the Stornaway

by ROBERT CARTER
I had pulled into a service station to get petrol and a chap drove up beside me with a boat on a trailer. I was immediately mesmerised. Here was the boat I had been dreaming about for most of my life! I had to go up and walk around it, bend down and look at the underwater shape.

building

asked the owner where he got it and if he wanted to sell it. No mate, I wouldnt sell this for anything. was the answer. However, he told me it was built by Scruffie Marine some mob in Queensland. I found them on the Internet and I soon had a set of study plans and photographs of their range of boats.The one that impressed me was the Stornaway design. The very name smacked of the sea and the windswept island off Scotland. It had the look of a working boat and obviously designed by someone with a familiarity with working craft used around the British Isles. It fitted my needs to a tee. Firstly it looked like a boat and it looked like a boat from every angle. As a lover of traditional craft, I could never be contented with a plastic boat shaped like a running shoe! For years now I have been browsing through boating magazines, particularly those from the UK looking for my dream boat. Heaps of designs but the task of
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the need for a centreboard. Another requirement was that it would be able to use the mast, spars and sails that I acquired from a late friend who had a gaff cutter of similar size. He had equipped his 1940s built 18 boat with a new rig but sadly the boat could not last the distance. Thankfully their size and shape closely matched those specified. All the traditional bronze fittings were there on good, solid, clear Oregon spars.Another incentive in using this rig was that my friend was a Cape Horner and had sailed around Cape Horn in 1935 in the Finnish four masted barque Herzogin Cecilie. I felt that this might inject some heritage into my craft. His name was Dennis Adams, AOM and a fellow marine artist.
Frames set up on keel.

Engine mount and bearers.

My apologies to Derek Ellard of Scruffie Marine for not following his design faithfully. My pure gaff rig would replace his lugsail rig. The fact that Denniss rig was from a gaff cutter meant that I still had to construct a mizzenmast. This was another fact in choosing the Stornaway. I am a yawl or ketch devotee. As I paint marine pictures, I think they look prettier but the real reason is that they can be adapted readily to heavy weather conditions. The jib/mizzen combination has been acclaimed by many over the years as a safe and reliable method of coping with a strong wind while keeping the vessel balanced. As the foot of my mainsail was 300mm longer than that specified, I pushed the mizzen back this amount which was balanced by the fact that my bowsprit was this much longer and my jib longer on the foot also. In having to acquire a mizzen I decided to opt for a bermudan sail rather than the lugsail that was specified. The reason being that in sailing single handed I could cope with dropping a sail on a track without having to wrestle with the yard as it came down. Another feature of the Stornaway design that was of great benefit was the fact that it has a shoal draught and I like the idea of nosing ashore on beaches. It would be able to float in less than 600mm of water, supporting my need of not having to raise or lower a centreboard without a crew. My boat would also be used on Narrabeen Lake where there are quite a few sandbanks. Another adaptation was an inboard engine rather than an outboard. I hate outboards on traditional craft as they just dont look right. The only trouble with an inboard was that the smallest available was unnecessarily large for the boat. I had fixed in my mind the putt-putt engines I had been familiar with as a boy but they had disappeared 30 years ago. Then by chance I discovered that someone was still building them and three months later I found

compressing good looks and practical requirements into 18ft (5.5m) seems to be too much for most designers. I had quite a few telephone conversations with Derek Ellard, the Managing Director of Scruffie Marine and his prenatal advice convinced me that once again I should father a boat. The specifications for the last sailing boat in my life were: Wooden, good traditional looks, gaff rig, small enough to sail solo yet have the space to take out four or five people, trailable and able to sit on a mooring without blowing over, a large open cockpit where I would spend most of my time but have a small cuddy to escape rain and a place to keep gear. It also had to be able to take a small inboard engine. This meant that there would be no room for a centreboard, not that I wanted to be bothered with one anyway. This was a major reason in my choosing this boat. It had a full-length ballasted keel about 300mm deep, which obviated
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Canting hull to fit bottom panels.

myself a proud owner of a 4hp single cylinder Blaxland Rae petrol engine, unchanged from its original design of 1904. Scruffie Marine supplies kits or a finished boat. The kit appealed to me as having built 10 boats during my lifetime I knew I would get a lot of fun in building it. The kit does not eliminate the need for skill but saves time, both in marking out and sourcing materials. There would be no fooling around with a table of offsets as the frames and panels are partly cut out but still part of 2400 x 1200mm plywood sheets. The components still require accurate finishing and fitting which is all part of the fun. The kit also saves money as the sawn and dressed timber supplied with the kit is roughly at the required length. You dont end up with a lot of expensive offcuts. The greatest hurdle for anyone wanting to build a boat at home is keeping ones better half happy, and their having to put up with a portion of the yard being converted into a construction zone and having to tolerate the abandonment of all the odd jobs around the place for a year. Finding the right place to build it and then getting it out of the yard needs a lot of thought. I dont have a shed but am very fortunate. I live on the shore of Narrabeen Lake, so my boat would take shape under the stars and slide down the ways into the water just as a boat should. The down side of this was covering it up and putting it to bed each evening and unwrapping it in the mornings. The keel comes already assembled with the lead ballast imprisoned inside. As provision had to be made for the propeller shaft, I made a drawing of the profile of the engine and the clutch assembly

Removable slats to close off cuddy.

