C and N info

[ian1230_15]

I would be very interested to hear from owners of Camper and Nicholson 36 yachts. The yard built 24 of these yachts during the early sixties and we own one of them.I know of one yacht currently for sale in the Netherlands and I think one other took part in the 2004 ARC.

Any info appreciated

Thanks

Ian

 

[Greenfly]

Dear Ian,

I own Greenfly (ex-Yeoman XI) which was built in May 1963 in Gosport. C&N produced about 12 of them and outsourced the other 12 to other yards such as Lallows in Cowes. A few were produced "turtleback" with no coach strictly for racing. The production run was from 1962-65.

I know of the following Nic 36s: Thelma (She was for sale a couple years back at Moodys in Swanick, Upper Hamble); Janessa, the first Nic 36, (for sale a year ago in Cowes), Wayfarer (for sale two years ago at Berthons, Lymington; Temeraire, (based in Kinsale, Ireland), Ann Stiling (for sale four years back at Medway, Kent); Janelle?? (for sale four years ago in Gosport).

I heard about a Nic 36 sitting in a field in British Columbia, Canada and one in France (which was for sale about a year ago).

There is a history of C&N (written by Ian Dear, I think) which lists all of the Nic 36s in the back. That, along with Lloyd's Register of Yachts, official numbers and sail numbers will get you going. If your boat was produced at C&N Gosport, she should have a blue plaque with a yard number which will tell you roughly when she was built.

I found 10 pictures of my boat in the Beken of Cowes archive. Be sure to give them any name your boat may have been called in the past.

I was thinking of forming a Nic 36 association where we could share yarns and pictures on a web-site. Would you be interested?

In any case, if you have any questions, please write. I did a massive refit on the boat and may be able to share something useful.

Best regards,

Stephen
SV Greenfly

 

[ian1230_15]

Stephen,

Many thanks for your reply and information I would be very interested in helping to form or joining a Nic 36 association,

I see Greefly is quite rightly listed in the top 200 Classic Boat list.....

We own Virago of Strangford a Nic 36 built Gosport 1962, currently based in Lerwick and usually cruising North Norway.

She was raced in the solent from 62 to 64 and won the Santander race in 65? but not sure of her original name. We understand she was 'Boat of the show' at the London boat show 1962.

I have sent you a private email with my contact details.

Regards

Ian

 

[burgundyben]

Think Janessa is owned by Alan Hyne-Jones, he was on here a while ago when mention of a classic regatta came up, I'll email him about this thread.

 

[alanhj]

Dear Stephen

we are the new owners of 'Janessa' nic 36 no.1 she was the prototype GRP nic 36 built by/for peter nicholson in 1961. she is currently going through a rather large refit!! therefore your help and knowledge would of great assistance. we are just abt to replace the old/original rig therefore any guidance on this would be appreciated - i would quite like to put an extra couple of feet on it !?? - who did you get to make yours?

further to your comment, interestingly i was led to believe that all of the grp nic36's were blt at gosport? (hulls being blt by Halmatics and then finished off at c&n gosport)

i have been to see Jeremy Lines at C&N and found him to be very helpful - and as a result i have many copies of the original plans.

we are based in hamble and will be taking part in the JOG race series this year and also the classic channel regatta.
are you still south coast based ? i remember seeing 'Greenfly' out at mercury marina some yrs back if my memory serves me right?!

i have recently been in contact with the owners of 'wayfarer of emsworth' (portsmouth based) and also 'Lion d'Or of Wessex' (kiel based). the current owners of Lion d'or have her for sale http://members.home.nl/verheyen.bodbijl/cn36/index.html

i think the idea of a Nic 36 association would be great fun

must go as our new engine has arrived and needs to be installed!!

all the best

Alan

 

[Greenfly]

Dear Alan,

Janessa is a grand old dame! I think she had a successful racing record and there should be lots of pictures in the Beken Archive. Did you buy it from Nicholson?

