Swift 419

[Michael4]

I collected Swift 419 just over a week ago. The previous owner very generously gave her to me along with lots of paperwork, association newsletters, measurement forms etc. Together with all this he also gave me meticulous instructions and drawings for the conversion of a Swift to Mk III. I'll wade through this lot later on and make them available for the archives. The boat is complete but due to the impending loss of the club site she needed a new home. He also lent me his trailer to get her home. I can see that cat trailer creation may well become something of a winter project...unless someone has something suitable going spare...

Back to the boat.
Built as a MKII in 1970, she has subsequently been converted to a MKIII. As I understand it the key differences being solid beams, trampoline, rolled decks, forestay bridle(?) and metal bar at the bow. Looking at the pictures he has given me, she has additional internal stiffening when compared to PeterV's boat and the gunwhales or rubbing strips have been removed.

First picture shows her as a MK III. Most of the pictures in this post were taken by the previous owner.

Swiftscan224 by dralowid, on Flickr

Note the hefty un-tapered swivelling mast which has quite a pronounced aerofoil section.

I don't have a date for these two pictures but Seabird (419) is still in MKII form and 510 (MK III) must surely be close to the end of production. I don't know when the Swift Association faded away.

Swiftscan227 by dralowid, on Flickr

Swiftscan228 by dralowid, on Flickr

For those who may be interested the next pic shows conversion work close to completion.

Swiftscan239 by dralowid, on Flickr

This is how she looked recently, still in use but in need of some 'fettling'.

IMG_0599 by dralowid, on Flickr

Deck layout shows jib sheet 'out hauls'. Would you call these barber haulers? They may be too much of a good thing.

IMG_0603 by dralowid, on Flickr

And finally back in the garage, I deny coiling ropes.

DSC01768 by dralowid, on Flickr

Although I have read a little there doesn't seem to be too much around about Roland and Francis Prout. I did read somewhere that they were Olympic kayakers and that their first cat was a couple of kayaks lashed together, the start of a lot of innovative development in the field. I spent an afternoon in my youth sitting on a Sheerwater getting wet, this is the limit of my cat experience.

Many thanks again to the previous owner who I hope will follow this thread.

[Michael4]

Just found this:

http://www.canveyisland.org/page_id__1423.aspx

[JimC]

Yeah, would call those Barber Haulers. You'll bless them reaching. On a catamaran ther'd enough beam and speed for them to be useful.

[Michael4]

Swift 419 came from the Open Dinghy Club at East Preston in Sussex, her previous owner was Alan Welman. He is looking for help in finding new premises for the club.
I have posted this elsewhere but include it here in case it gets missed!

"Due to re-development of their site the Open Dinghy Club at East Preston (Sussex) is going to lose it's premises before the end of the year. They are working hard to find alternatives but any suggestions or leads would be very much appreciated. If nothing can be found it is likely that the club will sadly have to close.

Any ideas folks?

If you can help let me know and I will put you in touch with Alan Welman at the club."

http://www.opendinghy.co.uk/

[PeterV]

Michael, great pictures and lovely history. Would you mind measuring your jib and sending them to me? I've got to get a new one made for mine and it looks to me as if your jib has a much lower clew than mine, so I'd like to be sure of the size before I make any commitments.

[Michael4]

Give me a few days and it will be done. I think the white one in the picture is not the original. The red and white one in the older 'fleet' pics is probably the original.

Briefly...

The Swift Sail plan 1978 (MK II and III) is a bit involved there being a red rig and a black rig, the former being 'long luff' and the latter 'traditional' but the differences seem only to apply to the main.

For the jib it says... Luff 4115mm. Diagonal (clew to luff) 1945mm. Centrefold = luff + Leech divided by 2 plus 20mm = ?

On the boat's measurement form it says jib luff 4115mm, jib foot 2235mm, jib leach 3505mm, jib roach on foot 152mm. This is all marked as being for the 'old sail' which I guess is the red and white one seen in the pics of the fleet.