Inside cuddy 2 x 6ft berths. Australian Amateur Boatbuilder 11

Engine mounted prior to cladding hull.

Foredeck with anchor cathead.

and Derek assembled the keel with a cavity for the shaft at the correct angle.The large flywheel, which is on the opposite side of the engine to the propeller and its clearance over the keel, dictated the angle of the shaft. The cuddy bulkhead determined the engines fore and aft position. The engine had to be in the open rather than inside the

cuddy for space and safety reasons and also to maintain fore and aft trim. This meant that the full cabin version of the design, which has a small galley, could not be used. Anyway the cuddy looks more attractive and less boxlike. It all fitted in perfectly, with engine controls (throttle lever on the carburettor and earthing switch on the magneto) within easy reach of the steering position. Rather than covering the engine with a box, I constructed a wide removable thwart over the engine, bridging the side seats. This had several advantages. It protects feet and limbs from coming in contact with the flywheel, it is an extra seat and the pretty little, bright red engine with its polished bronze carburettor bowl can still be seen and admired. The dog clutch and shaft couplings had to be covered up completely as they could be a very effective meat mincer. I had to find a place for the petrol tank. Its outlet had to be at least 300mm higher than the carburettor. (No petrol pump problems here!) This meant that it could not be under a side deck. The forepeak was an ideal place. The design specifies this space as the anchor well with an open top. I decided to deck it over and have the anchor hitched up externally on a cathead with only the anchor rope in the forepeak, sharing this space with the tank. I made a square cover for this space to keep out water. This forepeak has drain holes, port and starboard and this was ideal if there happened to be a petrol leak at any time or to drain off water from a wet anchor rope.The 6mm copper fuel line which goes through each frame forward of the cuddy bulkhead had to be fitted early before

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the deck went on. The tank came fitted with its own sludge trap and isolating cock but this was awkward to reach, so I installed another cock within the cockpit area to turn off the fuel for brief periods and for maintenance on the carburettor. The fore peak bulkhead is completely sealed so there is no chance for petrol vapour to get into the cuddy. The exhaust is a wet type and after the muffler box the exhaust pipe is led to the side of the boat up under the deck and out just under the gunwale via a gunmetal clam. The exhaust is 50mm copper tube with two elbows, connected up in two places with rubber exhaust hose. This arrangement allowed the exhaust pipe to make two 90 bends and at the same time utilises the flexibility of the hose to tolerate vibration and make it easy for it to pass from the muffler box up through the seat and then through the side of the boat. The engine mounts required some thought. Obviously the mass of the engine had to directed to the keel, which relative to the length of the boat, is massive. (50mm x 200) I made two athwart-ship bearers out of 50mm beech, scooped out in the middle to clear the ends of the crankcase, and bolted on to the keel. These were supported by four pieces of 50 x 50 x 6 angle bolted to the keel. The outboard ends of these bearers were then bolted into fore and aft supports running between the adjacent frames.The engine is bolted down with four x 3/8 bolts. This was all done before the sides and bottom were fitted. It was convenient to stand on the ground between the frames to plot and fit the engine mounts and then lift the engine through the frames.With a deep breath one can manage to lift the engine if exhaust box, magneto and carburettor have been removed. Once on the bearers, one can juggle it around in comfort. Prior to this I had to place the engine in position and pack it up on bits of wood, held in place with rope and G clamps to get it lined up with the shaft. This allowed me to measure how high the bearers had to be. The forard bearer is higher than the after one and the tops of both are angled. I decided to leave 6mm for spacers under the engine mounting flanges and these would be filed down or packed for final lining up. It would have been an enormous task to do all this crouching inside a finished boat and more than my 75-year-old joints could take.

The shaft is 20mm stainless steel with an old fashioned, flanged gunmetal stuffing box at each end.These were supplied with the engine and have not changed since motors first went to sea. I wont be too descriptive about building the hull as most readers will either be very familiar with V bottom hull construction or will be able to follow the very comprehensive building instructions that are supplied. The chines are well rounded and this enhances the appearance as well as improving performance. It is built upright and it is suggested in the instructions to turn the boat over to clad the bottom. In my situation I could not turn the boat over so I canted the boat at 45 to put on one half of the bottom and 45 the other way to put on the other half. Both sides and bottom panels are in three pieces which meant they had to be joined. I was somewhat concerned about this as I imagined that there would be a tell tale lump where they met. A butt strap was used rather than a scarf and this allowed a perfect continuous curve to be maintained. As a retired engineer I am very taken with the structural adequacy of the design. The boat is quite light for its length and beam and I felt no temptation to add to or beef up any of the components although the design provides for two

