The ultimate cruising dinghy? - Testing Mary's SCAMP

Although under twelve feet long, this small sailing dinghy can comfortably accommodate four people on a daysail and a couple for overnighting or extended cruising. The SCAMP was created by New Zealand boat designer John Welsford for Small Craft Advisor Magazine in the USA, whose editors, Craig Wagner and Josh Colvin, were looking for a "Mini Microcruiser".

SCAMP number 1 was launched in 2010. Since then hundreds of plywood SCAMPs have been built all around the world, and a GRP model is available in the USA. The boat has developed a cult following, and Welsford considers it possibly his best design. The name SCAMP is fully capitalised, as it is an acronym for Small Craft Advisor Magazine Project.

Plans and kits of the SCAMP can be purchased from Duckworks in the USA, while complete fibreglass dinghies are available from Gig Harbor Boat Works in Washington state. In Europe, plywood kits have recently started to be produced by Newyd Marine in France.
www.duckworks.com
www.ghboats.com
www.newyd-marine.com

MUSIC
Lonely River - Roots and Recognition
I will be right there with you - Wendy Marcini
Footprints in the Sand - Roots and Recognition featuring Melanie Bell
- all from Epidemic Sound
www.epidemicsound.com

ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Mary Dooley

INTERESTED IN DINGHY CRUISING?
Read my book, 'The Dinghy Cruising Companion'
www.bloomsbury.com
And join the Dinghy Cruising Association:
www.dinghycruising.org.uk

AVEL DRO, my own boat, does not appear in this video.
Avel Dro is an Ilur designed by François Vivier, and built of clinker plywood by Les Charpentiers Reunis of Cancale in 1994. I bought her in France in 2003 to import her into the UK, and more recently returned her to France again. The design is based closely on the traditional inshore fishing boats of Brittany in the early years of the twentieth century – hence her simple boom-less lugsail rig and lack of a mainsheet horse, (sometimes controversial among my viewers). Although rare in Britain, Ilurs are relatively common in France. Modern Ilurs are slightly different from mine, as they have more built in buoyancy. The name Avel Dro is Breton, Avel = wind, Dro = to turn – so it means a whirlwind.
Length 4.44 m
Sail area 12.2 m²
Beam 1.70 m
Draught 0.25 / 0.86 m