Storebro Royal Cruiser IV/34

Remarks

Common
The Storebro Royal Cruiser IV/34 was one of the most successful models of Storebro with 800 units built and it consolidated the excellent reputation of the yard. The ship was marketed with features like safety and comfort.
The quality of the boat was far better than boats of similar size and layout. No other manufacturer processed wood so perfect, so rich and so elegant as Storebro.

Design
The first ship was built on the insistence of Storebro customer Sten Nilsson, who absolutely wanted to have a ship with aft cabin. As a result, a first ship was built as a single piece for this customer (No. 1295). The demand for this ship then ensured that Storebro further developed this model. At the beginning of production, in addition to the first 9.06 m long boat, two further prototypes of 9.30 m and 9.60 m in length were produced. The image of the 9.06 m long prototype with the serial number 1295 suggests that it is the hull of the Storebro Royal Cruiser III. This is definitely not right. Overall, however, the shipyard was not completely satisfied with the running characteristics of the hulls, so the final design of Einar Runius had a length of 10.35 m.

Hull
While Einar Runius was responsible for the hull design, the design of the ship as well as the layout was carried out by Winfried H. Wilke.
Originally, the hull was built exclusively in mahogany. A visible change was the extension of the water deflector to the stern since 1968. In older ships it only extended to the middle of the ship.
From 1969, the Storebro Royal Cruiser IV was also offered with fiberglass hull. First ship with GRP hull is according to the delivery list the No. 1615. During the production the structure of the hull was modified several times. For the first hulls, the stringers were made of wood, which was then overlaminated with fiberglass fabric. Between the narrower longitudinal strings, a pronounced bilge existed. With increasing motorization, the hulls were reinforced. For this purpose, a complete skeleton of stringers and ribs was later made, which was then laminated together with the hull. This also eliminated the bilge between the stringers.

Engines
Due to the long production period of the Storebro Royal Cruiser 34, a large number of engine types were installed. The development of the engine technology is also evident. While the prototypes started with Volvo Penta MD27 and 83 hp(SAE!), the first series ships were equipped with the Volvo Penta MD29 and 92 hp(SAE!). The most popular engine was then the Volvo Penta MD32 with 106 hp(SAE!), which were 78 hp in comparison. On the other hand, the Perkins T6.354MGT engines, which were used from 1968 onwards to 1975 and were correctly indicated with 175 hp, were significantly stronger (see engine power). Due to strikes in England, which interrupted the delivery of the engines, Thornycroft and Ford engines were installed in the meantime. In 1976 the complete change to Volvo Penta took place, after the TAMD60A with 192 hp came on the market. In the end with the TAMD60C and 2x240 hp approx. 30 kn were possible. At the end of the production period, the ships were mainly equipped with the Volvo engines of the 40 series.
The originally offered Volvo Penta MD27/29/32 were only offered with left turning propellers. It was different with the Perkins engines. Here in each case a left and a right-turning engine was installed. The right turning engines were marked by an additional "X" in the serial number (e.g. 354UX...). Later installed Volvo engines had suitable transmissions for left or right hand rotation.

Equipment
From 1968, the Storebro Royal Cruiser IV was also offered as a "de Luxe" version. At that time it cost 13,000:- Crowns more than the standard model and the "de Luxe" package contained the following extra equipment: opening windows in the aft cabin, washbasin in the aft cabin, around 100l enlarged fresh water tank, sliding window at the driver's seat, fan in the toilet room, improved freezer, L-sofa in the salon, about 2 knots higher maximum speed, hatch above the driving seat in the hardtop. From 1969, the "de Luxe" version became production standard.

Miscellaneous

• The shipyard specified the number of ships built originally with 1,230, but this value is not correct. In fact, there were built "only" 800 ships.
• With the new year 1973, the name Royal Cruiser IV was changed to Royal Cruiser 34. The last Royal Cruiser IV in the delivery-lists of the yard were the serial number 2014 resp. 2017. All boats with higher serial numbers were named Royal Cruiser 34 (resp. Storö 34, Adler 34).
• Boats from the transitional period with the designation "34" partly still possess components of the "IV" as the long side wings or the old steering console.
• The last ship with a wooden hull was No. 2388, which was delivered in 1977. The last wooden-hulled ships were delivered in 1979 (Nos. 2368 and 2344). The numbers of the ships show at the same time that the ships were not necessarily delivered in ascending serial number (see serial numbers).
• Some of the catalog photos from 1975 were obviously taken in Västervik. In the picture in which the skipper with his pipe plans navigation, Storebro halls and a Storö 38 without deck saloon and flybridge can be seen in the background.
• At least two SRC 34 (built until 1975) were equiped with a deck salon by the shipyard. This results in a three-part side window that received a sliding door on the port side (see Image in the category Images). The first boat with deck salon was a Storebro Royal Cruiser 34 named "Cartouche". Later, at least one more Storebro Royal Cruiser 34 was retrofitted for a German customer. As a cabin roof for this boat the yard mounted the roof of the facelifted version from 1975.
• Before the Adriatic, Biscay and Baltic versions were officially launched, Storebro Royal Cruiser IV were already built without aft cabin. For the first time this version was officially offered in the shipyard price list No. 41 of 1972 as "utan akterkabin" (without aft cabin).

Due to their popularity, there were a number of replicas of the Storebro Royal Cruiser 34. To this day, owners try to promote the sale of their own ship by pointing out that it is a Storebro or the ship was built to plans by Storebro. However, as far as I know, no plans were ever passed on by Storebro and the Storebro Royal Cruiser IV/34 was never available as a kit.

2022-03-13

Technical development