I replaced the mast/rig/spars without ever trying out the original Kemp mast and boom furling. I kept the length the same (42' I think) and a single spreader with a Selden E section (I think). Southern Spars in Southampton did the work. They also fitted a gas strut kicker and single-line reefing so I could reef from the cockpit. I also put in a fully battened main running on Fredricksen batten cars with lazy jacks. All of this stuff was new to me. Generally, it has all worked flawlessly.

The gas strut kicker is a winner. I use the topping lift as a spare main halyard or in other words, never use it. The batten cars and lazy jacks are terrific. I have done zero maintenance to the batten cars.

The single-line reefing is brilliant although occasionally the lines have jumped the sheaves in the blocks. This probably has more to do with inferior blocks. Get Harken.

I re-cut the main so it would go all the way up the mast (about a foot longer than original) and cut a bit of roach in the new main. The roach extends about 3 inches aft of the backstay. The main is fully battened. In light air the top batten will stick on the backstay but can be pushed through. All of is has introduced weatherhelm in breezes more than 7 knots. One of the old owners said she was very balanced. If you look at the old pictures, there was a black band about a foot down from the top of the mast. This was the maximum luff length for the main under the old RORC rules. I usually put that first reef in pretty quickly to get her balanced (I have a fixed backstay) which was essentially the size of the old main. On the wind, the foresail provides most of the drive and I can reef the main with no loss in speed. I would say the foresail provides 4 knots and the main 2.

I am happy with the size of the mast and would not change it unless I was going to sail extensively in light air such as the Med or race inshore. You may want to consider a lighter mast section and a double spreader rig. This would make her stiffer. (This would be a good question for Lines since he is a yacht designer.) It may also eliminate the need to change the opening at deck level. (My new mast was a different shape and wider than the old one). The downside is that you may beat me if we race.

I replaced the main sheet system with a Harken six part purchase. This has worked well. The upside is that I manage it easily single-handed. The downside aspects are I have had to replace the shackles a couple times because they face tremendous loads and the boom jumps around on one connection point rather than three while motoring in rough seas. An additional line tied to the boom end will mitigate that.

I used to be based at Hamble Point Marina. I saw Janessa on a mooring near Swanick four years ago. Greenfly and me are in Boston, USA now. I am thinking about sailing to Europe. In any case, let’s get all the Nic 36 owners together and we can swap pictures and stories on a website.

What horsepower diesel are you going to put in. I have an old 23 hp Volvo that is on its last legs. It never pushed the boat at hull speed in the open ocean which would have been nice. I would put a 40 hp in now to bash through those difficult inlets.

Are you doing any work to the keel or rudder? Do you have a Taylor’s cooker?

 

[alanhj]

STEPHEN

MANY THANKS FOR YOUR RESPONSE. 'JANESSA' IS INDEED A GRAND OLD DAME, HOWEVER WITH A BIT OF TIME AND MONEY WE HOPE TO GET HER BACK TO BEING THE OCEAN GREYHOUND SHE ONCE WAS!!

BEKEN HAS MANY PHOTO'S OF HER OVER THE YRS, MOST OF WHICH WE HAVE AS PROOFS. HOWEVER, BEKEN HAS RECENTLY PRODUCED A BOOK '100 YEARS OF BEKEN' WERE THERE IS A DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD OF 'JANESSA' AND OTHERS AT THE START OF THE 1964 SANTANDER RACE. IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S BLOWING A GOOD 30/35 KNS AND THEY ARE STILL IN THE SOLENT! HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET THE RESULT OF THE RACE YET?

I UNDERSTAND PETER NICHOLSON OWNED AND RACED HER FOR ABT FOUR YRS AFTER SHE WAS BLT, SHE WAS THEN SOLD TO SOMEONE WHO ONLY HAD HER OF A SEASON, WE BOUGHT HER OFF THE NEXT OWNERS WHO HAD OWNED HER FOR ABT 37 YRS!

