Storebro Royal Cruiser 340

Remarks

The Storebro Royal Cruiser 340 was the first model in a completely new design line from Storebro. The new design line reinterpreted the sporty elegant design and allows significantly more space below deck. The hull construction was based on previous developments.
The SRC 340 was intended as the successor to the SRC 34, which had been produced for 23 years. A Biscay and Adriatic versions were planned, similar to the SRC 31. The new design broke strongly with that of the old SRC 34 and caused very different reactions. While lovers of wooden ships or wooden look rejected the ship, it was received very positively by new customers and customers of the older SRC 31.
The flybridge model of the Biscay version was the most popular model of the series. According to the price list the flybridge was offered as an extra. In fact, I know of only one boat (S/N 3176) that was delivered without flybridge. But also, this boat was later equipped with a flybridge. The Adriatic version was much less in demand.

SRC 340 Adriatic/Baltic with aft-cabin

In 1990 Storebro presented the Baltic version of the SRC 340, for which the cockpit on the starboard side was covered with a GRP section. Underneath, a wide bed was created at right angles to the direction of travel. As with the Royal Cruiser 34, access was via a wooden door with a GRP hatch. A spacious sunbed was created on the GRP extension. Otherwise, the change was only recognisable from the outside at second glance.
For production purposes, the ships were called "SRC 340 Baltic". However, the ships were only labelled "Adriatic".
In total, only two ships were built with this layout.

Altogether the SRC 340 was a great success with 193 boats built. The SRC 340 was then replaced by the SRC 380 in 1991.

At the start of production, two motorization alternatives were available. One was the Volvo Penta TAMD60C with 176 kw (240 hp) each and the Volvo Penta TAMD40B with 116 kw (158 hp). While the first 17 ships were equipped with Volvo Penta TAMD60Cs, the TAMD40Bs were never used.
In 1986 the newly introduced TAMD41A with 141 kw (192 hp) was offered.
A speciality was the SRC 340 Biscay with the serial number 3505, which for test purposes was the only SRC 340 to be equipped from the shipyard with Volvo Penta KAMD 42 with 164 kw (223 hp).

In total, slightly equal numbers of ships with 6x and 41 engines were built. However, it became apparent in everyday life that the ships with the TAMD41 engines, which were then loaded for a holiday, were somewhat underpowered. The TAMD60C and in particular the TAMD61A with 218 kw (296 hp) offered from 1987 onwards represented the more harmonious motorisation. However, with these engines the characteristics of the hull construction were exhausted. The fact that Volvo Penta announced to its customer Storebro that it would develop even more powerful engines at the same size caused Storebro to think about new hull designs. The result was the hulls of the SRC 380 and SRC 420 with propeller tunnels.

The SRC 340 was an exceptionally well-planned ship. Already during the construction of the prototype many components were completely removed and rebuilt. For example, the pantry element planned at the drawing table is considered to be much easier to build than the CAD planned element that was later installed in the SRC 380. Also, the below deck mounted anchor catapult fore was already developed during the construction of the prototype.

• The Storebro 340 represented a completely new design line, which was then extended with the SRC 400 and SRC 470.
• The Adriatic-variant was the development of the SRC 31 Adriatic. But it was also the last ship with open cockpit from Storebro. If you look at the picture of the 340 Adriatic, which shows the ship from diagonally astern, you can see a discreet correspondence of the design with last produced boats from NordWest.
• The Adriatic had window frames made of stainless-steel while the Biscay only had aluminium frames. The stainless-steel frames were later only installed at the SRC 730 or SRC 465/475 and SRC 515-models.
• A very popular owner of a SRC 340 was His Majesty, the Swedish King, who owned an Adriatic with the hull number 3285 from 1989.

• Half model of the SRC 340

  For presentation purposes Storebro built a half SRC 340 Biscay. It was the complete half starboard side of the boat including the engine and all other details. This boat was shown in America and other countries. After some time, the boat was scrapped and doesn't exist anymore.

Technical development