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Shearwater 17 S&G by Wordsmith
New launching – modified Shearwater 17 S&G
My second project this year has been a built-from-plans Shearwater 17 S&G, that popular and attractive design by Eric Schade, but I did make a few changes, surely the prerogative of the owner-builder!
To make entry and exit easier for this almost 70 y.o. Ancient Mariner with somewhat inflexible lower limbs, cockpit length is increased by about 3” and widened a little at the front.
I love the upswept bow and stern lines of the design, but attaching a rudder to the stern as drawn would be a bit like putting a bike-rack onto a Ferrari! So, I deleted the upswept stern tip and re-jigged the aft deck-line to a gentle uniform upward curve, viewed from side-on, while the transom is now vertical. Frankly, I do quite like this mod, even though purists, and maybe Schade, would scoff.
The cockpit coaming is a vertically-set lamination of two x 3mm ply strips topped off with a conventional inch-wide 4mm top rim, all stiffened by ‘glass and epoxy. As I don’t use a spray skirt the usual coaming style isn’t needed, but I made the front edge a bit wider and higher than normal - about 1½” off the deck line - to deflect water running along the deck that might otherwise enter the enlarged cockpit.
After consulting this Forum, and giving it a lot of thought, I chose to omit both deck hatches, not needing extensive under-deck storage on my short daytime outings, but small circular hatches in the front and rear bulkheads do give some access.
Handling the three-piece pre-assembled deck structure was very tricky – simply a nightmare when just wired-up, improving to merely nerve-wracking even when stiffened by the first tack fillets. It comprises a 3mm curved centre deck section, with long skinny spear-like 4mm sheer panels hanging off the sides. More than once it started to fold up like a Japanese origami paper sculpture - heart in mouth time! The building manual warns of this!
The three-colour paint job accentuates the attractive, long, pointed, organic lines of the Shearwater design. Top-quality Unaffordium marine enamel – ‘Pearl’ colour – is on the more vulnerable hull bottom and sides and coaming, contrasted by areas of light purple and yellow paint above, the elongated spear-like yellow section being cut just inside the curves of the sheer panels. These two colours are ordinary exterior household enamel, which I figured is OK to use here as the craft will spend at most only a few hours a week outside. Perhaps more importantly, there is a huge range of colours available, whereas marine enamels offer only very few. I’m not totally happy with my colour choice – it’s perhaps a bit ‘in your face’ – but at least different! High gloss marine varnish finishes the decks.
Safety lines are secured under the decks, entering and exiting through small nylon grommets, keeping the deck neater than with the more usual fairleads. For neatness, the uphaul line for the excellent SmartTrackâ rudder system runs under the deck, exiting 15” or so forward of the stern, alongside the rudder control wires.
Finally, my bathroom scales tell me that the entire craft weighs in at about 22 kg.
The Shearwater is a wonderful and very attractive paddling craft, a decided step-up from my Chesapeake 17LT in many respects, and a challenging and absorbing building process.
Enjoy the photos.
Wordsmith
[img]http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t43/Seppukian/Wordsmith/011_11.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t43/Seppukian/Wordsmith/010_10.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t43/Seppukian/Wordsmith/006_6.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t43/Seppukian/Wordsmith/007_7.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t43/Seppukian/Wordsmith/008_8.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t43/Seppukian/Wordsmith/009_9.jpg[/img]
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