SNYGG, one of the first registered motorized fishing boats in western Norway

[lagspiller]

SNYGG is one of the first motorized fishing boats on the west coast, registered with an "H" number in the fishing registry. Built around 1880 and motorized from 1924. Same motor in her today.

She was in very rough shape when we found her. Me and one other guy in our local Coastal Federation used more than a year making repairs while a motorman in the club fixed the engine - a 4.5 hp 2 cycle hotbulb semidiesel.

This year a regular spring workover was all she needed. And she is a real looker.



SNYGG was originally an Oselvar seksæring, the next size up from an Oselvar færing. An Oselvar 'six-oaring' is about 24 ft. They added a strake and bigger frames when the motor went in.

The Rap hotbulb semidiesel has a spreader instead of an injector and slightly lower compression than a more modern semidiesel, like a Sabb 8-10. The spreader is pushed into a hole in the top of the cylinder, held in place with two thumbscrews and turns 180 degrees to dowse the hot bulb en the top where a sparkplug sits in a petrol engine. To start, you warm the top of the bulb with a blowtorch for 15 minutes, open the regulator a touch, turn the oil box over twice and kick the flywheel backwards using a spring loaded pin in the front of the flywheel. If rhe bulb is hot enough, the engine fires when the piston compresses the mix going backwards and kicks the flywheel around forward. After start, you turn the spreader so it sprays down into the cylinder. There is also a water valve that can be used to boost the compression when more speed is needed. It pumps a small dash of water into the cylinder when its running fast, if you dare.Its an easy start when its hot. When its not, it can start backwards.
Once running, the injector pump, water pump and oiler run off an exterior eccentric axle at about 50 rpm at idle and maybe 200 at full throttle.

The propeller reverses the angle of the blades with the wheel you can see sticking up behind the motor housing.

The guys launched her today while I was out of town. Seems it went well without me.

[lagspiller]

Here's a look at the motor while it was being restored.

[Paul Schweiss]

That is fantastic to see! I did not know any of these transition craft were still around.

My wife’s grandfather was the first in his district to put a motor in a fembøring, He was from Ylvingen near Brønnøysund.

Love taking my pulse with a semi-diesel, what a soothing sound.

[Peerie Maa]

Boats with hot bulb diesels were always well painted.
That big assed blow lamp was great for burning off the old paint at the refit.

[lagspiller]

I've since picked up a kerosene blow torch of the correct persuasion at a antique shop, the type you pump up and warm the vaporizer by filling and lighting some fuel in the ring under the torch.
Takes 10-15 minutes to get the bulb hot enough to start the motor.

(But I used a butane ski wax burner when I scraped the boat down)

[lagspiller]

I know of only one more in our region, and I don't think that is in use.

A fembøring is much larger than SNYGG. That would make more sense. This boat is just a large rowboat. Hard to believe it was registered as a commercial fishing vessel. I suppose that shows how hard times were in the 1920s.

[koederfischgriller]

... western Norway? Is there a eastern Norway at all? It is called Sweden right?

[lagspiller]

... western Norway? Is there a eastern Norway at all? It is called Sweden right?

We in the west sometimes ask that question, too.
But its still there, and about the same distance between us as from Bremerhavn to the Polish border. In comparison, I seem to remember that even little towns in Germany were divided into east and west...

[Chris-on-the-Boat]

That water in the second picture is wonderfully clear. She looks to be in great shape for 1880.

Thanks for sharing.

-C.

[Ryden]

It really is what it's called!

[Hugh MacD]

Was there originally a sailing rig? Looks like a mast partner in the thwart there. Beautiful restoration and a very worthy subject!

[Hugh MacD]

We in the west sometimes ask that question, too.
But its still there, and about the same distance between us as from Bremerhavn to the Polish border. In comparison, I seem to remember that even little towns in Germany were divided into east and west...

I had to look at the map again So is the upper curve of Norway considered "eastern"? Some of that's farther east than all of Sweden!

