Contingencies.

The several things that the planning and pre building stage of project Teapot (SCAMP) build are contingent on.

Several pasts back I mentioned in the blog that I was considering building another boat ; specifically a John Welsford designed SCAMP cruising dinghy. I said even then that each stage of the build had a few contingencies already set in place so in this post I thought to talk about the various things that i’d decided had to be in place before I put hand to wood once again.

Contingency 1.

Firstly that the plans, which i’d already ordered, actually arrive : it’s been at least a month now and having not received them yet I thought that it was a message from the Gods not to start on the project. Even if and when the paper plans arrive that’s only part of the story as the actual build plan is based on being able to acquire the computer cutting file to send to a company in the UK that advertise as supplying the plywood and being able and willing to do the CNC cutting of parts which make up the kit.

Contingency 2.

Secondly, that I successfully sell some of the five items for sale on two different websites ; this is to go some way to making the material costs to start the build with. I have it in mind that I need to have £4000 set aside for the kit of parts which includes the plywood, the CNC machining and most of the non plywood timber. As of today I don’t have a full materials list and I haven’t included the cost of the machined timber I would want for a birdmouth style hollow wooden mast – clean Douglas Fir is now hugely expensive,

Contingency 3.

That not only the workshop but the outside build area both have a roof on ; the outside build space needs a new roof as well. Neither area has to be complete – in fact the decision to build or not will determine how each part of my working space will be set up. It also then impacts on my spending for new tools ; as it is there isn’t much I need for building a second boat – aside from some of my battery tools but there would be a lot more if I made the decision not to build a boat but focus on other projects instead.

Contingency 4.

Last on my list,for now, is the contingency or standard that I have set for myself and that of course relates to my most important personal project : in a few words, basically me and my health – notably my weight. As I think about and write this post i’m 8 Kg or roughly 8 % down from my starting weight. All well and good you might say but iv’e set the bar as getting to 20 Kg or 20% weight loss before I begin the build. That’s also because what might happen at around the same time the potential project begins is that I have to be in as good a physical/metabolic state as I can to have surgery again without having another stroke and light enough to put significantly less load on a revised knee replacement.

Blog, May 2026.

This week the plans still haven’t shown up so I still don’t have a materials list. I haven’t yet managed to track down a CNC cutting file and nor did I manage to sell any of the things I was trying to sell via ebay so the build budget sits at a big fat zero. At the moment then it’s not exactly a happening thing and the only positive progress is that I can hear builder Smithy and one of his mates putting the plastic membrane and the first 5 roof sheets in place – the final one having not been delivered yet.

Jackie does rolleyes.

For a little bit of light entertainment in a week where the project seems dead on it’s feet even before it’s begun I should explain Jackie’s reaction to this and several other things that have been happening. This week we’ve had several medical appointments between us and as one almost coincided with the other we went for a much needed coffee when both were done – we have a favorite hang out in the form of Bawden’s Bakery in the nearby village of Kelly Bray. Jackie had seen the previous post in which i’d admitted to thinking about and planning another boat build. Jackie says that the main reason she reads my blog posts is to find out what’s been going on in my head ; even when her response is to roll her eyes theatrically.

That was the first rolleyes/wtf moment and her eyes were still spinning when I explained a lot of my thinking behind the whole project ; for instance that my overall plan was not to keep the boat at home but keep it alongside in a local boatyard and do most of my trips from there as a base. The end point of the project I had in mind as my actual last sailing voyage before giving up completely. The kind of thing I had in mind was a proving voyage from the far west country, only stopping briefly in Devonport for supplies and then slowly doing the long passage along the south coast, through the Soylent, past the Forelands and around into the Thames estuary.

The Thames, in a way, is still one of my principal regrets as a sailor : all iv’e done is the one passage I did with Inanda many years ago and I was determined to go back and do a Maurice Griffiths inspired cruise around the many rivers and creeks there. Below is on of my all time favorite photographs : sunrise as seen from the Walton channel (Walton backwaters) where Griffiths himself lived aboard one of his boats for a while.