The Rig!

I use an exklamation mark in the title because when one who first sees a Ljungström boat, the rig is always the most startling.

The Ljungström rig consists of an unstayed mast - fairly unusual in the 30s. This mast sits on a bearing, and is supported at the deck with another bearing. The mast can rotate, and our boat has a drum below decks with a pulley system lead to a handle in the cockpit. Winding this handle turns the mast in both directions.
The mast has a normal mast-track, halyard, and down haul. The sail is raised and lowered as normal, with the halyard coming down the hollow mast, emerging below the lower bearing. The halyard is made fast on the mast step in the cabin.
The sail is unusual! It is effectively a diamond (kite) shape, folded in half, with a luff rope in the long axis. The sail has no boom, and is sheeted from the tips of the short axis with two sheets. This means that when "on-the-wind" the two sides of the sail lie together performing as one sail. When "off-the-wind" the sails split and are controlled independently.
This means that when running the boat has double the sail area than when reaching - just when you can handle it best.

The sail is reefed and furled by rotating the mast - the handle is mounted under the port deck in the cockpit. It takes about 10 turns to fully furl/reef the sail. The rotating mast also allows the leading-edge/luff of the sail to be moved to the optimum position wrt the wind - allowing a better foil to occur.

In practice she is the simplest and safest boat to get sailing on. No running around on deck when sailing, and no boom to watch for. She gybes safely, but can be slow coming about - probably due to the lack of jib. Reefing is a doddle! But I'm still learning to get the best from the rig, and will give regular updates.....

The Hull

I should describe the hull - so those that understand these things can appreciate how unusual she is...
She is 6.85m long; 2.04m wide and approx. 1.3m deep ( this is not confirmed due to the waterline being wrong). She displaces 1040 kg and the mass of the iron in her keel is 600 kg. Her waterline length is about 5.2m.
My father described her as a"lead mine"; and in many ways he's right. The construction of the hull is as light as possible to allow as much mass in the keel as possible. She is probably delicate - but I'm not about to test her on rocks!

The hull is built with spruce on oak with a modified carvel construction. I'm not sure what the method is called, but I'll try and descibe it. The planks start at the keel, as with normal carvel, but run the entire length of the hull - from deck to deck. The only places she has any joins in the planks areat the stem and stern; where planks were cut in to remove rot. This allows all the end-grain to sit out of the water, clearly a good thing! It also allows for the simple round shape she has.
The deck has been replaced with ply - 12mm rebated into the originl oak beams, and 6mm covering the whole.
The coach roof, cabin and cockpit sides are all mahogany. The coach-roof being an addition in 1958 - prior she was a half-decker. The cockpit is completely re-built...

Originally the cockpit had pine open benches. Per removed these to replace with locker seats in mahogany. However mahogany would weigh too much - so foam-cored mahogany laminate was made and fitted. These weigh the same as the original - 42kg. - and keep the weight of the boat original. Now there is good storage in the cockpit, and the stern locker.
The form of the hull is descibed in swedish as "cirkelbågsform" - all the curves are taken from an arc of a circle, not from "french-curves". The deck is also an arc - giving a pronounced reverse-sheer. This is in my eye pretty - but she tends to push through waves. Her stern is flat, and she readily planes on the run. But she has a tendency to roll, an because of the lack of a sharp bow, can wander on the wind.

As mentioned she has 600kg in the keel - effectively a "long-keeler" with the new hollow stainless-steel rudder hung aft. The dead-wood of the keel has been replaced with Larch.

All in all, a well built Hull. With some design quirks that make her unusual, and very "typical" of design outside boats from the 40s and 50s....Streamlining and long,round forms!

So the boat was ours! A day was decided by Katja and I to sail her from Tyresö to Stockholm. We, as yet, had no permanent mooring for her, but were prepared to try a few marinas until we found a safe home. And I was eager to move her closer to home and work in order to take advantage of the summer evenings.
As I mentioned Katja was not a seasoned sailor: one trip from Vaxholm in the Folkboat, and one drift on Dobra. The trip from Vaxholm should have been enough to put anyone of sailing. One reef down ( there being only one on a folkboat) on a late autumn day, wishing I had a few more reefs and wondering about my sanity in sailing at all. But Folkboats are strong and safe, and Katja in blissful ignorance slept and chatted the whole way. The hour in Dobra when we decided to but the boat hardly being sailing.
My first day on a new boat, still learning the rig ( more of which later) and I subject my long suffering wife to a steep learning curve - and my insecurity! The boat and our relationship survived the day...But because of weather we only got half way. Leaving the boat in Saltsjöbaden, and taking the train home.
The next day I took a friend, Oscar, and we brought her to Stockholm. During these days I noticed she was taking in a fair amount of water...Due to the uncommonly dry weather, and lack of use, her top-sides had dried to the point that daylight was clearly visible....That'll take some work this winter!
She became a pleasure to sail in the late summer evenings, and as one of my guests has stated " a lot cheaper than a shrink!"
One of the pleasures of sailing her are the admirers. Many have heard of Ljungström, and his boats, and love to talk about her - either in harbour, or as many have done, on the water.

The picture to the left was the first "sight" of Dobra Kusa. I had been browsing the local sales site for potential boat projects...And suddenly this caught my eye! A little bit of an odd shape, but quite beguiling. A long list of work recently completed on her and a few pictures - the price...Offers! I reluctantly moved on...'Don't have that kind of money...

Move on a few months to the start of the summer. I'm in the middle of my busy season in the shop. I've not had time to sail my folkboat....And the advert turns up again! This time with a price - a price I can't really afford, but not too far from my means. A price that is insane for any classic boat in good condition.
After a discussion with my wife I arrange a time to meet the owner. The owner is a youngish, time served boat-builder - Per. We take a look at the boat. Everything "outside" is showroom condition - obviously well restored by a serious craftsman. The interior ( small though it is) is a shell, and will require extensive work before a weekend afloat is possible.
The tale of the restoration is told. And the circumstances of the sale - Per is moving to the US to build boats and can't take her with him. She needs a good home. So I cycle back to my wife...Katja doesn't sail, but understands that I'm falling for this boat. The whole family decides to go down and "try" her. With me re-telling the history of the boat at every opportunity.
Katja - who is an artist - sees the shape and falls immediately for the boat...The name was just the "icing on the cake". Katja has russian ancestry and one of the original owners was probably russian or polish; he named her Dobra Kusa, which would seem to mean Nice Bitch! We walked away smiling after telling Per we had to think about it.
When out of ear-shot, Katja asked me what we had to think about?

There were other interested parties, but Per decided to sell to us. I think mainly because of our enthusiasm. The papers were signed; money and fair words exchanges...Now we owned a nice bit of wood!

Blogness!

Yet another blog is born! While there appears to be too much written in cyberspace, and much not worth reading! I hope this blog, that will become an ongoing history of the ownership of the most beautiful boat I have ever seen, will be of interest to some.