CLASSIC BOAT JANUARY 2018 33
LAKE CONSTANCE PILOT CUTTER
building them up layer by layer from the bulwarks to the
keel. In just a week they had laid the keel plank and
closed the hull, leaving a slot to receive the keel box.
The hull was turned and the frames epoxied to the
planking. Then the GRP keel box was glued in over the
keelson. It guides the lifting keel – an 800kg lead bulb on
the end of a high-aspect composite fi n that contains three
stainless steel tubes for stiffness, raised and lowered on a
hydraulic ram.
Stefan knows he has his critics and as a defence makes
reference to Nathanael Herreshoff. “They used the best
techniques available at the time, and if Herreshoff had
had the chance to cut planks using a laser, he would have
done that, because he was an innovator,” he says, also
pointing out that in Herreshoff’s day, building was a
much faster process. “An NY30 took only a few months
to build,” he says.
Wherever possible, Stefan has specifi ed off-the-peg
equipment or used a local engineer to build something
from commonly available parts. So the rudder is
transom-hung on stainless steel pintles fashioned by a
nearby workshop. Stefan’s point is twofold: if the rudder
is damaged, there’s no rudder stock to make a mess of
the boat, while an engineer or mechanic anywhere in the
world should be able to produce new fi ttings. For the
same reason, the mast fi ttings and tabernacle were made
locally and he used locally grown pine to build his
hollow spars.
MAHOGANY TRIM
The interior is simple, but comfortable. There are no
fl oors or sole, so you step directly on the strip planking,
which has been varnished, giving a luminous quality to
the boat’s accommodation. The long, exposed scarfs
have an architectural air, their joints fl ush.
There is sitting headroom for someone up to about
6ft. The saloon is dominated by the mahogany-trimmed
keel box, which stands about 2ft high. It used to be
lower, but Stefan found that a small amount of water
squeezed in around the keel when the boat was pressed
downwind. The stainless steel bracing for the hydraulic
ram runs right up to the deck overhead, cutting the space
in two.
But the forward end of the saloon is unencumbered
and makes a more convivial space. Stefan has fashioned
a table that fi ts onto the keel case for dining purposes,
but this is a boat designed primarily for simple eating,
not lavish banquets – as the single hob attests.
There is no freshwater system – just a locker for
storing food, and a wooden cover over the double hob
that slides out through a slot to the side and hangs from
a pin in the deck to provide a clever preparation area.
The heads are a bucket on deck, but it is testament to
Stefan’s powers of persuasion that he has just spent six
weeks cruising with his wife and six-month-old daughter
in the Bay of Bothnia. He rigged a crib on bungees in the
companionway to rock the baby to sleep.Clockwise from
top left: screwed
on gooseneck
fi tting; Stefan
says his
combination of
gaff cutter rig
and light weight
is the equal of
modern sloops;
bitts and
bowsprit with
modern lines