I decided to build a SCAMP from the kit (I’m only aware of there being the one kit, this one). I had previously built my paddleboards from plans, and while it’s definitely doable, I realized during that build just how much time you spend drafting the parts onto pieces of wood and then cutting them out. It felt like roughly 1/3 of the total build time for those paddleboards was spent cutting the parts out. So hey, if there’s a kit available, I’d take it.
I don’t have a lot of photos from this process, but a couple of memories:
- I went and picked it up from the folks in Pt Townsend. During delivery the warehouse guys taught me something about my truck - apparently there are moulded cutouts in the bed specifically designed to accept cross lumber supports that, with the top of the wheel wells, provide a perfectly flat area the size of the bed. Huh, that was useful to learn.
- They cut some 2x4s for me for my bed, and then moved the stack of flat plywood quite expertly into the bed of the truck using their forklift. It was roughly about 8 or 9 sheets of plywood thick.
- I attempted to strap it down as best I could, but, well, on the drive home I had to stop at least once to add more straps.
- I also discovered that somewhere between Pt Townsend and Seattle I lost a couple of pieces that flew out of the top piece of plywood. Ooops. I think they were part of the mast box? Going to have to fabricate them myself when I get to that part. Hope they didn’t hit any cars behind me on the road.
The actual unpacking process was a bit of a mess. Back the truck up to the garage and start grabbing pieces from the top layer of plywood, set them aside, and then throw the scrap into a pile on the floor. There was a lot of scrap, and, well, a lot of pieces too.
In the second photo there’s a better look at the pile of all the cut pieces. I really should have figure out how to organize these before pulling them out of the truck, but I wanted to make sure they didn’t get rained on so I was unloading rather quickly.
These last two photos just show a slightly better organized pile of parts. The one on the left shows the main panel of the hull bottom at the very back, a few bulkheads in the middle there, and in the front is the bottom of the build jig (which is made out of very thick MDF and thus is far away the heaviest part of the entire kit). The photo on the right is most notable for the two foils on the top of the pile - the centerboard with the rudder on top. The foils are a separate purchase from the kit itself, but again I figured the time savings was worth it.
Next up, organize the garage a bit more and start putting puzzle joints together…