Hedley Nicol Trimaran Plans

I think this was the racing version of the boat of TOM CORKILL

1966-1967

Tom Corkil. Brisbane - Indonesien - Singapur - Durban in 16½ Monaten.
Clipper I, Trimaran.

 

You are right, Tom Corkill's boat was the Clipper prototype built by Hedley Nicol. It carried him around much of the world until he overloaded with free canned food in Africa and stayed up for 3 days running in a blow. The overloaded boat was pooped for the first time by waves and took on some water, when he finally hove to to sleep he was too tired to pump the boat out which was rolled over by a wave. He was rescued hours later by a freighter and rightly blamed himself not the boat for the accident as he had been through far worse weather before. The Clipper PDF shows the cabin of the cruising version.

 

Here are some summer cruising pictures a friend sent of us in light air..

 

Hey Cav, great shots thanks,

question, are those running backstays going aft out to the floats, I dont recall seeing any Nicols with those before, do you use them much and in what conditions?

Cheers, DAVE

 

Hello Dave, Yes they are running backstays, the very oversize blocks can be used for all sorts of other brute force functions.
They are used in combination with a staysail stay set with a highfield lever when using the staysail in heavy weather. It is a Searunner type set up. Most of the time they are not needed but are extra security in big waves. The apparent wind is usually forward enough that they are just left rigged with light tension. The staysail also gets set from time to time for offwind use and close reaching when there is enough time to make it worth while but it's mainly for a storm sail with the furler rolled up.

 

Gooday Cav - GREAT PICS - - MORE PLEASE. Nice - very light winds in the pics, sea's flat as, lovely sunshine - was the temp above zero ??

I'll obey - the not talk - about the other subject - & agree with RR - - loco - but I was born & lived there for 18 years - maybe that's my problem. I'm cool as.

Next & back to subject - Cav how much payload weight can 'she' carry & still be nice to sail ??? Thanks for sunny sailing supa pics. ciao, james

 

I thought it looked searunner-ish, is your rig single or double spreaders

DAVE

 

Hello James I put in a post to clue in RR about gubs....the safe alternative to running drugs! Temp that day was in the 80s Fahrenheit The boat is good for a long ton anyway. In those pictures we are loaded with a months food, water and full gear for 2. The canoe, which needs work, is a soaking wet 200+ pounds so is due to be replaced. Useful load isn't a problem....It does lose top speed loaded but still performs decently. It will still get into the low teens on a spinnaker run with enough wind. It makes for a good quick cruiser but isn't a race boat. The pictures were taken by a friend sailing so most have stays in the foreground but I'll upload another.
Hi Dave, the staysail rig and running backs I added when we put on the furler, the rest of the sailplan is stock. You'd have to cal it a double headsail sloop not a cutter. The staysail stay attachment is from about 3/4 up the mast to a chainplate on the now reinforced bulkhead forward of the sail locker/bow hatch. Like Hedley's Vagabond MK2 Privateer this one has 3 spreaders though the plans show only 2. The windage must suffer but it is strong.....The top set is where the diamonds and lowers converge on Chili.

 

Cool thanks Cav, I thought the top spreaders looked pretty high in the other photos but didnt realise you had a triple spreader setup, she sounds like a pretty bulletproof rig

Chilli didnt use her spinnaker that much, usually opting for twin genoas set wing and wing with no main for downwind work, VERY cruisy but on the QLD coast your never in that much of a rush as the next anchorage is usually as near or far from the last as you can be bothered sailing

DAVE

 

We are faster on a reach but in the PNW it all seems to be either upwind or down. With the heavy furler and good wind she'll do 9 1/2 knots to windward with a full load.The top spreaders are angled back as well. The mast is a conventional spruce plank mast, the designed spar is actually 2 sections hollowed out. I completely disassembled the mast which had some failing glue joints, scarfed in a few sections that were starting to go and reglued. Like the Hiscocks I like a wood mast as they are quieter with the halyards etc....not to mention easier to repair!

 

Ah yes, nothing worse than twang twang twang all night from the halyards, most lines on Chilli went out to the float stanchions at anchorage so she was pretty quiet at night, just meant a few minutes of setup before the days sail

DAVE

 

hey guys how is ever one, the old girls doing well, spent a penny on fixing all the F-ups made by the last owner, but **** happens,, been sailing the east coast of QLD for the last almost year been a great time, but i also found myself a new up grade boat, so if any one hears of someone looking for a hedley nicols tri, set them my way, price is neg, as im start enough to know ill never get back what i spent on her, but shes been a great learning exp, at moment im still not back in brisbane, but should be with in the next few weeks give or take stopping for a bit of fun along the way haha, whales, dolphins, backpackers haha, oh and a new dog, not sure how she wormed her way into my life, but guess im stuck with her, she great on watch though, lets me know anythings coming, from makers to small fishing boats, so thats been kinda cool, and sorry she doesnt come with the boat anyway, any interested partys, there are full photos of work, receipts, rigging less then a year old, main sail less then a year old, new forward bedding, less then 6months old.
inside still the old fit out, never got time getting around to it yet, so can be refit to the new owers style, and still a few things i had planed to do but never got around to yet, mainly add ons etc. comes with out private gear as will need it for the upgrade, sepping up to a 40ft ocean goer, so would like to sell asap, but note! not going to give it away either spent over $75,000 on her in total, and have receipts to show this, price will be well below that, repairs were needed so i had no choice after the last owner and brokers cheated me. but in good new to that the brokers lost, and is no longer has marina qld accreditions, so i won there, now to the legal side where im hoping to hit them hard
cheers guys

 

Finally Launched

After 7 year of weekends Triwanderer has been re-launched. I won't go through everything I have done as it has been posted previously. In brief, back to bare timber inside and out and rebuilt totally. It was very pleasing to hear Shawn Arbor compare it very favourably against the re-build he did on Renegade.

This is my first re-build but third boat I have built with the other two, a Cat and another Tri being built from scratch. I think I have one more in me and if so, will review in 4 years and make a decision.

Going sailing now lol.

I have included some photo's.

 

More photos

More photos

 

Congradulations! Shawn Arbor's work is always a benchmark. I've admired several Nicols that have been through his hands. We are out of glueing weather here and our sails are cold and wet this time of year. Good to see you back in the water, enjoy your warm weather. Post some sailing shots when you get rigged.