hi everyone, Im 18 and have been sailing toppers, darts, and lasers for a wile, i work as an apprentice carpenter and thought a wooden dinghy in need of repair would be a good idea, then saw advertised a cheap wooden scorpion in awful condition, but it was cheap, no rotten wood and the trailer looked sound so went for it knowing nothing about it. yes.... BAD IDEA!
The hull had no rigging on it just a just a hull with pealing varnish, a bag of a sails and what looked like a wooden scorpion mast and boom, got it home and had a go at rigging it up and the mast and sails turned out to be ones of a mirror dinghy! very disheartening! however not giving up i have striped all the hull back to bear wood repaired the bad bits... basically the stern of the dinghy got a whole new plate of wood screwed and glued on. and everything re-varnished and re painted.
Now i have got to the point of its nice outside and i want to be on the water can i make the mirror dinghy rigging work on the scorpion hull? (it has all been re varnished and made good)
The blocks would have to be moved on the boom for centre rigging and shrouds and forstay would have to be lashed as they are 30cm to short.
any ideas? i dont think i can really afford to get a scorpion mast, boom, and sails.
PS the hull has number 701 engraved on the centre stringer does anyone know what year is was built or anything about it?
Well done with the resurrection of 701 (That is its official number & there are people in the Scorpion fleet, much better informed than I, who will be able to tell about its history.)
Not at good idea to graft a Mirror rig onto a Scorpion. It would look like a horror show, be very underpowered & be sure to disappoint you. Much better to try & blag the bits you need through the forum here. I have an old main & jib that you are welcome to have. You don't say where you are based. If it's near Looe I can bring them down for you next week when I come to the Nationals there. otherwise you might like to come & pick them up from Nottingham where my home club is.
Now it is just the case of waiting to see who else is reading this post; who may have an unwanted mast & boom laying around, or at least one of each that are going very cheaply! You might also try the new Boat Suppliers, listed on Boats heading on the main Scorpion website, to see what they have lying around in thier write-off/scrap piles.
aw reading through some of the forms here everyone seems really nice. Thanks Nicki, yeah thought it would be a bit under powered (no capsizes, and cant miss out on them thats the best part). a scorpion rig on the hull would be a proper job! thats really nice of you to offer me the sails.. unfortunately i wont be at the nationals, i live near Bournemouth, would it be possible to post them and arl cover the cost or something?
do you have a email address and i can send you my address if you are up for sending them?
then arl just look out for mast and boom, and can you buy shrouds and a forstay or if anyone has any they dont want?
There is a scorpion mast and boom on Ebay at present ->link<- Collect from Southampton. It's currently going for £1.04 and the auction ends at 10pm today -- (Sails and centreplate also on offer from the same seller)
Judging by the notes at the bottom of the Ad - the seller will be in Looe next week - who is it??
Scorpion 701 built in 1966 and named G-Whiz in 1968 when it was owned by a D. Budgen and sailed at Clyde Civil Service Sailing Club, still the same owner and club in 1971
Please phone me on 0115 9336 335 to tell me your address for sending the sails to. Best to call me tomorrow or Friday during the day when I am back in the office. I won't be able to send them off until I am back from Looe in the week commencing 09 August.That should be no problem; you need a mast & boom first & then you need to rig them to the boat. Put a bid on that ebay lot before 10 tonight & you could soon be sailing.
Better save it for the Nationals then, just in case Terry can''t make it !
However (Curt), - if you get the kite you'll need a pole, I have some twin poles, and/or a single-ended single pole you could have (most boats have double-ended single poles now).
Hey everyone. I got that mast and boom of ebay the bid ended at £45, thats alright isnt in? thanks jane for the ebay tip been looking for bit on there but nothing came up when i searched for some reason, apart from a couple of nice look scorpions all rigged. no mirror rigs in sight!
never sailed with a kite before whats it like? just to clarify a kite isnt a nick name for a spinnaker is it?
£45 sounds like a good price for what appeared to be in the ebay photograph: it all looked quite complete with shrouds, spreaders, halliards, a main sheet(?) & perhaps a kicker too. Just make sure that all these bits are still with the spars when you pick them up.
Yes, a kite is a spinnaker and it's about time you sailed with one. Off-wind is just so boring without a spinnaker!
John & Chris: it might be a good idea for you to bring your spinnaker & pole to Looe. Then I can bring them back to Nottingham & send them off for Curt together with the main & jib. Curt: you might let John know if you want the single or twin poles, so he knows what to bring down to Looe.
Colin - I'll have a look in my attic when I go get this kite, but I'm not promising anything! I've got a 1967 in the garage but you specified no 2010 and above, so thats not much use to you.
theokritoff1 - As john says, it might be my only legal Kite for the nats so it will be there! Come and find me on the beach, no. 1967, Roller Coaster.
And just to emphasise for Curt YOU MUST HAVE A KITE!!!
I feel "Sail Scorpion - The friendly, helpful and generous class" is an accurate class moto.
Okay so... kite = is a must! Chris a kite would be amazing, put some real power into my dinghy. that would be really nice. thank you.
and thanks John, poles would be great, i have been advised that Single ended single pole would be the better suited, thanks so much for choise of the other onces tho.
Iv contacted Nicki and hes kindly sending me the main sheet and jib in the post and offerd to pick up the poles and kite from Looe over the weekend to put them all in the same package. if thats okay with John and Chris?
Im going to go pick up the mast and boom next week sometime and have asked if i could have the mast plate with it.
then get everything together, take a trip to the chandlery and sign my life away for cleats, blocks and bits and bobs and ARL BE ON THE WATER!
Arl post up some photos of the finished product! of course! also G-whiz (thanks Colin) will be lovinly re named 'Bumble' after my girl friend Bea and the yellow hull.
Hi Curt As you live near Bournemouth, if you wanted to pop down to Castle Cove SC in Weymouth, or Netley SC in Southampton I'm sure that there would be some willing people to help you out. I am from CCSC so perhaps you could crew "with a kite" to get the feel of it! We will all be down in Looe this week for our Nationals but let us know when you could pop down. Good luck with pulling things together! Kate