Shoud I do it? Caledonia Yawl or SCAMP

Help reader Nate Clapp make up his mind...

SCA reader Nate Clapp writes:

So. The two boats I am considering as my second build are very different from each other, yet they are the two that are highest contenders. One is a Caledonia Yawl. The other is a SCAMP.  

Currently I have a CLC Lighthouse Tender peapod, single lug.  It’s nice, but it fits two people uncomfortably, and even sailing solo, standard position is sitting on the floorboards in that design, and as I get older, I look longingly at boats that allow bench type seating.  

I would like to take more of my family (up to 4 people total) be able to sail single-handedly, trailersail, possibly also leave on mooring for the summer, and likely daysail only (although I appreciate both designs can accommodate some camp-cruising.)

I love lines of Caledonia, would like to sail a yawl, but appreciate the self draining cockpit of the Scamp.  The Caledonia shares some similarities in design to my current boat, whereas the Scamp less so. Scamp seems more robust if you capsize. Both have cockpits “that feel like a 20’ boat,” but one is 12’ (!).  Mainly I want a little room to spread out, sit normally, have guests aboard, and not have too much boat for the shoal-y shallow tidal waters I sail in Cape Cod Bay.  

I can put a motor on a Scamp easier, but I am ambivalent about motors, although getting out of a busy marina with the wind against me has been challenging sometimes. 

Anyway those are the parameters of the two I am considering. 

Feel free to give you two cents and advice for Nate in the comments below. —Eds

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