Hedley Nicol Trimaran Plans

Kevin

Kevin if you want more information regarding TawarriII, you can also contact me via email <tawarritwo@hotmail.com>. I registered here just to reply to your post.

 

Wow

Hi Hans,

Thank you very much for your contribution to the boats history. WOW, reading your relationship with the boat and your travels blew me away. You certainly got some NM’s up while you had her and it’s a shame the owners after you didn’t take good care of her. It must make you angry to see her in the way that it is, but rest assured it is my intention to get her all pretty again and out on the ocean sailing. I would be interested in anything you may have on the boat, old photos etc. My email is kevinwharton1@dodo.com.au Your personal story was a great surprise. Many of the areas you mention traveling are actually the same as where we intend to go. My partner is Filipino and I would love to get around the islands there in Tewarri II. Knowing your success with her in different places and conditions gives me so much more inspiration to get Tewarri II finished.

If your ever in the area you (Bay Islands) are more then welcome to visit her

 

What Hedly Tri do I have? Is it "Light"? Plans Available?

Hello Cav and company,

I am a newbie boat owner who bought what was advertised as a Hedley Nicol design. However, I have not been able to verify the actual design or designer.

The boat is different from the early Nicol designs in that it is a much sleeker build. A Kiwi friend suggested that the boat resembles some of Lex Nicol's designs, and may actually be one of his.

I have included 2 photos, which I hope will spark some neurons in the brains of conoscenti like yourselves. In one photo, the boat is "spider-webbed" in anticipation of an on coming typhoon, but it still has a tarp over the cabin, making it hard to identify the design. In the photo, of the boat being hauled along-side the dock, the small cabin is clearly visible, making it an unusual design for a Nicol.

Please twist the photos around as may be appropriate and let me know if any of them ring a bell (the wife took them), and let me know if plans for the boat may be available. Have some damage that needs repair.

Thanks to all,

G2L

 

It looks like a Hedley Nicol that got modified. The hulls are similar to the basic Wanderer/Vagabond/Cavalier/Buccaneer hull form. The scantlings could give a hint as to which one.

 

Boat scantlings, deck/hull profile, etc.

The boat is supposed to be 40 feet long, a 12m vessel. The cross beams to the amas (forget the proper term for them) are 8 inches wide. Stringers are generally 1x2" and the plywood bulkheads in the amas are only about 3/8".

Furthermore, all of the photos I have seen do not look like my boat. A major difference is that the main deck and ama decks of my boat slant downward, not upward, forward of the foreward cross beams. Forgot the name for this type of hull, but it is more of a "racing" design, used to cut windage, and I have not seen that in any of the Nicol designs mentioned.

Does this tell us much about which design it could be?

Thanks for your insights,

G2L

 

Reverse sheer is used on all the Nicol designs, one of the reasons along with the ama bows we wanted to see a side view. Add a long stern to a 36' Cavalier and you have a 12m boat. Buccaneers start at just under 40' and are usually stretched to 42+ with the stern. If you take the pics it will be easier to help you.

 

Your 36' idea seems solid, as per new info I have found. Lets talk only in my "Which Nicol" thread.

More details there relevant to this and your other posts.

Regards,

G2L

 

Hi ImaginaryNumber,

Do you have plans? or would you know where I could source some?

I'm trying to assist a friend with a Vagabond MKII; he has had some damage and unfortunately it had water in it for long enough that the boat is showing signs of rotten wood.

Many thanks

Rupert

 

Cavalier mk2 now has the plans. He is quite knowledgeable about Nicol trimarans, and is very helpful. Good luck.

 

I thought you had them digitized? I haven't done that yet.
Rupert has a couple things to sort out. First, there is no such thing as a Cavalier MK2. A Cavalier ketch was being marketed that way in Oz but the design is the Cavalier.
Hedley's first racer was Vagabond which was very successful. He updated it with everything he learned, longer amas, different wing deck, revised main hull shape and stern. He called the new design Vagabond MK2 and named his new racer Privateer.
Wanderer was the cruising design version based on Vagabond 1. Cavalier was the performance cruiser based on Vagabond MK2. It has higher freeboard and heavier scantlings to handle the cruising loads.

If you are in Australia I'd join Linkedin and contact Lex Nicol, Hedley's nephew, and see if he can help you get Alan Nicol to run plans off the transparencies. We don't have the patterns but I think he does.

In any case this isn't a issue as you make templates off the boat itself and document the construction and sizes before taking things apart. If you can take pictures and tell us what is damaged I'd be happy to suggest reconstruction approaches.

 

Hi, could anyone tell me what the approximate weight of a Buccanner is?
I need to hire a crane to lift Aquila out of the water to do some anti-fouling (she is too wide for the cradle at our yacht club) and the crane operator has asked what she weighs? I have no idea?

 

You should post this on one of the Crowther Buccaneer plan threads, Lock appropriated the name after Hedley died. We can do it here if you want but first need to know what size of Bucc you have. 24, 28, 33 etc....?

 

Sorry Learjet, its been awhile and you haven't posted much so I forgot you have a Nicol. I need to dig through some files to get a guesstimate but Hedley didn't get a chance to publish those figures. Depending on your scantlings I'd think around 8,000 to 10,000 pounds. Toss in some loading and you could figure 12,000 up. Try contacting some of the other Bucc owners to see if they have any figures off cranes etc..

 

Thanks Cavalier - your figures sound in the ballpark to me.

 

Hi Learjet & Cavalier MkII. I have been off this blog for a number of years, but having rediscovered it, would like to add some of my comments, late as they may be.
I have owned and sailed in the past 40 years three HEDLEY NICOL designs,-- a CavalierMkII, a "blown-up" CavalierMkII to 45' , and presently have a Buccanneer in SALDANHA BAY, South Africa - a neighbour to AQUILLA. (80 meters away).
This latest(?) tri was modified by some persons unknown, probably in the early 1980's. It would appear that the first-build had a steel drop-keel installed along with a keel similar to a BROWN SEARUNNER. This plate was removed at some later stage which has caused a slight trim problem, leaving the tri somewhat down in the stern. I aim to correct this sometime in the near future. The transom-hung rudder was removed and an inboard rudder installed. Although this works well after I modified it's profile, I believe that the original would have still been the better idea. Although mine is sloop rigged, I also think that the ketch rig would give far better balance to the handling abilities, especially for cruising. A very spacious and comfortable boat.
Further for your info, my craft is constructed with rather a fancy interior furnishings so probably comes in at about 5300 Kgs.(11000lbs). Being a believer in light multihulls, I am slowly working this down. I suspect AQUILLA's displacement is probably about 4500Kg.
Having read some of the earlier comments on that 42' tri some years ago, I have no doubt it is an extended Buccanneer. The rudder construction is the same and all the hull profiles, those which can be seen, seem to be purely HEDLEY NICOL. The wing an stern construction is very NICOL.
Incidentally, that 45' "blown-up" Cavalier was an incredibly good boat and came in at only 7200Kgs., was extremely well built, tough as an ox, yet sailed fast and handled like a dream. Hedley was a designer far advanced for his time.