Wood

Wood was the material from the beginning which was used for building boats in Storebro. Starting with oak and Oregon pine, later complete hulls were built of mahogany and decks of teak. Even the interior was made of wood.

In the 1950s and 60s, mainly African Grand Bassam from the Gold Coast was used and also shipped from there. The mahogany was named after shipping areas. The sailing boats were often built in Honduran mahogany. Many sailboats were painted with clear lacquer, while and the motorboats were usually white. In the late 70s, 80s and 90s Storebro mainly used African Khaya Ivorensis.

To produce the required amounts of wood in an inexpensive way, complete logs were purchased and processed locally. For this, the shipyard had an own bandsaw. The pictures below give an idea of the work and the size of the logs.

The quality of the woodwork made Storebro world known later. Both the processing and surface quality are absolutely on the highest level.

Ivar Gustafssons claim on the quality expressed in the following anecdote: Ivar Gustafsson had acquired a piano in high gloss finish and during a meeting with his plant manager Tage Truedsson and his sons Roy and Lennart he pointed at the piano and said, "You do not need to learn to play the piano, but the surfaces of our boats must look like these surfaces".

From the beginning the surfaces of the wooden parts were made in a glossy finish. The later so famous satin optics was first performed as a special option to follow a fashion trend. In this case, only the last layer of the many layers of paint was carried out in satin finish. Later, this version became standard and high gloss varnishing was reintroduced with tables in the saloon of the boats in 1998. However, each customer could get his boat in high-gloss finish at no extra charge.

Since 1991 the Yard offered three different types wood for the interiors as a choice: mahogani, walnut and ash. The most popular was mahogani (see Storebro Owner´s Magazine 1992 - page 18).

Pictures of woodworking

Click on the picture for a larger view.