After filleting a lot of the outboard seams between bulkheads, seat longitudinals, and the hull, I’m now dry fitting the stem, bulkheads 1 through 3, and the mast box or mast trunk.
I will say, this kit does generally go together, but it can be quite finicky at times. My first attempt at putting the forward side of the mast box on and it didn’t reach all the way down into the cutouts in the hull bottom that were put there for it.
After fiddling around I finally got it to fit well. Turns out my stem, in the center portion only, was floating slightly above the hull bottom. Adding more shims under the hull bottom between it and the nearest cross piece of the jig seemed to do the trick. Having a pack of shims around is unexpectedly surprisingly useful for this build…
Now the problem is twofold:
- There doesn’t seem to be space underneath the sides of the mast box at the bottom for the mast trunk floor, at least not one made out of 9mm plywood.
- I’ve heard of a “mast ramp” or “scamp ramp” on the forums but have yet been able to find any good description of what exactly it is/how it works.
You can see in these pictures where I’ve circled that there’s not quite enough space for the mast trunk floor, at least not if the sides of the mast trunk are meant to sit on top of the floor (which I think is correct).
I think the cause for this is because the grooves that are cut into the forward piece of the mast trunk don’t go all the way to the top - there’s a lip there.
A stiff upper lip, when one is not needed
I’m guessing that lip must have been left there to made the kit piece easier to cut? Anyway it looks like if I remove that everything will line up nicely.
As to the Scamp ramp, that I don’t have a piece for from the kit and I’m not sure what to make of it…
Here goes a piece I don't have
I’m going to ask a question on the forums about this and hope people still notice when there are posts there, as it seems most people built their scamps five or so years ago…