Seeking Advice On 25 Storfidra

[greatlakessailor]

Hello,

I just joined this forum. I would like to hear from any sailors with experience with Storfidra 25 sailboats.

Photos, line drawings, practical knowledge, etc would be welcome.

Thank you in advance.

Richard Pipan

Great Lakes in USA

[Lighthouse]

Welcome aboard Richard.

Moderator "Nausikaa" will login shortly and will certainly be able to assist you on this - he owns a Storfidra.

[JeanneP]

Here's a link to Nausikaa's discussion of his Storfidra, to get you started. http://www.cruiserlog.com/forums/ind...showtopic=4385

[Nausikaa]

Hi Richard,

I will be in touch - just a bit busy at the moment preparing for a workshop tomorrow.

If you have a Storfidra, then congratulations - a great boat. But you probably will be finding difficulty in getting info in English. I am busy makinga website part of which will be devoted to Storfidras. Unfoortunately, I have not got so very far with it but your quest for information will, no doubt, spur me on.

You can check out the little there at the moment at www.nausikaa.org.uk

Aye

Stephen

[Aquaria]

Hello greatlakessaylor!

good choice! Wonderful boat. Sturdy construction.

I learned all the coastal- and offshore sailing on a Storfidra on the North Sea and Baltic - sailed on her for about 15 years. My parents bought the Storfidra (built 1971, if I remember right) in 1977 and owned her until 2005. (Sad to sell her after all the years, but I know, she is in the best hands.) The whole structure is build very solid and we never noticed any structural damages or weaknesses. You might find that the deck and the cabin trunk roof are a little flexible but the construction seems to tolerate this as there were no hairline cracks developing in the gel coat. Take a look at the *cabin windows. If they are still original it is normal glass set into simple rubber frames. I hit one window with my boat shoe once and it broke.*

Another thing you need to look for is, if the hull is free of osmosis. Ours was stationed in the western Baltic at first (sea water)and everything was fine for years. Then we moved her her to a river estuary (fresh water regime) and it developed osmosis just below the water line within two years.

You may also check the bilge, if it was kept dry by the former owners. That should not be too difficult, as the whole construction and the hull-deck connection is laminated very solidly and water tight. *As the lead ballast is laid into the hull and then covered with several mats of fiberglass, the ballast beneath should be dry. Maybe you have a moisture-meter and check, if the grp around the keel is dry. *

And as you already have the moisture meter, check if the rudder is dry. Ours was wet and in one very cold winter with severe freezing it cracked open. (As the two parts itself were dry in its structure, a ship yard joined them back together and since then we did not have any problems. * * * *

As it is a long keel boat it is really seaworthy. It is not the fastest boat under light wind conditions and does not go to windward as modern designs (even though she is perfectly well able to free herself from a lee coast under sail even under rougher conditions!!!) but she likes winds from abeam and aft and she is running perfectly even under fresh to strong winds! (Put a reef into the main early, that will ease the work on the tiller.)

I hope I did not take too much away from NAUSIKAA - he surely will be able to tell more about the making and the philosophy of this very nice double ender.*

Let us know how things develop!

Uwe

SY Aquaria

[greatlakessailor]

Originally Posted by Lighthouse

Welcome aboard Richard.

Moderator "Nausikaa" will login shortly and will certainly be able to assist you on this - he owns a Storfidra.

Hi Lighthouse,

thanks for the reply. I have contacted Stephen and he has been in touch with me. Learning a lot already!

Richard

Hughes 38 on Lake Huron

Northstar 80/20 in the BVI

hopefully a Storfidra 25 in NZ soon

[greatlakessailor]

Originally Posted by Nausikaa

Hi Richard,

Stephen,

Thanks for your reply. I've checked out your site. I look forward to conversation and your sharing your expertise.

Cheers,

Richard

[greatlakessailor]

Originally Posted by Aquaria

Hello greatlakessaylor!

Hi Uwe,

Very appreciative of your helpful response. Several excellent suggestions for what to look for. Given that I may have to contract a surveyor to examine the boat, I will be able to direct him/her to the areas you noted. If I were present, I'd conduct the survey myself. All of your suggestions make sense. I anticipate sailing her in the raucous Cook Strait in NZ, so the systems and structures need to be robust and reliable. Since I single hand often, the Storfidra's compact size should not be a difficulty.

Best regards,

Richard

[Aquaria]

Originally Posted by greatlakessailor

Hi Uwe,

... Since I single hand often, the Storfidra's compact size should not be a difficulty.

Best regards,

Richard

She's perfect for single handing! Small cockpit, very easy to reach the genoa winches. Just fasten the tiller for going forward to hoist/lower sails - she'll keep a steady course for some time.

And impressive to hear that Storfidras also sail on the other side of the globe.*

Uwe

SY Aquaria

[nicanor]

Hello! My name is Florin , and this summer I bought a Storfidra 25. For the moment the boat is in Sweden , but next year I will try to bring it home. I have no sailing experience , so any advice or opinion it will be more then welcome. I will try to put some pictures , and I will waiting any opinion about this type of boat. Thanks!

[nicanor]

And more pictures:

[Aquaria]

Hi nicanor,
welcome to Cruiser Log and congratulations to your new Storfidra!
The kind of device depends on, where your home is. Just across the Baltic Sea? Do you have to pass open waters? Or crossing oceans?
The Storfidra is a sturdy sailboat, but maybe an experienced sailor should be on board too, especially if you have to bring her to a home far away from Sweden. And in this case you should take a closer look on the equipment: How old and in what shape are the sails? Is there still the quite weak original Volvo-diesel engine woring below the cockpit?
Is there any self steering (which is a must when sailing longer distances as it can be quite strenouos to work on the helm for hours: the tiller is quite high and IMHO the shape of the cockpit is not so well designed to spend many hours on the helm, especially when she is heeling... Othewise the Storfidra is very seaworthy, able to do long distances, quite easy to sail. But she is not the perfect boat to go to windward - she likes the winds from abeam or aft much better!
Watch for a perfect sail trim, otherwise the work on the helm can be quite hard (as on all long-keel and douple-ender designs). She can stand alot of wind but for your comfort and ease of sailing it is always better to put in a reef into the main not too late. That reduces the heeling too. And due to her narrow beam she heels fast - we had the cockpit winches trailing through the water not just once! In such moments we never felt unsecure but on the long run it is not very comfortable...

