Grumman 17 SCOUT 18 Apr 20 Morning Coffee and Fiberglass

18 Apr 20:

SCOUT took us out for morning coffee and oranges, saw a few pelicans. Light winds from NE, tide coming in, river flowing out, 72F.

Skipper's duct tape cup holder works great.

Stanley thermos just for fun...

...just like the NC-4 crew used!

Beach Inspector.

Inner layer of rudder adapter is cured.

Wetting out the outer layers of 4 oz fiberglass cloth tape for the rudder adapter with TotalBoat THIXO. Worked the THIXO into the weave with part of a paint stir stick.

Stainless Ronstan gudgeons encased in fiberglass cloth. Rudder and pintle attached to get the correct alignment with the gudgeons.

Gudgeon shimmed with small pieces of wood where stern cap tapers.

Log of SCOUT.

Grumman 17 Canoe SCOUT 13 Apr 20 Photo Shoot

13 Apr 20:

Took our Grumman 17 Double End canoe SCOUT out to get photos for an upcoming article in Small Boats Magazine, May 2020. We needed photos of her being paddled solo, tandem and a few other shots. One thing we recently learned was that this design is self righting, we never thought about it but it makes sense when we considered the end comapartments are filled with closed cell foam blocks and the keel is stout, so weight, flotation and balance wise she wants to float upright.

Skipper steered us around for a bit, I did the solo act, then I jumped out for the self righting and swamping videos.

Here's one fuzzy shot that won't make the magazine cut, plus we are going so fast that we left the shot.

Once the article publishes we can post some of the photos that weren't used, Skipper did a masterful job of steering us around in light chop and a bit of a breeze.

Log of SCOUT.

Grumman Canoe SCOUT Outing 11 Apr 20

11 Apr 20:

Our Grumman 17 Double End canoe SCOUT went out for 30 minutes today, took us with it. After we got back I tried out paddling solo, with the stern end first, riding on the bow seat facing the stern. Balance was a lot better than going solo from the stern seat. Also tried kneeling just aft of amidships and rolling the canoe onto her chine a bit. Balance and control were great, but the knees probably wouldn't hold out too long.

File photoS of SCOUT.

SCOUT was originally olive drab. One of Jack's favorite boats.

Log of SCOUT.

Grumman 17 SCOUT 12 Nov 19 Leeboards

12 Nov 19:

Started fiddling with the leeboard thwart and leeboards that we bought for SCOUT. It did not come with instructions, so we need to gather a little more information and play around with it a bit. (One leeboard shown, there is one for each side).

Clips to grip the gunwale.

The leeboard carriage bolt has a squared shoulder that fits into the squared hole on the thwart.

The leeboard is held in position with a washer and a locking lever, not very well though, the leeboard droops. I looked at another thwart that we bought and it has homemade rubber washers between the leeboard and the aluminum thwart, that might make it sticky enough to keep the leeboard held horizontal.

The leeboard is shaped with a blunt leading edge and tapered trailing edge. At lesat I think that is how it goes. That is the only way that makes sense to me with how the handle cutouts are oriented.

Log of SCOUT.

Grumman 17 SCOUT 21 Sep 18 Shark's Teeth

21 Sep 18:

Traced the shark's teeth design on SCOUT's port side and transferred it over to starboard.

Outlined the teeth. Brushed on the base coat of Kirby's Marynard Bray Off White, thinned with Penetrol, with a cheapo art brush.

We kept the pattern if anyone needs to put shark's teeth on any of their boats, like GANNETT or NELLIE BELLE.

Port side got second coat of paint.

After we get a second coat on the starboard side we'll add the tongue and a black border.

After we get a second coat on the starboard side we'll add the tongue and a black border.

Log of SCOUT.

Grumman 17 SCOUT 12 Sep 18 Side Paint

12 Sep 18:

TS Gordon come and gone, landfall around Gulfport MS. 6 inches of rain, 35 mph peak wind.

Safe to paint again. Sprayed the sides of SCOUT with Rust-Oleum Anodized Bronze and Sand colors. Feathered the edges. This will be an experiment, not sure how the paint will stick to the aluminum long term.

Used some photos as a reference to free hand the shark's teeth. Painted the first coat with Kirby Paint White.

SCOUT was one of the early Grumman 17s built in Marathon, mid 1950s we're thinking, based on the serial number.

Log of SCOUT.

Grumman 17 SCOUT 03 Sep 18 Repaint

03 Sep 18:

As a result of playing Boat Tetris in prep for Tropical Storm Gordon, the Canoe Works are now open. Our Grumman 17 double ender SCOUT is going to get a field expedient combat paint job.

SCOUT will get a tribute paint scheme to the American Volunteer Group Flying Tigers, they defended China against the Japanese before the US entered WWII.

I thought I could spot spray a few areas, but there were too many scratches with flaked paint edges and start of corrosion. Sanded scratched paint areas with 120 grit on a randome orbital sander to get rid of sub surface corrosion and give the aluminum some tooth for paint to grab onto.

Taped a waterline for the light gray fuselage bottom.

Transferred waterline to opposite side with our cool cloth tape measure. To make it easy I slid the tape back until an inch or half inch line was centered on the keel, in this case 9 inches, then doubled the number to 18 and marked the opposite line with a small strip of tape. We marked about every foot or so.

Starboard side waterline. Started a long strip of tape, about 4-5 feet and laid a fair curve close to the small tape markers. Found a few math errors and adjusted.

Painted the bottom with Kirby Light Gray cut with 50% White to make Light Light Gray, brushed with a Corona Trim brush. George told me it would have been optimum to brush a coat of primer first but I was too excited. If it comes off I'll redo it or call it battle damage. With the 95F heat index we had I found it best to lay down two brush widths vertical then tip it horizontal, had to work it fast before it got tacky.

Bottom of "fuselage" painted.

Test area to see if I could blend in the Patina Bronze base paint for the side. Liked the clean taped line better. The test area will be painted over with the shark's teeth. As I finished the side the first gust front from TS Gordon blew through, 35 mph gust. Had to move SCOUT into the Carriage House and she bunked with ZIP. Also had to pick a few pine needles off of the tacky paint!

Port bow, worked on the pattern for the shark's teeth.

Log of SCOUT.