[lagspiller]

The northernmost end of Norway is almost exactly the same longitude as Istanbul... check you handy globe. The west cape is at the western edge of the European mainland, the actual coastline is 25 000 km long (in comparison the equator is 40 000km) and the distance from the southern to the northern tip is as long as from the southern tip to south Italy. Its not really a small country. Similar in area to Japan, Madagascar and larger than UK. Or pretty much the same length as the east coast of USA, if we make a relevant comparison for most people on this forum.

Not so odd that we think in terms of regions in addition to the official administrative provinces (fylker).

The yellow is the south. The divide between the east and west follows the dividing mountain range... and gives very different biotopes on each side. Trøndelag is mid-norway and the farming heartland. North Norway is the upper half of the country.

And here is the map of the new fylker. There were 19 until recently.


Until recently, 80% of the population lived in the coastal band within 30 miles of the sea.
Taken together, huge coastline, the hugely diverse environments and the traditional dependence on the sea year round, is why Norway has the best boats.

This concludes the geography lesson for today. Stay tuned for the lesson on Norwegian black metal.

[lagspiller]

Was there originally a sailing rig? Looks like a mast partner in the thwart there. Beautiful restoration and a very worthy subject!

Yes. We recovered the rig and sail when we took the boat. (We actually had to cut the wall of the boathouse open to get the boat out, and then replace the wall for the owner.

SNYGG has a square sail. We haven't packed that out.

[Hugh MacD]

Thanks for the geography lesson! And I take it that "Norwegian black metal" doesn't mean bog iron blooms

[lagspiller]

Unfortunately, no.

[koederfischgriller]

Norway is great!

[C. Ross]

Great boat and great geography lesson.

I wouldn’t mind seeing more boat pictures. And is there a transmission of some kind on that engine?

[lagspiller]

No transmission. The lever behind the motorbox operates the clutch. The wheel operates the pitch control of the propeller on a worm screw...from full forward to full reverse by turning the propeller blades. Takes about 10 complete turns on the wheel to reverse the pitch.

Photo of the motor when before restoration. The clutch mechanism is operated by the lever, pushing a conic wedge into the circular housing, which spreads the spring loaded pads out against the inside of the circular housing.


This one shows the bottom end of the wheel. The worm gear pushes or pulls the collar that steers propeller pitch. Here we have begun to find the hidden bits that lock it together and have begun to separate the drive axel & propeller steering from the drive shaft from the motor. None of us had seen the i side of this construction before, so it was a trip of discovery exploring the greasy, hidden depths.

[lagspiller]

We found some factory information.


Our engine is the smallest type... G.
225 kg 4.5 hk.
Doing the math, 1582.6 cc displacement. It would be called a 1.6 liter today.

[lagspiller]

It has come a long way.

[lagspiller]

From the first launch after restoration.

[lagspiller]

And from the first test run. Still needed some injection adjustment becaust it got too much fuel running at speed and smoked. But she is fast. 10 knots in this video, and that wasn't full throttle.

[lagspiller]

... and finally, one shot of me clowning before launch.
We were in a weird mood after all the work.

[Hugh MacD]

Great to see her in the water. All that hard work really shows!

[lagspiller]

We have launched SNYGG and fired up the 2 cycle hot-bulb semidiesel. The film shows were not exactly patient and tried to start the motor before the hot-bulb was warm enough. But it begins to respond as it warms, giving some smoke from the exhaust as it nears ready. When hot, it starts very easily. Our first start ended with it running backwards, but that can happen with a 2 cycle diesel No problem We let it warm a bit and then restarted it the correct way before taking a short trial run.

The boat is an Oselvar seksæring, (6-oared boat) built around 1880. The motor was installed in 1924.
The boat is one of the very first and the very last of its kind - a motorized, commercial fishing boat, on the west coast of Norway. I am not sure there are any others of similar heritage still in working condition.

I found an old-time blowtorch in an antique shop. It needed a bit of care, but after warming the torch for 10 minutes by lighting up rubbing alcohol in a depression on the top of the parafin tank and pumping up the air pressure in the tank, it throws a hot flame. That is the sound you hear in the beginning of the video. The blow torch is visible on the left side of the motor, heating the top.

The boat is surprisingly fast. The fine lines of the rowing hull respond very well to the 4.5 hp motor. It has been a fine project and a great restoration.