Duckworks Scout

[Patrick.tgreen]

Re: Duckworks Scout

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]

Re: Duckworks Scout

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]

Re: Duckworks Scout

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]

Re: Duckworks Scout

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]

Re: Duckworks Scout

Minute 7 has the Rigging laid out, seems cool.

https://youtu.be/P5oeSjU9dj4

[luomanen]

Re: Duckworks Scout

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]

Re: Duckworks Scout

Very nice! If only they offered plans.

[luomanen]

Re: Duckworks Scout

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]

Re: Duckworks Scout

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

[dbp1]

Re: Duckworks Scout

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]

Re: Duckworks Scout

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/kits-and-packages/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]

Re: Duckworks Scout

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

https://duckworks.com/plans-kits/kits-and-packages/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]

Re: Duckworks Scout

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]

Re: Duckworks Scout

Nice little boat!

[dbp1]

Re: Duckworks Scout

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.