Swallow Yachts Association
Swallow Yachts Forum => Home Builders' Area => Topic started by: Ray on 19 Nov 2007, 10:29
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That day arrived when I knew I wanted to build a 'traditional type' sailing boat. My internet search began and eventually led me to Swallow Boats. The Storm range was beautiful and the 17' looked perfect. Traditonal looks combined with modern design and materials.
They did not sell plans but mentioned a panel kit. Living half way across the world it's pointless importing and shipping things that are available locally. So I contacted Matt for more information.
The 'kit' would be all the plywood panels and parts cut to shape. It would include a detailed instruction manual; parts lists for all hardwood parts, parts list for all hardware ( screws, nuts, bolts, etc), a list of all marine fittings, reduced size plans and sectional views, and a photo cd - mainly of the rigging, interior fittings and outboard installation. The rest of the stuff I could buy locally.
My order went in and I waited for the kits arrival. I got the documentation seperately.
Some weeks later a 8' x 4' pallet arrived with a well wrapped and packed stack of plywood sandwiched between it and a sheet of protective MDF board. I had a moments disappointment that there was nothing 'boat like' in evidence and the 72mm thickness of 'boat' on the pallet was not more impressive.
Cutting off the strapping and removing the protective board and plastic wrapping revealed a much more exciting sight. Beautifully cut and shaped plywood pieces. Ten sheets of 6mm and one of 12mm. There was clearly a boat in there somewhere.
The manual is virtually a book on 'stitch & glue' boat building and tells you exactly what to do and how to do it.
It was time to start!
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I have been working on the Storm 17 for a few months now ( slow + steady) and like to believe that I am about half way through the building.
Matt has been incredibly helpful and patient answering all my questions - many of which were already covered in the manual.
I have enjoyed the pictures and comments from other builders and have found them great for boosting my enthusiasm and confidence in working through a project like this.
I will post some of my own and hope that they possibly also benefit a few future builders.
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Tools: A few basic DIY tools will get you a long way. I have drilled hundreds of poles and driven hundreds of clamping screws (cross, pan head). A cordless drill for both these jobs is great. My old battery screwdriver is too weak for much driving, but it is comfortable to use.
I bought, as recommended, an orbital sander and after 5 minutes of 'testing', I went and bought a suitable vacuum to attach to it. This makes sanding, especially the glass tape, much more pleasant. There is almost no dust with the vacuum.
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Cleaning up the panels:
I used a plane to clean up the securing tabs on the panels but it would have been quicker and easier to use a saw and a sanding block. Most of the edges end up under tape or within the gunwales.
Joining up the panels:
The scarf joins looked tricky. I used a hand plane working across the panels, holding the plane at an angle resting on the stack. Worked well for me.
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The joining jigs work brilliantly. A good idea I came across is to protect the plywood either side of the scarf with packaging tape. This leaves the completed join neater and with less epoxy/filler overflow to sand smooth. A light touch with a belt sander and the joins looked good.
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SOURCING THE HARDWOOD: I tried to obtain similar woods as were recommended by Swallow Boats. Matt was helpful once again in this regard.
Once you know the sizes of the raw wood, you can sit with a pencil and paper and fit all the various parts into the uncut pieces to produce your cutting list. Remember to allow for the saw blade thickness.
It looks to be a mammoth job to 'kit' all the harwood but you don't need it all at once.
The only harwood you need early in the build is the wood for the rebated gunwale. I had a few months work before I needed the next bits for the keel/stem and stern.
A friend with a table saw helped to cut the harwood to size as I needed it.
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GUNWALES: Mine needed two scarf joins on each piece. The scarfs were cut using a jig on a table saw. It's worth getting some help here. If they are all cut at the same time they fit perfectly and it only takes minutes to have them all cut.
I also cut the inner gunwale rebate on a table saw.
After thinning down one gunwale with a hand plane, I decided to buy an electric plane to do the rest. Even after thinning in plan and side view, the inner gunwale needed quite a lot of force to conform to the hull panel over the last foot or so at the stern.
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STITCHING THE PANELS:
I found suitable copper wire in the form of heavy braided cable (uninsulated)at an electrical supplies business. Two thicknesse have worked well; 1.2mm for all general stitching and approx 1.5mm for where extra strength is needed at the stem and stern.
The 1.2mm is easy to work with and is easier on the fingers but it will break if over tightened. Tie your stitches in the same way every time so you know whether you are tightening or loosening them without having to look. It's a great sight when that hull takes on a shape in front of you.
Where the panels meet at a small angle ( near bow), I sometimes needed more than a screw driven into the join to hold them in alignment. Here I used one of the many offcut alignment tabs (covered with packaging tape) screwed across the join.