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down towards the stern. Moving the mizzen position further aft meant that I needed a short stern bumpkin for the sheet. I integrated this with the mast tabernacle. I could not resist adding a few unnecessary but artistic adornments. I fitted a fiddlehead with scrollwork to the stemhead, which gave it the look of a clipper bow. I also left a strake of varnished wood 100mm wide below the gunwale contained within a false sheerplank. I also made a varnished timber companionway hatch rather than the canvas one that was specified, as I wanted to be able to lock up the cuddy when it was on a mooring. I used some Cedar lining board left over from a renovation in my house to make five panels 150mm deep that would be slid into place to close the companionway into the cuddy. Hinged doors are always in the way unless kept closed and the five panels can be stowed out of the way. Another unspecified but useful addition was the provision of rowlocks. There have been times in my past, when, because of no wind I have motored. This was fine until the petrol ran out or the motor refused to go. This is a classic example of being up the creek without a paddle. I suppose I would never have been tempted to fit rowlocks but because another great friend gave me two oars, that had been made in the 40s I had to use them. These were two beautifully shaped pieces of Spruce created when oar-making was a trade and all oars were made to a formula. Scraped back and varnished they would be there as a show-piece and also to get me home if necessary. The removable thwart, mentioned earlier, now had a further function to sit on, when rowing. Where to stow them where they would not be in the way? I havent worked that out yet but lashed to the forward mizzen stay is likely. All wooden components were painted with at least two coats of epoxy before assembly and any region that could collect water were given two more coats. I also put rock salt in the buoyancy chambers in case rain crept in.

Granddaughter Holly helps with marking the waterline.

extra optional bottom stringers per side, which I fitted. However because of the propeller cutout in the skeg and my paranoia about rudders falling off, I welded up special gudgeons that would not be out of place on a 30 footer. Dereks design calls for a boom-less, loose-footed mainsail, which is ideal if the boat is trailed. However I had inherited a boom with a bronze gooseneck that fitted on to a bronze spider band and it just had to be used. Also as I intended mooring the boat I needed a boom tent to keep out the rain. As the boom is about 400mm above the cuddy there is not much chance of a head injury. It is also useful in supporting an awning if one is at anchor, fishing. The design has the un-stayed mizzenmast being stepped into a hole through the after deck. While salt water cant harm a boat, I was uneasy about rainwater getting into this cavity on the mooring. This meant that this mast had to be stepped on deck, necessitating stays.As there cant be a forestay supporting the mast this had to be achieved by having two stays each side, the forard ones being about 400mm forard of the mast. Moving the mast back proved to be an advantage as this stay was within the area of the afterdeck. The main boom, swinging in an arc would clear it adequately. The aftermost stay would support the mast with wind abaft the beam.When striking the masts, the mizzen will pivot down forwards and the main mast pivots
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I painted inside the cuddy white for brightness and the cockpit, seats, deck and cuddy roof, buff colour to reduce glare. The latter tends to enhance the working boat appearance and used up a lot of Weathershield acrylic paint that I had left over from painting my house. I reasoned that Duluxs claim that their product gives protection for 10 years was good enough for my boat. I used Dereks technique of using a paint roller to stipple the surface of the partly dry paint with great success. There is an adequate grip without the sandpaper affect of commercial non-skid paints. The beauty of using acrylic house paint for these surfaces is that touching up is so easy as it dries quickly and it is inexpensive compared with marine paints. I used a two part polyurethane paint for the topsides and underwater, a copper based paint. There is sufficient varnished bright work to give an attractive contrast. To mark the waterline I devised the following. As the ground slopes towards the water the boat was built on a six metre plank 50mm thick x 200mm wide. One end of this plank sits on a wood bearer flat on the ground and the other end on a trestle about 600mm high.The plank is dead level and has a central support.The keel sits on this plank on two 50mm blocks. With a straight piece of timber as a straight edge, resting on the plank, the waterline was marked off at 150mm intervals from a vertical piece clamped to the straightedge. A builders level was placed on the straightedge and levelled just before each mark was made on the side. This gave

a perfectly level row of marks along which the masking tape was lined up. As I got to within several weeks of completion I started to feel pangs of sorrow that it was all over. Even though my boat would be moored not 10 metres from where it took shape, I found myself looking for little jobs that would keep it on the stocks a bit longer. It took just over a year from the time the kit was delivered. My building time rarely exceeded two full days per week. As I came from a manufacturing engineering background I probably had some skills that benefited me, mainly in planning the work and utilising my time efficiently. I kept small jobs for brief periods on days when I had other commitments. The veranda around my house became a storage and work area when it rained. I applied a bit of science in launching the boat plus the labours of four grandchildren. Using pipe rollers, the boat was pushed back along the plank until there was no load on the trestle, which was then removed. This allowed the end of the plank to be lowered to the ground with no effort. A metre in front of the plank there is a low wall. Another plank was dynabolted to it using a piece of angle iron.This plank sloped down into the water and the boat rolled itself down this inclined plane with a person on each side to keep it upright. It floated!! I named my boat Libby after Elizabeth my wife! Well, I did say earlier that it is important to keep ones better half happy! I

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