If your boat has that early very raked mast I'm not sure if any of this is relevant.

Don't rush down to the sailmakers yet. I'll scan the relevant pages with diagrams, measure the jibs I have and post them here.

[PeterV]

Thanks very much Michael. Those measurements are about 125 more on the luff, 100 more on the foot and 500 more on the leech than my sail. My sails are for the Mk2 rig as my rig has been updated and the jib measurements suggest a high clew which is what I've seen on all other Swift pictures apart from those of yours, so my assumption is that a larger jib was introduced for the Mark 3. If you look at the picture of 416 on this forum or on the pictures on the canvey island forum you'll see what I mean. My jib sheets to the back of the bridge deck rather than the front like yours, so it looks like I'm going to have fun with fairlead positions.
I assume your pictures were taken at Seasalter or nearby?

[Michael4]

The lawn will be dry in the next couple of days so I can spread all the sails out and measure. Will let you know.

Yes, I think it is Seasalter.

[Michael4]

Swiftscan245 by dralowid, on Flickr

Swiftscan244 by dralowid, on Flickr

Peter, herewith. I have the rest of the measurement form and more detail on the main but doubt you want it.

The form is dated August 1977 and applies to both MKII and MKIII

I have had a go at measuring my two jibs. They are far more similar than I had thought.

The red and white one is: Luff 4070, Leech 3890, Foot 1900, Foot roach 100 approx
The white one is: Luff 4050, Leech 3840, Foot 1885, Foot roach 100 approx

Nothing really ties up with anything but both have longer leeches than the measurement form. If you went for a longer leech I assume you'd have to move your jib fairleads forward? I see what you mean about the jib on 416. You can see 419's jib fairleads in some of the pics.

I'm not quite sure whether we should expect sails to shrink or stretch over a period of 40 years and in which direction...

[Keith66]

I think there may be a road trailer for one of these in the weeds at our club, will have a look & see if its still there later today.

[PeterV]

Be very interested if there was! Could it take 3 and be the CVRDA fleet trailer?

[Michael4]

Be very interested if there was! Could it take 3 and be the CVRDA fleet trailer?

Ditto!

I can see it now: "Thrills and Spills with the Death Defying Three Swifts Show coming to your area soon!" etc etc

I haven't faced up to the trailer business yet. I have an excellent stainless launching trolley made by Alan but was thinking of making some sort of simple cradle to fit onto my existing trailer base. Alan has given me the dimensions and it looks fairly simple from a distance. The wheels would end up under the hulls so the boat would be quite high off the ground but this doesn't seem to be too much of a problem.

Is this evil looking thing what I think it is? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191959904089? ... EBIDX%3AIT

PeterV, I'm near Chichester, where are you?

[dronskiuk]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/catamaran-/19 ... Swi0RXyJSe

A cheap trailer if no good otherwise...can't see whether it's Swift, Shearwater or neither!

[PeterV]

I think is a Shearwater.

[Michael4]

A brief update.

My plan is to strip the deck, sand and put down a few coats of the varnish to protect it from any untoward event, then turn the boat over and start work on the hulls, finishing the deck off when the boat is the right way up again.

Life has been made a lot easier by the previous owner's policy of securing fittings using captive nuts within the hull. In effect s/s nuts welded to backing plates secured to blocks that are screwed to the hull. I removed everything without hearing the sound of a nut rattling down into the inaccessible bilges!

First pic shows deck stripped avoiding the taped seams. These will need a bit of fettling.

DSC01801 by dralowid, on Flickr

Then varnish the deck and prime the seams creating a new well defined line between varnished deck and hull colour so that the hull colour comes up over the edge of the deck etc and conceals the seams without adding a third colour

DSC01815 by dralowid, on Flickr

DSC01830 by dralowid, on Flickr

Then turn the boat over and start on the hulls, one primed so far. Turning a cat over is much easier than I thought but then the chain hoist really helps.

DSC01839 by dralowid, on Flickr

More soon...