Duckworks Scout

[luomanen]

Have you folks seen the new kit from Duckworks, the Scout?

https://duckworks.com/plans-kits/kit...ackages/scout/

it looks like a really nice little sail and oar boat, which is ultralight. It has a boomless fully battened rig like the portage pram, but with reefing. And it only weighs 65 pounds! A CLC tenderly weighs twice that with the same length and beam. And it has quite a bit of floatation/storage in the tanked in seats and fore deck. It looks like a really nice interpretation of a backpackers camp cruiser.

The Northwest Maritime Center is having a class, with a virtual option, to build the first run—like they did for Scamp. Getting the boat built over two consecutive 4 day weekends really appeals to me. And while I’ve done a bit of composite construction, I’m excited to learn some new tricks.

I have a 16’ Dierking Wa’apa outrigger that sails great, but is a bear to set up and get on and off of the car. It doesn’t really paddle that well either. And I have a Hobie i11 inflatable mirage drive “kayak”. The Hobie gets used all the time, and the Wa’apa hasn’t been out all year. I’m hoping that this is a more usable day trip boat for me that sails well, and can be rowed up little creeks and other shallow/narrow places.

I’m sold. What do you all think?

Chris

[Liberty53]

I think it's awesome! I built SCAMP and their Portage Pram. Great boats and Great people involved. My eyes popped when I saw Scout, totally sweet for a light overnight boat that won't sink.

I have found that the lighter a boat is, the more it gets used. With more smiles all around.

-Derek
Liberty 53
#169

[johngsandusky]

It looks wonderful. I especially like the lightweight hull and ease of rigging.

[luomanen]

Scout build is underway! I just completed the first 4 day sprint and we have a glued together hull. Next weekend we'll finish her up! This thing is light as a feather but plenty stiff. 1FDEB72B-DA71-4C46-B78F-A1BA721ADD52.jpg

[luomanen]

Scout build is underway! I just completed the first 4 day sprint and we have a glued together hull. Next weekend we'll finish her up! This thing is light as a feather but plenty stiff. 1FDEB72B-DA71-4C46-B78F-A1BA721ADD52.jpg

[WI-Tom]

Watching with great interest. I love how this very small boat includes a realistic sleep-aboard option, and cartoppable weight.

Tom

[Lee.007]

Please do continue to post with pics! I am currently trying to finish a kayak trimaran, but I intend to build a car-toppable / small trailer-able overnighter in the future. Someday when I grow up(retire) I want to build a 25~30 foot cruiser to get over to the Bahamas.

[Liberty53]

Awesome!! That's going to be a sweet cruiser. Please keep the pics coming! I'm excited to see the foam decks.

I've over nighted on my Portage pram, but Scout will so SOOOOOOOO much more comfy.

-Derek
scamp #169
Portage Pram

[luomanen]

1BA6D640-5D33-4C56-AE78-361D0B1B1EB5.jpg
IMG_6611.jpgIMG_6608.jpg
All right, I'm 8 days in and the VERY cool foam inhale is glued in (but not capped or fiberglassed), and the foam/glass sandwich deck is installed. I definitely had some trouble getting the glass to stick perfectly, but I can patch the bubbles pretty easily since I'm going to paint it. This thing is crazy light, and super stiff. Brandon Davis did a great job designing this! Joel Arrington, who taught the class was patient and super helpful. And Josh Colvin at Duckworks has been great. There have been some hiccups, as there are bound to be on a new iteration of a design. But it's a small price to pay for such an innovative design. We got a preview of the new reelable sailing rig over the weekend, and it just looks amazing. I still have a lot of tasks to complete before I'm ready to splash, but the process has been really fun. This is going to be a very cool little boat.

Chris

[Liberty53]

YES!!!

Nice work! So much done in 8 days. sweet design!

She is going to be an awesome camp cruiser, I could see downwinding on the Columbia. 3 days over night surfing down wind!

Derek

Scamp #169
Liberty 53

[Fandango]

Hey there! Just wondered if you made any progress... there’s a lot to like about that little boat!


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[luomanen]

Any progress? Why yes. In fact, today is the splash day. I'll let you know how she sails soon. In the mean time here are some late stage pics.

I am super impressed with the work that went into this rig. It looks mighty racy, and yet it's bone simple. The reefing set up is genius. More soon!

