New Decks on an Old(ish) Swan
Last week we got an email from Perry Johnson, whose Frers Swan 44 (1988) has just received beautiful new decks in Franklin, Tasmania.
The reasons we are interested in his short story are multiple. Firstly… blatent self interest. I’m currently living aboard an old Swan that will need a new deck in the next five years and so I take notice of the possibilities. Secondly, replacing timber decks on GRP boats is an important revenue stream for many a traditional boat yard in the lulls between purist work on fully wooden boats and so it should be encouraged. Thirdly, laying decks is an important skill that must be passed on to the younger generations of shipwrights. “Practising” on GRP craft is a great way to learn. Finally this is a small example of the way in which Festivals, in this case the AWBF can become a connection point between craftsmen and customers.
Perry writes…
Hello again Mark
The final touches are going into Fontana 2 and will be completed in a couple of days .
There are of course many Swans of this vintage going through the replacement of the deck, the support in the early days from their head office was invaluable.
However for me the interest in the story is the roll on of business that the Australian Wooden Boat Festival creates when all the boats have returned to their home ports. After considering doing a great deal of the work myself , I came across the stand of the Wooden Boat Centre in Franklin , in particular Cody whom relayed his passion and plans to create as much new work for his apprentice shipwrights .
Cody also was restricted by a ratio of shipwrights to trainees , and was excited about a new young shipwright (Jerome from Belgium) joining their team in the coming months from Europe who had ten years of building some of the most wonderful timber yachts at Spirit Yachts in the UK.
We met up along with the trainees after I had removed the original deck myself and was very confident to pass my Swan over for a mix of Spirit style deck on my precious Swan 44 German Frers ( mark 2 ) ,
I watched the young apprentice (Tynan ) grow in confidence over the months and in time Jerome had stepped away with Tynan taking the reigns with pride.
I supplied the teak and the original deck plans from Swan were onboard .
I would like the recognition of the trainee along with these marvellous regional wooden boat centres that struggle to make a profit but realise that canoes and clinker dinghies are not going to be a solution to survival.
I have lots of photos and some valuable snippets of do's and don'ts, certainly for yourself if your new home / swan needs the inevitable facelift !!
Happy sailing ,
Regards
Perry
