Dear Peter,
I cannot but sympathize with another white bearded S&S Swan owner!
Although I have not a problem with the tag of my boat, I do have all the other - let us call them - blemishes... :-)
I fully agree with what you write!
Daniel, 411/004

I will have to disagree with the latest comments on the subject. The tag plaques are not only there for looking good. It is an important part of the identification of the boat. This information is required in connection with registration, insurance and selling the yacht. If this information is missing or incomplete it can course some problems. It is not such a problem for the newer Swans but for the older one it is not that straight forward. Not much effort was made by the yard to make the ID clear inside the hull.

I can therefore not express strongly enough how pleased I am for Matteo effort to solve this issue. Also in the light that Matteo him self do not need this for his own boat (as it is almost brand new :-) He purely do this for the benefits of others.

Fair winds
Bjorn - Four Winds 44/014

I am sorry if my post appeared like I criticized Matteo, this was very, very far from my intention. Apart from being very good friends, I always appreciate all his actions which are indeed very generous towards us all, S&S Swan owners.
Daniel, 411/004

Dear Daniele,

did not at all read it this way! I do appreciate to read your (and Peter's) point of view.

All the best and Fair winds!

matteo (47/069 Vanessa)

Dear all,

We have entered the domain of classic cars (;-),keep them totally original or update the systems as better gear is developed.. at the classic car auctions the completely original demand a higher price but the owners are adverse to using them. The other approach is modernise to optimise the systems and repaint to keep them looking fresh but use them.
When I bought Storm Svale she was in pretty bad shape missing many of the original bits and pieces. In her resuscitation I had to choose between trying to find the original bits.. (dream on) or bring her up to present day (1997) standards. The later was my choice. I wanted modern self tailing winches, a state of the art main trimming system, stainless steel frames for the portholes a modern boom. This was an easy choice for me as the originals were long gone and as I like to play out there I wanted the best tools for the job. I want to sail her as well as I can and the old gear is ...well limiting. How many of you fly Dacron sails these days?? Interesting story, I and another Swan 40 owner were looking to convert to in boom furling and discussed the purchase of one from a supplier at the Hamburg Boat Show. All went well until we told him about our boats. He refused to sell them to us 'they don't belong on those boats, spoils the look'.

Anyway, Stormsvale is a mix of old and new. The good old stuff stays (generally better quality) .. the state of the art stuff replaces old worn out or ... other bits. You can be sure when I am grinding those winches by myself i am very happy I have selftailers and that my state of the art hydraulic autopilot is steering while my modern fridge is keeping my food cold with power supplied by my on deck solar panels...

She does have her bruises bumps and chips from her years of sailing, each of those bring back memories especially the ones inside from the kids. As far as the exterior, I don't need to be reminded of the idiot that rammed me while I was anchor or the guy who took out out my stanchions because he could not handle his power boat. She needs to look like the beautiful lady she is! Awlgrip again this year (;-) and a new bow sprit and gennacker furler... Lets go sailing ... and make some more memories leaving her to the next generation in better shape than we found her. If we don't, they will end up as so many of their sisters unloved and unwanted.. I just looked at an S&S Swan 48 and an S&S 36 as we are considering a second boat for a warm environment. Both of these were so far gone that I would not touch them and I doubt many others would as well. Their futures unless some one with the passion of Ragf comes along is not bright! Sad!! We are after all only caretakers.

Fair Winds

Mike from Storm Svale... hope to see you in Finland where we can compare our bumps!!!

Dear Friends,

new Builder's tags are ready!

S&S Swan Association Members eligible to get the replacement Tag, can contact me to get details

Fair winds!

matteo (47/069 Vanessa)

Dear Matteo,

I understand that we now have aluminium plaques available for the older S&S Swans, while a bronce plaque for the newer ones still stays out of sight... On 47/013 VERA, probably some earlier owner took the bronce plaque with him. Would we now qualify for an aluminium one as a replacement instead? Obviously, we cannot provide the original one now...

Just one more thing: How about the original aluminium plaques for Nautor Masts and spars? Ours are still there, but deeply worn hardly readable. New ones would look so good on the original spars! Is there a chance, you might sway NAUTOR to make those for us too? VERA needs four, two for the spinacker poles, one for the boom, and another one for the mast. I would be fine with outrageous costs for that.

Fair winds, Michael - 47/013 VERA

Dear Michael,

sure you are!

I am sorry we couldn't make the brass ones, anyway the old ones are quite nice and perfect!

We are already working to the "Nautor Mast", but right now I am a bit jammed between my business and a big big big project for the S&S Swan Association (which involves Lars and Daniel too...), which I will communicate officially in a few months...!

;-)

Hope Britta is well and Vera too!

Fair winds!

matteo (47/069 Vanessa)

Matteo:

I have a swan 36 that I have never been able to determine what her hull number. I is old enough it dosn't even have a Swan mast.

Lars told me to look for numbers on the back of some of the wood work but none have been found.

I would continue to be interested in seeing if a process of elimination could determine her hull number.

There is a serial number on the mast but Lars was unaware if that could be cross refereced to the hull number by Nator.

Thanks

I've been lucky to have had two Swans 411-42 which had the brass but not the Al plate and 44-37 which had neither. I was looking into having a brass plate made either by CNC milling or if I could get hold of an original make a mould and cast. 

If a number of people would be interested in the brass plates I would resurect the idea. I would certainly like one 

El Tiburon 

Hi El,

We can help you and others with HR pictures of our original brass tag.

If somebody is intrested please let me know.

Regards,

Ice

www.repoman.be

Dear Friends,

I would just like you to know that new Aluminum Tag have been produced under official permission by Nautor, and are given to S&S Swan Owner (and Association Members) under strict control of the S&S Swan Association and Nautor together, so, they are original in every respects.

If you want to produce the brass ones and want them to be officially original, I strongly recommend you to contact Nautor and coordinate with them the new production

Fair winds

matteo (47/069 Vanessa)

Hi Matteo:

I would like to get one for my Swan 43/46 that has been missing before I took ownership.  Please let me know the details.

Many thanks for doing this for the older Swans.

Kind regards,

Hiro

Dear Matteo,

...the new Nautor builders plaque is now mounted onboard the VERA. Have a look!

Thank you again, and kind regards, Michael / SY VERA / 47/013

Dear Michael,

thanks for sharing the photo with us!

Fair winds

matteo (47/069 Vanessa)