Plastic drawers
Some of our plastic drawers in the pantry, and at the navigation, are in bad shape. Can new ones still be obtained somewhere? Yves Le Cornec from Nautor Villefranche told me he ordered the last ones 2 years ago, it seems that Nautor does not produce them anymore.

Christian IF 411/28

Dear Chris,

I know Nautor does not supply them any more (and unfortunately not only the drawers...), but I have seen a modification onboard a S&S Swan 38, a few years ago, which I liked. They built wooden ones, unfortunately I have no pics, but will ask the owner if she can do some.

Fair winds!

matteo (38/067 Only You)

Dear all,

I have the same problem. The drawers are almost impossible to clean and are "yellowing", which looks scruffy. If anyone has a solution to get them white again, or suggestions for replacement, I would be gratefull.

Gerrit
47/001

Dear Gerrit,

I had a problem that the drawers didn´t keep on their places when the boat heels. The reason was the slide ends which had worn round. I cut a piece of them and replaced with aluminium profile in order to get the ends sharp again. The drawers were also painted inside with normal spray paint. Works suberb, but wooden drawers would be more sophisticated solution.

Ilkka 411/006

Dear all
If you make wooden drawers it is important to consider that they tend to swell in the moist conditions on board. Either make them with big enough tolerances, or treat the wood with epoxy to keep the moisture out.
Best regards
Lars

Hi Matteo and Swan Devotees,

I'm planning on building wooden drawers to replace the 10 placstic drawers on our Swan 48, Galatea. I'm planning on using rift-cut white oak for the sides and possibly pine, iroko, or sapele for the bottoms. Pine is very stable with changes in humidity, but I don't think it's very druable.

Do you have photos or drawings of drawers to fit the wooden rails or guides inside of the cabinets of our Swans? (I've attached a photo of the wooden rails. Sorry for the imperial units of inches.)

Thank you all for the wonderful and helpful advice!

Sincerely,
Robert (48/013, Galatea)

Dear Robert,

unfortunately we don't have these drawings in classicswan archive  (and I am told Nautor throw away the moulds...), what I can do is to get a professional 3D scan of one of these drawers and get an exact drawing with sharp measurements, but I can do that in September.

Let me know if this could help!

Fair winds,

matteo (47/069 Vanessa)

PS in the meantime I have just talked to a friend who has a  professional 3D scan and printer, he will do a test in Sept (scan and 3D print a drawer), will keep you and the forum posted on this matter!

matteo (47/069 Vanessa)

Hi Matteo,

Thank you for your offer, but I have one of the plastic drawers in my wood shop, so I can make measurements from that drawer. I was hoping to get ideas of how to construct new drawers from wood.

In particular, I am not sure whether to make the drawer sides relatively thick (~20 mm) and cut dadoes (grooves) in the sides to accommodate the runners (rails) in the cabinets, or if I should make the drawer sides realtively thin (~10 mm) and attach runners (rails) to the drawer sides.

I'll probably make one of each style and test the fit. The problem is that I'm 3500 km from our boat, so it's difficult to fit the drawers to the cabinets as I build them.

I'll post photos of the drawers and let you know which style works better.

Sincerely,

Robert (48/013 Galatea)

Dear Robert,

it looks you really know your business, and I can't wait to see the results of your job, so, please, upload pics when the two different drawers will be built and of course share your experience with us will!

Thanks!

Fair winds,

matteo (47/069 Vanessa)