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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.

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Roller end caps to protect skegs

After a few instances of damage to the skegs from the trailer roller mounts I wanted to protect the skegs. Here are some shots of the old rollers.

roller

The skeg sometimes get cut by the mounting pillars
I picked up some 3 1/2"  roller ends and new 13" x 5/8" shafts and installed those today.

Here are the shots after.
End rollers installed

Better shot of the end rollers

I also raised the center roller about as high as it would go (see the first shot). That should guide the hull up and over until the skegs get on the rollers.

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Trailer damage to the skegs

The Gig Harbor trailer has cut up my skegs a few times.

Just yesterday I scraped a skeg against the roller mount as I was pulling her onto the trailer. This has happened before.

Scraped the skeg on the trailer rollers

I've had to do more maintenance on the skegs than on any other part of the boat.

If I had to do the skegs all over again, I'd seriously consider just building the things out of 2" UHMW plastic. I have no idea how to bond UHMW to the hull though. I expect that even bedding compound won't stick to UHMW.

There are roller guide end caps that should protect the skegs. I'll do some investigation.