Drum roll please….

Here is what we have all been waiting for! Yesterday 5/30/13 at 10.45 A.M fiberglass Scamp #1 (also known as Dick Herman’s baby ‘Klompen’) first saw the light of day. The process was amazingly easy… if you consider being pulled out of the womb with a chain hoist ‘easy’. We just loosened the bolts holding the sides of the clamshell mold and the first fiberglass Scamp lifted up without any creaking, weird noises or false starts. Seriously, there was no drama whatsoever. Almost anticlimactic.

Lifting out of the mold

Easy does it…

Smooth as glass!

You’ll note that the hull comes out of the mold without the deck. The interior liner and bulkhead are laminated to the hull in the mold to ensure nothing shifts when the hull is released. Aligning and bonding the deck to the hull is a separate operation. The last seam to be joined is the important structural connection between the top of the bulkhead / scamp ramp / cabin roof, as you can see in the photo below.

Shown in standard colors, hull exterior in white and deck/cockpit in bisque tan

Next week it comes to our Gig Harbor shop for finishing. We have quite a bit to do; varnished mahogany trim to the deck edge, polished bronze deadlights and cleats, centerboard installation, stainless steel keel guards, install flotation. And oh yeah… build the first sail rig. The mast tubing arrived from the powder coating shop yesterday and the spars are varnished so all the ducks are lined up. Sea trial second week of June? No set date yet but two – three weeks is a reasonable expectation.

‘Klompen’ is the default color scheme; white hull with Bisque tan deck and interior. We’re looking forward to seeing what color combinations our first Scampers will request for their boats.  I think that having a dramatic color on the upper strake with white hull underbody and bisque deck would be stunning!

I have had quite a few queries from the e-mail list asking for advice or to expand on the list of options we posted in our last update. We’ll soon be posting an update explaining the options in more detail.

Yeeehaaa,

Dave and crew at GHBW

Hull #1, already named “Klompen” by its owner-to-be.