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FITTING THE BULKHEADS: I needed a few helpers to get the bulkheads in and aligned. It takes a lot of force to get them down into the hull. Watch out for that dowel when tightening the chord.
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COPPER WIRE: This is what it used.
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EPOXY WORK:
SP Systems epoxy was readily available to me so I used it ( SP 106)rather than West systems 105. The spec sheet with the 106 gives some excellent guidelines on mixes for ahesives and high and low density fillets. I also read the whole user manual on the West Systems website. It gives a huge amount of useful information. Another useful guide was a note on SP filler powders I found on the website of: marineware.com.
I used a scale for mixing epoxy rather than pumps. Accuracy is guaranteed.
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WAXY SURFACE: AMINE BLOOM: I washed all epoxy with a 3M Scotch course scourer. This worked well. I did use a nylon fabric (peel ply) along the bottom hull join and in some other places. This removes any bloom and leaves the surface ready for any subsequent bonding or laminating. You tear it off when the epoxy is cured.
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TAPING THE HULL:
I used 410g biaxial cloth cut into 100mm strips with a rotary cutter for joining the hull panels. I had to replace the blade after this ( I borrowed it from my wife). There are advantages and disadvantages of this heavier tape. You only need one piece of glass tape for each join instead of two. It's twice as strong as all the glass is working across the join. The edge that needs to be sanded away is thicker so you have to sand for longer. The edge of your rotary sander does this quite well. Be prepared to change 80 grit sheets often.
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KEEL, STEM, STERN: This was satisfying work. The templates worked fantastically. I needed one small adjustment( 3mm) at the stem. I did everything from outside the hull - just used very long screws. Use an old saw to cut out the centreboard slot - it'll never be the same.
OUTER GUNWALE: Some help and a good few clamps will be necessary. You need quite a bit of force at the stern to get the gunwale to lie flat.
BEWARE: You may start to daydream and waste a lot of time just looking at the beautiful shape you will now be working on.
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SEATS: I trimmed some hardwood offcuts to 7mm x 14mm and used this for the seat outer supports.
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RUDDER + CENTREBOARD:
When I need a break from sanding or epoxy work I carry on with some other pleasant jobs. I joined up the c/board some time ago after filling the cut out with some old lead flashing and epoxy. It now weighs 8Kg which feels pretty heavy when you move it around the workshop. This is before shaping.
I Liked the look of the rudder in the photo CD so I made some changes to the standard ply parts. I added 12mm cheeks to either side of the ply rudder. I fitted a thin strip of hardwood 3mm to the front and back of the upper rudder - cutting away where necessary. My tiller was cut from 48mm thick hardwood and this will have 15mm cheeks.
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Many thanks for the updates Ray, it is great to see your boat developing!
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I lost my building momentum after having a bit of a problem filleting in the one seat side panel and mini bulkhead. My fillets sagged and looked pretty messy. It slowed down progress while I worked out how to fix it. This was also at a busy time in my 'day job' so nothing really happened for a few weeks, and then it was time for summer holidays.
Well I'm back in full 'building mode and things are progressing.
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I had to resort to modelling clamps to hold the hardwood strips along the seats. They worked perfectly.
I was reliewed to finally get the Kingplank cut out. This has been the most difficult job of them all so far. I made a template and had some help from a friend with a router table. The decks fit the rebate neatly. I drilled out the corners of the mast and sampson post cut outs and used a jig saw to remove the bits between. a file did the rest.
The centreboard case is ready for cleaning up and making the top seat piece.
I amd basically just going step by step through the instruction manual and it's working out great.
The motor well is complete and ready for cutting out for the outboard. This can wait for a while.
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Hello All,
Thanks to Ray in South Africa for posting these photos and keeping us up to date.
I just wanted to say that prospective builders do not need to buy 100's of small clamps like this to complete the boat. You can use temporary screws to hold while gluing, which are provided in the full kit.
Best wishes,
Matt Newland
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Had a few problems getting onto the forum for a while. Progress continues.
Made up a guide for drilling the U bolt in the stem.
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I have still to fit the Colour break line then the decks can be fitted. Here a few pictures of progress to date.
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Have had a few distractions which have slowed me down a bit. I am moving along well again and the list of things to do is getting shorter.
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Rudder ftest fitted.
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I decided to seal all the plywood in epoxy. It feels like its a lot of extra work but is supposed to be worth it. Time will tell. I am now filling and sanding and sealing before 'final sanding'. I will then put on two coats of International Pre-cote followed by As many coats as neccessary of Brightside. I have already used this under the deck and in the compartments. It went on surprisingly well using a small foam roller and a brush to smooth.