Have fun and come back with more questions!
Uwe
SY Aquaria

[Aquaria]

... looking again at your pics:
the cabin windows seem to be the original ones?
You might check, if the glass is still normal window glass?
I steppt into one of ours with a rubber boot and it craced!
Back then we exchanged the cabin windows by safety glass with aluminum frames. Back then they were built by the danish N C Bjerg company which is no longer on the market, but I guess this company could help: [BASISLINE]
It is better to think about new windows especially if you plan to do more than coastal water sailing.

Uwe
SY Aquaria

[nicanor]

Hello! And thank you very much for your advices ! Back home , I mean Romania, and the cheapest way for me ( I think) it will be on trailer . The boat is on the lake Vattern, and to sail all the way , including the locks ( to many ) , Baltic Sea , and all the channels to the river Danube , take about six weeks and to much money, plus I will need two more friends with me , one of them must have a skipper certificate . Like I said I have zero experience about sailing , but I want to bring the boat home and prepare it for the my dream: sailing around the world. Of course I will change the windows and I have to rebuild the toilet , because the ex-ex-owner made some changes and in that place is now the cocker ! The engine is good , also a Volvo Penta from 1990 with 22 hp. I hope you understand my dream , does not matter if will be a circumnavigation or not, but South Pacific is like a magnet for me! I had a very busy day , I will be back tomorrow afternoon ( I think) with more details. Thanks again! P.S.: please excuse my poor english!

[nicanor]

Back again. The problem concern me it is that the cabin roof is flexible. The ex-owner told me should not be a problem , anyway makes fell me a little unsecured . That is normal for a Storfidra? And there is s small crack on the step mast , I check under the roof , and is nothing deeper. Looks like only the gelcoat is broken. I put some pictures ,maybe you can tell me if is a problem or not. Thanks again!

[Aquaria]

No, this is quite a crack at the wrong place.
Seems as if the rigging tension has been too tight for quite some time.
I will be back with more details and pictures (for better explanation) in one or two days.

And it is a good decision to transport the boat over land down to Romania.
Then you have all the time at home to slowly improve your Storfidra.

Uwe
SY Aquaria

[nicanor]

It is not that big , but is a crack( the picture I took is big) . The ex-owner told me that happened when he try to put the mast with the crane , and it was a mistake from the workers. I hope it will be easy to fixed!

[nicanor]

Thanks again!

[Aquaria]

Originally Posted by nicanor

It is not that big , but is a crack( the picture I took is big) . The ex-owner told me that happened when he try to put the mast with the crane , and it was a mistake from the workers. I hope it will be easy to fixed!

Hi nicanor,
back with some more info!
OK, cracks due to a "hard landing" of the mast on the mast support.
But a crack in the gelcoat means that the whole structure has been stressed for the time it happened. You already checked the mast support below and everything looks fine? Here are two pics where to look for signs of strain - you find some more explanations within the pics.




If the surface structure looks okay, you may check, if there still is some moisture within the GRP-structure: If this crack has been there for a longer time, moisture could have found its way into the GRP and as winters in Sweden tend to be freezing cold, there could be the danger of delamination of the fiberglass layers in the beam-structure. A Moisture-Meter might help to detect any moisture in the GRP.
If in doubt, ask a specialist, because this whole mast support construction made out of GRP delivers the pressure on the wooden poles, which are themselves part of the bulkhead construction that further delivers the pressure on the front parts of the cabin bunks.
Here is another pics that describes all that I just tried to explain:

Actually the whole mast support construction is built so strong, that even after many, many years und under tear and wear it should be strong enought to withstand coastal sailing under reasonable weather conditions... but you said that you maybe want to cross oceans with your Storfidra: Then it is better to be sure, that the mast support is structurally perfect...

The deck and cabin roof is indeed rather flexible - but that does not seem to be a problem. Deck and cabin drunk surfaces of our Storfidra also have been like this - but this from the very beginning (we bought an 8 year old Storfidra) and it did not increase and the gelcoat did not start to develope any cracks due to this flexibility. (But as I already mentioned: kicking the cabin trunk with a rubber boot caused the original windowglass to crack!)

The Storfidra I did a major refit on, we owned for 30 years, before I sold her in 2005. And I am not a bout builder. It's just for fun!
Here are two more pics of our Storfidra after the refit:



So, you are having a great and rewarding project going on
Have fun and come back any time if more questions come up!

Uwe
SY Aquaria

[nicanor]

Ok, so let me explain what I now. Like a dreamer( foolish) I bought the boat with no advice from a surveyor. Anyway I wanted this kind of boat so much,that I took all the risky just to have the boat. Except the cracks on the deck, I found nothing to worry me behind the deck cabin. It was for me( with no experience) ,just a crack on the deck surface , if I was wrong......I have to pay it! I was looking to your pictures and I found nothing wrong with the situation in my boat. Maybe I am wrong, but I will put some more pictures, so you can have an imagine about that. Only sorry about the mess inside, but was raining in Sweden every half an hour that time! Please, from the pictures, ( not very good taken) ,can you tell me how bad it is? And the site www.nausikaa.org.uk still exist? Was impossible for me to found it. Thanks a lot!