Reading Time: 3 minutesSwede 55 parts Variety of custom Swede 55 parts Sailing the last Fisksätra manufactured Swede 55 since 1980, I gained experience how to keep and repair the boat, how to improve and sensibly upgrade it. So I am offering Swede 55 parts and accessories like: Custom parts based on decades sailing Swede 55 You are welcome to order the following …
Reading Time: 3 minutesIt is tempting to add nice to haves like a teak deck to a cruising boat, to equip it with a powered capstan, requiring an extra battery in the bow. However, be aware that added weight practically drowns the performance of a slender and sensitive boat like Swede 55. A teak deck, glued on the balsa cored deck, for example, …
Reading Time: 3 minutesThis is the story of a well-travelled, then long decommissioned Swede 55. Follow her wake from Fisksätra Varv in Västervik in Sweden to the island of Guernsey, where her first German owner sold her. She sailed on via southern France to Antigua, crossed the Atlantic several times in American and British ownership, went to Norway and finally to Southampton. There, …
Reading Time: 2 minutes→ Article in German All data of Swede 55 obtained from brochures and own measurements aboard Gamle Swede: hull dimensions, weight, rig dimensions, nominal sail area and actual sail sizes. Cabin heights, tank capacities, engine and transmission, various international ratings/racing certificates. This information has been compiled from Gamle Swede and other Swede 55 over the past decades. This is just …
Reading Time: 3 minutesSailing Swede 55 for decades, I developed ideas to refine the joy. In short, it would be mostly the same boat better: a new build with a higher ballast ratio, launched with the planned or even less displacement. This would bring Swede 55 back to its origins: as outlined in the article on Swede 55 Forerunners. A closer look at …
Reading Time: 3 minutes→ Article in German Since the early 20th century, the Square Metre Boat is admired for its beauty, speed, and joy to sail. Inspired by the elegance of the Skärgårdskryssare, it was time for a good-looking and well sailing one-design suiting better to the requirements of a family in the early seventies. So Swede 55 was conceived in 1974-75 by …
Reading Time: 6 minutesThe Square Metre Boat cruising variant Swede 55 is delighting sailors all around the globe. Although series production ended in 1979, with Gamle Swede as hull number 27 launched by Fisksätra Varv, 18 more boats followed. One of them, technically and in terms of sailing the most interesting, is Cheyenne. Göran Lindgren got his dream boat for the Stockholm archipelago. …
Reading Time: 6 minutesWhich profile is ideal for the rudder blade, different to the Swede 55 keel fin? What was common in advanced boat building in the 1970s? What is used today? Which shape helps to avoid the stalling effect? How you determine the ideal profile for your boat. Following the first article on suitable bushings for the rudder bearing and the second …
Reading Time: 5 minutesWhatever moves on a boat wears out and eventually needs to be repaired. Even the rudder blade. After stopping the noise at my Swede 55 with suitable bushings as described here, I noticed that it was still rattling. The question was why. So I dismantled it in the fall and loaded it onto the luggage rack of my car to …
Reading Time: 6 minutes→ German article Everything that moves on a boat eventually wears and needs to be taken care of. The story of old and persistently replaced rudder bearing bushings until a suitable solution was found. One of the issues that bothered me for some time aboard Gamle Swede was the rudder, specifically the guide of the rudder shaft in the boat. …
