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.