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I have started on the yard and mast while waiting for epoxy to cure. I've shown my long 'workbench' which is working well so far. I have had to cut quite a few scarfs as my timber had some odd grain in areas. When I bent it by putting one end on the floor and 'leaning' on it, it snapped in some places so I have removed any suspect grain. I am using 10mm Douglas Fir. This is going to be a true test of scarf joins!
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I did my last scarf join for the mast and yard yesterday. I have avoided this part of the job. I set up positioning blocks and spacers so the pieces being joined could not slide about. Seemed quite simple by the last one!
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Another job that I have left for months has been the final shaping of the centreboard and rudder. Well now they are complete and ready for epoxy sealing. A plane was much quicker than a sander for initial shaping. I left the trailing edges just over 3mm thick (maybe a bit less likely to be damaged).
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Motor set-up. I did a final check of my motor set up (Honda 2HP) this weekend. It looks right to me. I had to lower the transom between 35 and 45mm to get the lower shaft (and it's odd shapes) to fit neatly at the lower hull cut out. I was worried that the motor might be a bit low but when I test fitted the rudder and tiller the clearance looked about right. Great relief.
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I needed a wedge of about 13 degrees for the motor to lie correctly.
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Epoxy sealing and sanding seems to go on forever. When tired of it and needing a break I got going with the mast and yard.
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I rounded the end of the yard after this initial shaping. I drilled all the holes and made up the yard jaws. I will be varnishing these parts.
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Here's what one of the scarfs looks like.
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The mast was next. I put several joiner blocks between the sides when joining. When completed with the front and back I used a belt sander to clean off all the epoxy runs. Here'e the end view before I rounded the edges with a plane and rough sandpaper. I hand sanded it all to a smooth finish.
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Then it was back to completing the hull for final sanding and sealing . I cleaned up the floor area before fitting the floorboards. The weights between the screws helped keep the boards flat. I cleaned up as much epoxy as possible before it set. It's worth going back and doing it a few times as the epoxy squeezes out for a while before it hardens. This will save you a lot of work later. A Stanley knife blade makes a great scraper for removing the excess epoxy when cured. Break it in half and square off the one side on a grinder.
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I now have 99% of the hull sealed with epoxy. Unfortunately you always sand through somewhere and have to re-coat and re-sand. This could go on forever so I have finished off these spots with International yacht primer ( this sands effortlessly). You reach the point where you decide it's ready for undercoating!
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I hope to launch my Storm 17 before the end of the year ( gives me 3.5 weeks). Super optomist?
My sons have now got involved in the finishing and it's making a big difference. I hope I can keep them motivated.
Getting the undercoating started feels good. THE BEGINNING OF THE END!
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Two coats of Brightside later and the topsides of the hull are basically done. I am leaving the gunwales to last. I am rushing a little so that we can be on the water before the end of the year. I should have sanded and touched up the undercoat a little more before final coats. Still, it looks pretty good. I can always sand it all and give a final coat after 'sea trials'.
We will be turning the hull over later today to start on the outside.
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Here a few more pictures showing progress.I mixed a little colour into the second undercoat. We then put on two final coats of colour, sanding between coats.
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I painted the gunwales and CBL on Christmas morning. Everything was fitted in the next few days and on 30th we were ready to launch.
It was a fantastic feeling to see all that work floating for the first time.
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Our first sail took place on the Breede river which enters the sea about 100 kilometers from the southern-most tip of Africa. Has a Swallow boat ever been further south than this? Everything worked as it should and it all went well (with my limited experience) and I will enjoy getting to know her and adjusting things as needed.
The sense of satisfaction and achievement is wonderful. A few sheets of plywood can end up looking like this - amazing. Eighteen months of pretty focussed work, mainly alone, and I have a fantastic boat. My two sons put in a lot of work on the painting and sanding and I would never have finished by year end without their efforts.
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I referred to the photos that Matt gave me with the manual often and found them a great help in getting a particular job done or just as a source of inspiration when the work was a bit slow. I also looked through this forum many times for ideas and energy and have enjoyed the photos of other builders. I have included many of my own in this build and hope that some new builders find them useful.
Here are a few that show some ideas/solutions that I am quite pleased with.
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Ray, your boat looks wonderful, you should feel very proud. I was in Cape Town earlier this month. I should have come along the coast to see you sailing!
I think you are going to enjoy yourself, I am full of envy!
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Ray,
very impressive. Hat off to you and Ahoi! to that lovely boat.
Now it's on the water, what project next?
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Julian and Claus,thanks for the nice comments. Here a few more photos of details.
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Hi Ray
I would just like to add my congratulations on your build of the boat and thanks for the very clear pictures. They have been studied! and will be a great help as I embark on my own build of a Storm 17. Just waiting for the kit and the warmer weather. (There is 6" of snow just now)
New member and first post
Bill