THE ENGINE SHE HAS IS A WATERMOTA SEAPANTHER WHICH IS ABT 30 BHP. THE OLD ONE HAD SEEN BETTER DAYS SO WE DECIDED TO HAVE IT OUT AND GIVE IT THE ONCE OVER! I THINK THE TERM 'UNECONOMICAL TO REPAIR!' SPRUNG TO MIND. SO WE WENT FOR A STRAIGHT REPLACEMENT KNOWING IT WOULD FIT AND ALSO KNOWing THAT THE ENGINES THEMSELVES ALTHOUGH A LITTLE OLD IN DESIGN ARE POWERFUL, RELIABLE AND SMOOTH. THE NEW ENGINE DIDN'T FIT!!!! BUT IT WILL DO.

RE THE MAST - I HAVE BEEN IN CONVERSATION AND DISCUSSION AT LENGTH ( MOSTLY IN THE BAR! ) ABT WHAT TO DO - SO THE CURRENT THINKING IS TO ADD AN EXTRA 6 FT TO THE TOP AND SHORTEN THE FOOT - THIS WILL KEEP THE MAINSAIL AREA ABT THE SAME BUT OBVIOUSLY INCREASE THE GENOA. I HOPE THIS WILL GIVE US A BIT MORE GO IN THE LIGHTER STUFF. WE ARE CURRENTLY TALKING TO THE MAST MAKER ABT THIS AND WHETHER IT WOULD REQUIRE GOING TO DOUBLE SPREADERS. WHEN I POPPED DOWN TO SEE JEREMY LINES LAST YR WE WENT THROUGH MANY OF THE PLANS AND ONE OF THE IDEAS THEY HAD WAS A TWIN SPREADER WOODED MAST!! I DO LIKE THE SOUND PF THE GAS KICKER.

THE RUDDER IS BEING REBUILT/DESIGNED BY SOME FRIENDS IN HAMBLE AS WE SPEAK. IT HAD BEEN TAKEN ON AND OFF A NUMBER OF TIMES OVER THE YEARS AND HAD BEGUN TO WEAR IN THE VITAL PLACES. WE ARE CHANGING THE STOCK AND THE WAY IN WHICH IT ATTACHES TO THE RUDDER. WE DO NOT PLAN TO DO ANYTHING TO THE KEEL, INTERESTINGLY WHEN TALKING WITH JEREMY LINES HE MADE A COMMENT ABT "DO NOT BE SURPRISED IF YOU SEE RUST STAINS BETWEEN THE KEEL/HULL JOINT!" TO WHICH I REPLIED "WHY!" APPARENTLY WHEN MAKING THE HULLS THEY WE UNSURE OF THE STRENGTH OF GRP SO THEY DECIDED TO MOULD IN SOME STEEL REINFORCEMENTS SIMILAR TO THE ONES THEY PLACE IN CONCRETE!!!.

ONCE WE HAVE THE FUNDAMENTALS IN PLACE WE CAN THEN START LOOKING AT THE COSMETICS!

RE COOKER - I THINK OURS IS MADE BY 'VANESSA'?? IT IS OLD BUT DOES THE JOB. WE HAD THE GAS PIPING REPLACED LAST YEAR.

IT MUST GET A BIT CHILLY AT WINTER TIME IN BOSTON, BUT GUESS SOME GOOD SILING TO BE HAD IN THE SUMMER.

REGARDS THE WEBSITE DO YOU HAVE ANY SPARE WEB SPACE? SEND ME A PM TO DISCUSS FURTHER. I THINK www.NIC36.COM IS AVAILABLE!

ALL THE BEST

ALAN

 

[stef]

Hi,

My name is Stef Bulcke. I live in Belgium and I own "Guinevere of Torridge" a C&N 36.

Wanted to inform you.

Greetings

 

[Aurai]

Swapping notes with Wayfarer of Emsworth found this thread today, We have had Aurai, renamed from Cahoots, renamed from her Lloyds Register name of Summer Lightning, by previous owner. Still in commission and R Medway base. Chas