the land.
But when he tips into the sea, he flaps his wings and flies,
chasing fish beneath the waves, cross salty seaweed skies.
I think it matches her well. She looks like she'd be clumsy but on the water she performs very well and is quite nimble.
The PT can also stand for Port Townsend where her hull was laid down. And I think it adds some whimsey.

We had a great time. The wind was a bit light for sailing, but it's just as well until I get some more time at the helm.

My parents drove out; it was nice to have dad around for the launching. He started this journey, it's best to have him around for the launch.

First, here are some shots of the christening.

opening the champagne


Christening

Christening with champagne


Motoring away from the dock
Captain
Artistic shot from my daughter
I do have to admit that we cheated just a little bit; we actually took her out on Saturday for her real maiden voyage. This was cautionary. I wanted to make sure that everything worked correctly. Many years in the software business has convinced me not to do live demos but to always test things first.

Practice rigging with dad.

Rigging stored in her.


Three build amigos

At the boat ramp.

Launching
I had to check and see if she was leaking around the centerboard pin. There was no leaking at all. That's very good.

A funny thing happened here though. Suddenly we saw that the footwell was filling with water. That was bad, very bad. But when I traced the leak, it was coming from above the waterline from the sole. I couldn't figure out how the water could be coming from up there.
Turns out it was a leaky water bottle. Whew!
About to head out

Quincy at the helm
Please note that we are reefed here. On the dry, we rigged the sail with two reefs in. This seemed the safest to me. I wasn't familiar with the boat, and I wanted to be safe. I'd recommend reefing on the maiden voyage.

Dad and me

Victory!

I've still got things to do to finish her.
I plan to continue this blog, but I'll be changing the name to Sailing 284. I want to cover the small boat sailing adventures.







Details: non skid floors, yoga mat seat covers, neoprene mouse pad mast pad

A couple small items and things we've done.
First is the non-skid sticky tape that I put down on the floor. It works very well. Left a lot of sand to clean up in the first few days, but highly recommended.

non skid tape

non skid tape in the foot well (very dirty after first sailing)
I still don't have a good drainage strategy. I'm considering putting andersen mini bailers down there in the footwell, but I have to get up the courage to put a hole in the bottom of the hull.
stainless eye for trailering

cleats for uphaul and downhaul

red scamp lantern (not happy with this and I will repaint it)
My wife complained about the hard seating on the first day she sat in the final boat. So we had the idea of a yoga pad cut in half. Here it is rolled up.
Yoga mat
And this last picture shows the yoga pads in place. You can also see an automotive 12v battery analyzer in the circuit breaker panel. It displays the battery health.

yoga pads and 12v battery meter.

I didn't get any pictures, but I got worried about the mast hitting the bottom of the mast box floor and eventually wearing through the fiberglass so I cut an old neoprene mouse pad and put that in the bottom of the mast box just inside the mast hole. Seems to work fine.

Friday, June 5, 2015

Launch this weekend!

We're planning on launching and christening her this weekend (her name is TBD -- I better come up with something).

The plan is to be at Enatai Beach park around 1:30 on Sunday June 7 with the boat for a few hours. If you have time, you are welcome to join us and have a ride. Kids should bring their own life jackets because I don’t have any in kid size.

If you think you might be able to make it, email me or text me before heading over; if it is too windy we may move somewhere more sheltered.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Motor mount

Gig Harbor Boatworks built a motor kit kit for me. It's a simple mechanism of a trolling motor, a phenolic slider mount and 2 aluminum channels. I've had it arranged for awhile, but hadn't assembled it until everything got painted.

At first, it didn't slide very well. I called Falk and the crew at GHBoats.com and they said just to dose it with some silicone spray. That worked wonders and now it slides well. There were a couple of areas where the flat head 1/4-20 bolts stuck just a bit proud of the aluminum. I used a table saw to route small grooves on the back of the phenolic mount to free that up a bit.

I tested it briefly in air and it seems to be fairly powerful. 55lbs of thrust isn't a lot, but it's enough to get me away from the dock.

Port side view

starboard side
There is a through block mounted just above the motor. There will be 1/4" line through there and a cleat on the inside.
I put a stainless steel rod through the bottom of the aluminum to prevent a complete drop out of the motor. I also put a brass padlock at the top to prevent someone from walking away with the motor.
A very short quick release pin is inboard for a safety while trailering.