Chris015B9CBB-4136-4C39-8547-77FBEAB4F056.jpg93E9C6DF-FE2F-4B36-98C4-ECDE09E7131C.jpg

[WI-Tom]

Splash day! All right--can't wait to hear about it. Congratulations.

Tom

[Fandango]

Fantastic! Love the design for the kick-up rudder!


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[Liberty53]

YESSSSSS!!!!!

Now it just needs a sleeping bag, pad, couple gallons of water, some food, a bit of whiskey... What else am I missing?


Nice work!
-Derek


Scamp #169
Portage Pram

[Patrick.tgreen]

I'm thinking of building the Scout when Duckworks goes to market with the design. Any comments on how it rows and sails? It checks a lot of boxes for dimensions and sail design. Thoughts on performance?

[WI-Tom]

I'll be interested to hear how the sheeting works out. With a rope traveler that slack, you'll be essentially sheeting to the centerline, which usually gives poor performance for boomless sails. Maybe the full battens help in that regard, though.

Tom

[Liberty53]

Yo Wi-Tom (you're awesome BTW)
Zooming in, it looks like blocks on the aft corners. Maybe the what looks like a massive traveler is actually two separate sheets that pull down to the corners?

I'm most excited to hear how she surfs down wind.

Awesome work!

-Derek

Scamp #169

[WI-Tom]

Yo Wi-Tom (you're awesome BTW)
Zooming in, it looks like blocks on the aft corners. Maybe the what looks like a massive traveler is actually two separate sheets that pull down to the corners?

I'm most excited to hear how she surfs down wind.

Awesome work!

-Derek

Scamp #169

Yep, looks like you're absolutely right--that's a sheet that runs to each quarter, and not a traveler. Having never used a set-up like that, I didn't expect it, and didn't look closely enough to see it. Thanks. Seems like maybe a way to avoid needing to move the sheet to the new leeward quarter at each tack--a double sheet, essentially.

And thanks for the kind words!

Tom

[Liberty53]

Minute 7 has the Rigging laid out, seems cool.

https://youtu.be/P5oeSjU9dj4

[luomanen]

463C29AC-2814-441A-B759-E88FCEA58314.jpgCF2ABB0C-97C0-4D05-88CD-6333FE68D7AE.jpgCA788DD0-BC85-4C1B-9D30-D138F280D8CB.jpg
In case anyone is wondering how the Scout turned out, it's been amazing. A proper little boat!

[JoshT]

Very nice! If only they offered plans.

[luomanen]

CC96CD17-EC71-4521-AD8B-97958D47FCD3.jpg29687EE8-FC17-4279-BE72-7E382B7EE5AD.jpg
I've been enjoying the mellow winter days here in the bay area. Here are a couple of pics of the Scout ghosting along in just a breath of air. The pay off for the somewhat tippy narrow waterline is that it takes almost nothing to get it going. Helps rowing too!

I've also managed to capsize it on a gusty day on Tomales bay. I was sailing downwind with a friend in his CLC pram. When we cleared a point and I thought "it doesn't seem windy enough for these streaks of foam in the water." Then, suddenly, I found out what caused the streaks! I went over in an instant, in a classic windward death roll. My friend capsized seconds later. I always feel silly putting on my dry suit, but man was it lovely to end up in the drink and be warm and dry. Takes a lot of the emergency out. The scout dutifully rolled over turtle in one continuous motion. It popped back up with surprisingly little effort. Though, I did discover that the centerboard could probably use another layer of glass--it was a bit wangy. Once upright it was full up to just below the deck/seats. It was easy to reboard, and I parked it (thanks to the tiller tamer I copied from a GIS YouTuber--lovely design) and proceeded to bail. Soon I was back on my way.

I have a hypothesis that its tendency to death roll is exacerbated by the excessive camber in the boomless sail on downwind courses. I'm building a boom now, to test that, but will probably be cursing that decision the first time it hits me in the head.

Upwind (as you can see in the first picture, above) the sail shape is delightful.

[johngsandusky]

Downwind shape and ease of sheeting are good reasons to have a boom.
Glad the capsize recovery went well.

[dbp1]

This is a really neat design -- I hope they make it generally available (ideally, with plans too!) soon. Not that I have any need of building another boat, haha.

[luomanen]

This is a really neat design -- I hope they make it generally available (ideally, with plans too!) soon. Not that I have any need of building another boat, haha.

