# Buying a Scampi 30 Mk 4



## Benjamin Curtis (May 29, 2015)

Hi All!

I'm looking at buying a Scampi 30, its in great shape, super well maintained and most importantly, its had the Yanmar removed in favour of an outboard. Can anyone tell me any other issues I should be looking for?

Ben


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## bobperry (Apr 29, 2011)

Ben: In their day the SCAMPI was the boat to beat. This boat put Peter Norlin on the map. I think they had hydraulic drive originally. That was not a good idea. From a design perspective it's a great boat.


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## bobmcgov (Jul 19, 2007)

Benjamin Curtis said:


> Hi All!
> 
> I'm looking at buying a Scampi 30, its in great shape, super well maintained and most importantly, its had the Yanmar removed in favour of an outboard. Can anyone tell me any other issues I should be looking for?
> 
> Ben


Hi Ben. The Scampi is sibling to Albin's Ballad 30 (which we own), but tweaked by Norlin for IOR rules of the day (hence the four versions). You might call it a race-optimized half tonner, while the Ballad is definitely a cruiser/racer that just happens to measure in. Anyhoo, one of the most notable differences was engine location: the Scampi had its diesel in the forepeak, often with a right-angle transmission. As I understand it, this was done to induce a nose-down trim and thus a shorter resting waterline for rating purposes.

Drive shaft then ran beneath the floorboards and exited the trailing edge of the keel. So the first thing to inspect, if your Scampi had the engine forward and to port, would be: How well was the shaft tube sealed up?

A moderate outboard should push the boat easily -- tho I wouldn't want to motor all day on one, you might have difficulty in waves with the prop staying in the water, and the boat was not originally set up for gasoline stowage.

Sailing qualities are said to be very good. Not as wild downwind as some of the more radical IOR designs (tho the headsails and kites are BIG), meh on a reach, and an absolute witch to windward. The Albin stable was famous for upwind sailing. Scampis carry significantly less ballast than the Ballad -- like, 1000 lbs less, 36% ballast ratio rather than 47% -- and will need bodies on the rail or earlier reefing to stand up in stronger winds.

IIRC, most Scampis had deck-stepped masts and some kind of compression arch/post design. You'd want to look at that arrangement for any sagging or rot. Also, have a good look at the chainplates. Designers at the time were lookingfor ways to reconcile large headsails with inboard sheeting positions, so you end up with some *ahem* creative methods for tying the shrouds to the hull and furniture. IIRC, the Scampi used tie rods and glassed-in anchors on half-knees; our Ballad used a bizarre collection of eyebolts and trusses to transfer rigging loads, since none of the chainplates coincides with a bulkhead.

Best of luck with the inspection, and here's a photo of a Scampi doing what it does best: hammering upwind in the nasty.


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## Bill Way (Nov 6, 2021)

There was never a drive shaft running from the forepeak to the rear of the keel. The early Scampis had a one-cylinder Farymann diesel engine with a hydraulic drive. (I don't know if this was changed with the Mark II etc.) There was a "driving" pump on the engine and a "driven" pump attached to the very short propeller shaft, connected by hydraulic lines. In between, there was a single valve with its lever in the cockpit. Push it to the right and you go forward; to the left for reverse. The more you push the lever, the faster the prop spins. The engine ran at a constant speed - there was no throttle. One advantage of this was that you could go from full-ahead to full-astern with no chance of the engine stalling out. The engines were mounted under the cockpit, but that put the boat's trim off (Peter Norlin's only big mistake) so most owners moved the engine up under the forepeak with hydraulic lines running aft. The trim was still bad, but the boat sailed better.


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