Scamp by John Welsford – Page 2

There’s a Scamp in the house

You may know that I’m married to a boat person, the kind of guy who has inventoried and identified most of the boats in most of the yards we’ve driven past in Sequim and other locations across the Olympic Peninsula.

Dear Husband is registered for a “Scamp Camp” starting on March 4th in Port Townsend. In the course of two weeks he will substantially build a 12 foot Scamp sailboat. He’s already built a mast, blocks, and cleats. Above is the latest phase, lumber for the build. This is our Scamp to be. It’s toward the bottom of a pile of about 12 sheets of mahogany marine plywood. Instead of locating his own quality wood and cutting it himself, he elected to buy a lumber package offered through his class.

The parts are precisely cut with an NC (numerically controlled) router with more precision and less waste. He has removed the precut pieces to finish before the class, which should result in a better finish overall and put him ahead of the game. That is, of course, if the cold and damp abate enough for the finish to dry, but that’s a different story.

This is a convenience you don’t get with raw lumber: named parts. It’s an extraordinary luxury for us to approach building a boat doing so many things “right.” I could fill volumes with stories of the lost puppy boats that have landed in our lives, the ones that had so much promise with “just a little work.” If you are a boat person, you know exactly what I mean. If you aren’t, well, I suppose you can consider yourself blessed. At the very least you probably lead an uncluttered life.

Indoor diversions

We’ve not had good weather for being out-of-doors and my husband and I have taken to indoor pursuits. Although he’s promised for months (really, I’m not exagggerating) to build a countertop desk and improve my office work space, the first priority is to finish current parts and pieces for the Scamp boat that he will build in March. It makes him happy and they’re things he needs. How can I complain?

If you’re not of the mariner persuasion, you’re looking at running rigging blocks above, on the left, and cleats on the right. The cleats, for securing ends of rigging or mooring lines, are fashioned from hickory.

Here’s a closer look at one of the running rigging blocks, mocked up to show more of what it will look like as a finished product. The blocks are for ropes that control all the moving parts of the sail rig. These parts are made from mahogany. The blocks and the cleats will be finished with epoxy and marine spar varnish.

What do I do as an indoor diversion? Well, maybe I’ll show you tomorrow.

Scamp update

If you follow this blog you may recall that last September I posted some photos of the Scamp sailboat in action at the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend. My husband bought plans at the festival to build a Scamp and I promised occasional updates on progress of the build. The Scamp above is one on display at the festival.

The Scamp boat is a project of the Small Craft Advisor magazine based in Port Townsend. “Scamp” is an acronym for Small Craft Advisor Magazine Project and the magazine owns the rights to the Scamp. In addition to selling the boat plans, the magazine also sells pre-cut kits for construction and co-hosts “Scamp Camps,” classes to construct the boat under the direction of the Scamp designer, John Welsford.

After studying the boat plans and looking at his growing list of questions about its construction, my husband decided to turn his back on the time honored, stereotypical male practice of not asking for directions. . .he signed up to attend the third Scamp Camp this coming March. A month or two ago he attended a mast-building class with members of the first Scamp Camp (a second one was held in Michigan in November). In the meantime he has been constructing some of the parts and pieces that will go on the boat.

I’ll see if I can gate crash the Scamp Camp and take some photos of the work in progress. In the meantime, stay tuned. I’ll see if my favorite boat builder will permit me to take a shot or two of what he’s been working on.

My husband and the Scamp

Today is as much a story as a photo op, so I’m posting differently than usual. Today I’ll provide background first:
My husband is a boat guy. One of his earliest memories is riding in the back of the family car as it passed another car towing a trailered boat. “Daddy,” he said. “Why can’t we have a car like that?” as he pointed to the boat. Since then he’s run off to the Navy, then the Merchant Marines, and then he became a commercial fisherman. I met him after he came ashore, after those adventures. But his dreams and preoccupations remain focused on boats. And over the years we have adopted many project boats, a good many of them in their final days as boats but still good for a little tinkering.

Some people have an ailment called “Seasonal Affective Disorder” which hits in the dark depths of winter. My husband gets boat fever and it too hits with seasonal regularity. He obsesses over boats. He pours over boat plans. He surfs websites and watches boat videos. And he cycles through what we now call Boats du Jour: the latest one to catch his fancy. Would this one suit? Is it right for local conditions? Could he easily launch it? Is it stable and sensible? Is it big enough? Is it too big? Would he really like to build it?

So, now let me introduce Scamp.

Scamp is the work of John Welsford, a New Zealand boat builder and designer. It is a small (11 ft.), tubby little vessel that looks a little like a shrunken tugboat. I’ve shown it here being sailed by Howard Rice at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival last Sunday.

Scamp is an unlikely Boat du Jour for my husband. After seeing it for the first time at the last Wooden Boat Festival, he came home and thought about it for a year. It lacked the truly graceful lines of other Welsford boats. It’s been joked that the front fell off. Yet, built with a hull filled with floatation, it’s virtually impossible to capsize. It’s wide, comfortable, practical to excess, and suitable for local waters. It’s not capacious, but there’s room for me and the dog. And, as he ages, it’s a stable boat in which my husband can easily move as he sails.

Howard Rice sailed this Scamp in the Port Hudson Marina to demonstrate how to recover from capsizing. He tried repeatedly and this was as close to capsize as he got. It refused. Howard went into the water after standing on the boat’s side. . .and the boat bounced back upright.

My husband bought plans for the Scamp during this demonstration and John Welsford signed the carrying tube. This Boat du Jour has committed to sticking around for a while. We’re both very excited. I’ll probably post photos of the boat as it takes shape in the months to come.