It's my understanding that is is already generally available.

https://duckworks.com/plans-kits/kit...ackages/scout/

I can't imagine why you would want plans over the kit though. The beautiful CNCed foils alone are worth the price of admission. All of the registration marks on the foam cored sandwich bits, puzzle joints and zip tie holes--you could only make those worse by measuring and cutting by hand. And there's plenty to do.

[dbp1]

It's my understanding that is is already generally available.

https://duckworks.com/plans-kits/kit...ackages/scout/

I can't imagine why you would want plans over the kit though. The beautiful CNCed foils alone are worth the price of admission. All of the registration marks on the foam cored sandwich bits, puzzle joints and zip tie holes--you could only make those worse by measuring and cutting by hand. And there's plenty to do.

The page for the CNC kit says this:

"Availability:Please note: Scout kits are not available to general public quite yet, only to those planning to participate in the Founder’s Build hosted locally and virtually by the Northwest Maritime Center."

CNC kits save a bunch of time, but at the (obvious) cost of money. Plenty of people can build precise boats w/o the use of CNC machines. The Scout uses what, 4 sheets of 4mm? Five? Even six sheets of 4mm occume plywood (would weigh 72lbs, so unlikely! Would have to waste a lot!) would cost ~$425 delivered locally to me---less than a quarter what the CNC kit is.

[luomanen]

The page for the CNC kit says this:

"Availability:Please note: Scout kits are not available to general public quite yet, only to those planning to participate in the Founder’s Build hosted locally and virtually by the Northwest Maritime Center."

CNC kits save a bunch of time, but at the (obvious) cost of money. Plenty of people can build precise boats w/o the use of CNC machines. The Scout uses what, 4 sheets of 4mm? Five? Even six sheets of 4mm occume plywood (would weigh 72lbs, so unlikely! Would have to waste a lot!) would cost ~$425 delivered locally to me---less than a quarter what the CNC kit is.

I did not know they were not selling them yet! Thanks for letting me know.

If you prefer plans, that's great. There's more in the kit than plywood, though. There are a bunch of foam parts (decks/seats, core of transom, core of transom gussets, the gunwale core, breasthook and a few others). The time it would take to cut all those parts feels more than worth the price to me, but to each their own!

Your Apple build looks fantastic, by the way.

[JimD]

Nice little boat!

[dbp1]

I did not know they were not selling them yet! Thanks for letting me know.

If you prefer plans, that's great. There's more in the kit than plywood, though. There are a bunch of foam parts (decks/seats, core of transom, core of transom gussets, the gunwale core, breasthook and a few others). The time it would take to cut all those parts feels more than worth the price to me, but to each their own!

Your Apple build looks fantastic, by the way.

Thanks!

Regardless of what exactly is in the kit, it's pretty typical that kits are several times the cost of raw materials---which isn't to say they shouldn't (CNC machines aren't cheap!), just that it's nice when companies can offer both. e.g., CLC, one of the biggest kit makers ever, makes plans available for most (all?) of their boats.

[Adrian Valley]

I think this design looks really neat and would add my vote for plans to be made available.
How did the boom work out?

[dauwhe]

Has anyone else built one? An intriguing little boat!

[Dinghy Pipedreams]

Could you describe how the reefing works and if it's easy underway in less than smooth water? I looked at the site/sail package and the video but it sounded like rolling 'round the mast kind of spritsail style? Thanks. 65lbs sounds very attractive. Your boat's looking good!

[dbp1]

Could you describe how the reefing works and if it's easy underway in less than smooth water? I looked at the site/sail package and the video but it sounded like rolling 'round the mast kind of spritsail style? Thanks. 65lbs sounds very attractive. Your boat's looking good!

I don't think it's rolling around the mast -- the sail has full battens, so won't be wrapping around anything! Looks like typical standing lugsail: a set of reef points up a bit, so you retie the downhaul, switch where the sheet attaches to, and tie up the rest of the sail. And of course lots of that could be made faster with hardware / lines!

[Dinghy Pipedreams]

Oops-yes. that was silly of me! Battens don' roll... Chris's comment, confused me:
"We got a preview of the new reelable sailing rig over the weekend, and it just looks amazing." That's what I was specifically asking about.

Looking back at the pics on Duckwork's, I see the "cut out" at the bottom of the mast sleeve and missed the reef points (I think they were devoid of ties/gaskets in the photos). I see them now. (clear(er) in the drawing). One of the perils of looking on a tiny phone screen! But... Chris, what did you mean by "reelable"?