Marsaili and after...

[David Bewick]

Hi Chaps,

This is going to be a rather unusual post, but here goes…

In 2018, I built a Guillemot called “Marsaili”.  You may have seen her at Beale Park.  She was a lovely little boat but, for various reasons, I decided to sell her and she was bought my a chap called Mike Hall.  Mike contacted me, again, recently and told me he has enjoyed sailing “Marsaili”, but he is starting to think about what boat he might sail if she becomes a bit too “flighty” for him as he gets less mobile with advancing years.  He is thinking about a Welsford-designed Scamp.  Mike knows that they rarely come up for sale and he asked me how he might get one built at a bearable cost.  

Mike has considered a professional build but thinks the cost might be prohibitive.  He asked me whether it might be possible to find a skilled amateur, ideally in the South West, who would build a boat for him at a more reasonable rate.  To keep time and costs down, he would be happy to discuss a hull built from a Jordan Boats kit (Scamp camps in the US quote 160-180 hours to produce a “ready to paint hull”) and to paint a primed hull himself.  My thoughts immediately went to HBBR.  I know some of you chaps are serial builders of boats who do it mainly for the fun of doing it and are always on the lookout for your next build.  So, if you fancy the idea of building another boat but you are too fussed about owning it, please let me know and I will put you in contact with Mike.

Please note that I am acting just as an “honest broker”, here.  I do not want to be involved in the project beyond putting potentially interested parties in contact with each other.  I will not be involved in any detailed discussions about prices, etc.

So, a chance to have all the fun of building a boat without any risk of getting wet at the end of it all?

What do you think?
 
Best regards,

David.

[Port-Na-Storm]

Food for Thought David,
I was up close and personal to a Scamp a couple of weeks ago, there is a lot of boat in a small package.



I didn't sail in her but CW did and hopefully he'll tell us all about it.
It needs some sorting but initial signs are promising.

When I was much younger and still shackled to the daily grind I imagined a future where I could spend my time leisurely building boats and selling them off to people with taste for a modest profit to supplement my  pension. I'm a lot older and not much wiser but I have learned a thing or two since then.
I've built and sold a couple of boats to feed my addiction. I've even managed to turn a very small profit although first time round I had to deliver the boat to the discerning client in The Netherlands.



Since then the plan has been to build the boat I want to sail, then sell it on when the time comes to build the next.  Taking on a commission would be another thing altogether, I wouldn't want the feeling of a client watching over my shoulder however patient and understanding he/she was.

I had a chat with a chap at Cobnor this year who was interested in my Morbic and asked how he could get such a boat built.  He said he wasn't interested in building one and didn't mind paying so I suggested he spoke to Adrian Donavan who has built a few excellent examples. We speculated on price and with a very wet finger in the air guessed he wouldn't get any change out of £10k.

Another wet and optimistic finger in the air reckons it would cost IRO £5k to self-build a Scamp, and another £1k for the trailer.  So it all depends on where your definition of "bearable" is.

Personally I've got enough projects to keep me going well into my dotage, not to mention the ones the family keep throwing my way, which I think is a healthy situation, so I'm out.

A middle ground would be for him to build the boat himself with help and guidance from an experienced amateur who would point out where he was going wrong by sucking of teeth and slow head shakes.  

It's a pity there isn't enough demand to run Scamp Camps or similar in this country.    

I hope he finds a way to get the boat he wants.

Best regards.
G.




 

[Chris Waite]

Grum (Graham) is absolutely right

The Scamp was advertised recently on Dinghy Cruising Association media and needed some sorting out, which I was asked to and am, able to assist with.  This consists mostly of reconstituting the rig and fittings which have been added over the years.  Here I admit to being a minimalist; a believer in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's maxim -

"You have achieved perfection in design, not when there is nothing more you can add, but nothing more you can take away."

However, it was possible to get her on the water soon after meeting for the first time and she is a delightful little boat to sail.  Compared with the Guillemot - a much more traditional open clinker dinghy, the Scamp also has the same balance lug, hers at 100 square feet, but is a more simple hull design with a 'flat' bottom, three broad strakes aside, an offset centreboard, a bow transom and a 'cute' little cuddy/cabin.  Quite a lot for a twelve foot dinghy.

She also has a water-ballast system.  I built my first water-ballasted (11'6") boat a decade ago and am still sailing her.  I have become a firm proponent of water-ballast for (cruising) dinghies.  It tends to cancel out 'flightiness', stabilizing the boat and inducing a safety feature that comes into play when gusts start to lay the craft over.  Of course, there is a speed penalty; the Scamp can hold 77kg. and my little lugger about 140 kg. of seawater.

The new owner of the Scamp has been told not to sail her without taking on ballast, but I can choose between sailing with or without - the equivalent of two moderately sized blokes lying in the bilges and the difference in speed, while noticeable, is not disastrous.  The advantage with that 140 kg. is that she is just about self-righting and 'in ballast' has not capsized in the decade I have had her.

Back to the Scamp; in sailing trim she should be considered more of a pocket-cruiser than a dinghy - stable and forgiving, with plenty of room, weather protection under and behind the cuddy and a very reasonable turn of speed.  I have been wondering for a long time about offset centreplates and the fact that some types of lug rig do not 'dip', (that is swapping the yard [and therefore the sail] to the lee side of the mast on putting about).

Having used the balance lug for some years now, but with only the one outing with the Scamp's offset balance lug to port of the mast and board to starboard....    With that set up, I am of the opinion that both tacks with the lug are very much the same, surprisingly with a possible advantage when the mast is to lee of the sail and therefore misshaping it.  I have strong suspicion this difference is exaggerated with the board offset to the other side as it is deeper in the water on heeling, so working in an area of higher pressure and less likely to cavitate (get air down the board when it is exposed due to due to heeling and wave action, becoming briefly 'surface piercing').  In this picture he is deliberately trying to capsize -



...but it demonstrates the problem of exposing the board on starboard tack and the sail set (as they are) to port of the mast.

Overall a terrific little boat with loads of room, good stability and not a slouch.  If I wasn't so deeply into my own designs, this would be right up on my list of possibilities.  Any disadvantages?  I wouldn't let the slight difference in windward ability on each tack worry me at all.  That leaves manhandling her on the foreshore - close or (at 190 kg. plus trolley and kit aboard), possibly just over the maximum for one person, so not bad if you can back her down with your vehicle, but probably a tad eyewatering by yourself on a beach (like Cobnor for instance, a compacted shingle hard where there is a winch, but low tide requires extra rope).

Hope this helps

Chris W

 

[Paul W]

> David and Graham.
A) Is one to understand that there is someone out there who might like a ready-made Morbic-12?
B) I recently received a hint from someone that they just might be interested in selling a "pre-loved" one, and they described it as "the best small boat I have ever had the pleasure of owning".
C) I have the contact details for (B).  
D) What chance is there of putting (A) & (B) together and making two people happy?

Paul W
Website https://mymorbic.uk/ 
Forum https://forum.mymorbic.uk/

[Port-Na-Storm]

Hi Paul,
I can't immediately recall the name of the chap I spoke to but I'm sure I could track him down without much difficulty.
If your contact is serious about selling it might be worth putting an add on the DCA Forum with a couple of photographs, I'd be happy to do that on his behalf.
If not I could track down the prospect and put him in touch but I'd like to be sure he is serious about selling first.
Regards
Graham.  

[Paul W]

Good evening Graham.  The possibility was only "a hint".  I'll get back to the fellow to ask.  Watch this space.
UPDATE 29/11/22 - Sorry - That particular lead seems to be off the list, at least for the foreseeable future.