Martin

Member

Registered: 26 Jun 2011

Posts: 3

Stornoway - just finished

I've just finished building a Stornoway dinghy and sailed it for the first time last week at my local sailing club (near Wolverhampton).

I was really pleasantly surprised at how well she sailed. I normally sail racing dinghies and own a GP14 and a Streaker. I was hoping the Stornoway would feel different and it certainly does. It is very stable and forgiving and despite having to cope with the jib sheets as I had no crew and getting used to rear sheeting rather than centre sheeting  I found the boat easy to sail in quite gusty conditions. As the wind strength increased the rig seemed to absorb the power and the boat simply went faster without the excessive heeling usually experienced with racing dinghies.

Today I took part in a race with about half a dozen Lasers and, not knowing what the handicap for the Stornaway should be, used the Mirror dinghy handicap. I got a second and a third which would indicate that the Stornoway is slighly faster than a Mirror. It would be interesting to compare sail areas and weight between the two.

My boat has a Gunter rig as described in the boat plans with sails made by Kemp who I would recommend. I still need to do quite a bit of tweaking with the rig to make it more secure and easy to set up but it's early days yet and I'm still experimenting.

I've had some very favourable comments on how pretty the boat is and how well it sails. I was most chuffed when the boat got the seal of approval from a veteran boat builder though he did recommend a few more coats of varnish!

I got fed up of varnishing and just wanted to get out on the water  so I know I'll need to do a bit more. The build took
longer than expected due to the cold winter which stopped all work for six months as paint and epoxy wouldn't harden properly. All in all it took eighteen months and I really enjoyed the process.

I've got loads of build photos if anybody's interested. I'll post some here once I've downloaded them from my camera.

PS thanks to the guys at Fyne boats for their friendly help and advice (& for setting up the forum)

Phil

Employee

Registered: 8 Jun 2011

Posts: 68

Re: Stornoway - just finished

Martin,

Thank you for the write up and we look forward to seeing some of your pictures.  Good luck in your next set of racing.

Phil

Martin

Member

Registered: 26 Jun 2011

Posts: 3

Re: Stornoway - just finished

A few photos.

fairplay

Member

Registered: 16 Jun 2011

Posts: 109

Re: Stornoway - just finished

...wow! - very nice!...

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'...so, how many kayaks do you really need?...' - '...one more!...'

Richard

Member

From: East Sussex

Registered: 7 Jun 2011

Posts: 75

Re: Stornoway - just finished

I was most chuffed when the boat got the seal of approval from a veteran boat builder though he did recommend a few more coats of varnish!

I got fed up of varnishing and just wanted to get out on the water

How many coats did you use to get that sort of finish?

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Canoe & Kayak Owner

Martin

Member

Registered: 26 Jun 2011

Posts: 3

Re: Stornoway - just finished

Hi Richard,

I think there are two or three coats of epoxy on most of the inside then about 4 or 5 coats of varnish. The finish isn't as good as it looks in the photos and I reckon it needs another 3+ coats to get it nice and shiny. The finish was getting better with each coat but I got too impatient to get the boat on the water and it was taking me too long rubbing down and varnishing that I stopped recoating and started sailing instead.

I intend to do a few tweaks on the boat and finish the varnishing at the end of the season. I have already changed the way the boom is fitted to the mast. In the picture above you can see that there is a leathered wooden fork on the end of the boom that sits on the mast. It works OK but it means the boom has nothing to hold it up except the sail which is held up by the halyard holding up the yard. This puts too much strain on the halyard and there is a danger of the boom slipping down. I did it this way because I thought it would look nice and it would let me alter the height of the boom. In practice the boom is quite high up giving plenty of head room and I'd rather the boat be robust than look nice so I've cut the fork off and replaced it with a stainless steel gooseneck for a Miracle dinghy which is then fixed to the fitting on the mast with a splitpin.

I have also added a second block in the mainsheet system as I found it quite hard work keeping the mainsail sheeted in when the wind is strong. Hav'nt tried this yet but I'm sure the the sail will be more manageable now.

Took the boat to Coniston in late July and had some fantastic sails. The weather was hot and sunny and at times the wind was strong enough to make the sailing exciting. Took various members of the faimily for a sail (any excuse) and had a great time. Three people commented on what a pretty boat it was which was nice and says a lot for the design - well done Fyne Boats.

nicgel

Member

Registered: 8 Aug 2020

Posts: 3

Re: Stornoway - just finished

Hi Martin

Is there anyway you can upload or send your build photos of your Stornoway sailing 12' dinghy?  I am about to build one.

Thanks

Nick