Storm 17 panel kit - The story so far

[Ray]

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!

[Ray]

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.

[Ray]

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.

[Ray]

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.

[Ray]

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.

[Ray]

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.

[Ray]

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.

[Ray]

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.

[Ray]

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.

[Ray]

COPPER WIRE: This is what it used.

[Ray]

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.

[Ray]

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.

[Ray]

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.

[Ray]

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.

[Ray]

SEATS: I trimmed some hardwood offcuts to 7mm x 14mm and used this for the seat outer supports.