7 years and full circle

[johnmcneely]

Dear SCAMPers.

It has been around 7 years since I have posted. I helped complete Mike Monies' built Hull #5 (Simon Birch) destroyed in a 500-yr hailstorm in Lyons, Colorado, baseball-sized holes punched through in numerous places. She was sawed up and thrown away.

Why am I back on this site? In a moment I'll tell you. But first, I've been on a journey as I age (now 65) and my lifestyle has changed including where I live (now in the Inland desert of California [Palm Springs area]).

Since then , I have owned:

• A Sea Eagle FoldCat - could never get it to steer strait and found it a bit unstable

• Two Hobie Tandem Islands - the force necessary to hold the mainsheet became too much for my aging arms and became too wet sailing

• Two Hobie i11s Inflatable Paddle Boards - also not stable enough for me and too wet sailing

• A 20-ft Pontoon Boat I built from a kit. Enjoyed it. Had Hybrid Power but was becoming too much for me too

• A Sea Eagle Fishskiff16 - my spouse thinks it too is too unstable.

Prior to that, I owned:

• A WW Potter 15

• A Com-Pac 16

• A Com-Pac 23

• A Coronado 14

• A Horizon motor boat

And guess which boat I have the fondest memories of? The SCAMP. I didn't own it that long: 2 years. Building it was not my goal. It was having it to sail. And its performance was a very pleasant surprise. I sailed her on Cherry Creek Lake in Colorado. She would get moving on the slightest puff of a breeze. Can't say I ever had her out in high wind as I was probably too chicken to sail her under Reef. What I would really like to own now is the fiberglass version. But I'm in sticker shock.

A nicely equipped new fiberglass SCAMP with trailer from Gig Harbor Boat works is over $20K, and that doesn't include sales tax and shipping where you're looking at another $3K-4K, and you have to put 25% down and wait a year to get it. Wow, tying up $5K for over a year. I'm not quite ready to buy, I need to sell some things first. I'm having a hard time justifying that kind of expense. An alternative is to get a used one, but they can be all over the country. One I saw for $10K is on the east coast. Another alternative is to carefully buy a wooden one and give it a nice paint job. What are your thoughts in the SCAMP Community on my predicament?

John McNeely

[Rob Hazard]

If your heart is set on a fiberglass SCAMP, then just keep looking until you find one.

If it were me, I'd look for a well built, well maintained wooden one, definitely one with a footwell. I might narrow the field by looking for one built from a kit, maybe even one assembled at a SCAMP camp. I'd go ready to inspect it inside and out for clean workmanship, looking particularly inside the ballast tank and centerboard trunk, checking out the foils and the inside spaces where rot might hide. I would not worry about scrapes and dings on the outside.
Good luck in your search!

[dsimonson]

Welcome back, John. Nice to see a Scamp pioneer return to the fold!

I agree with Rob's post... glass Scamps are nice, used ones come up occasionally, and they may well hold better value in the long run because they're a bit easier to ascertain their condition. We know how well they're built, so a somewhat superficial inspection is probably all that's necessary. Perhaps a good look at the centreboard to make sure it's not been compromised, and the pivot mechanism is still sound?

But, I'd look for a good wood one, as per Rob's points.

All the best,
Dale