Camper & Nicholson

[Vertor]

Hello all, I am in the process of buying my first boat, a cruiser, I am looking for a well build solid older model and have a Nicholson in mind. Discussed with a broker today who told me that Nicholson's are renowned for being riddled with osmosis. I appreciate most GRP hulls are susceptible to the same, but does a Nicholson suffer more than most?

 

[Mandarin331]

Whilst you will receive a friendly welcome here I would suggest you would get a wider audience and more replies if you posted in the PBO forum.

 

[Talulah]

I wasn't aware of Nics suffering more than others. I would just look closely at the hull.

 

[Vertor]

Thanks Talula, I do indeed have a very well regarded surveyor on the case.

 

[Tradewinds]

As a Nic 39 owner for over 25 years I'd go with Talulah's comment.

If you see one you like have a good look at the hull for obvious signs and if you want to proceed get a survey done.

Friend sold his older Nic31 earlier this year (after many years ownership) - no problems with hull (or in fact anything worthy of note).

 

[johnalison]

All boats of that era were prone, but a good Nic, even if affected, would still be an excellent buy. At worst, there would be some work to be done, but the hull would almost certainly be sound.

 

[PeterWright]

Hi Vertor,

I agree with Johnalison, that Nicholsons remain excellent boats, but most of that era were more prone to osmosis. Nicholsons did not mould the hulls themselves, but used subcontractors for this work. I believe Halmatic were the most used, but others also worked for them. Two key changes were made to grp yacht moulding in the mid 70's early 80's, to reduce pheir propensity to osmosis. Firstly a change from orthophthalic resins to isophthalic resin for the gel coat and, perhaps more importantly, getting a grip on temperature and humidity control in the moulding shops. The first of these was fairly easy causing only a small increase in material cost, which was masked by the simple fact that all resins were rapidly increasing in cost as oil prices went up. The second was more difficult, because most British boat building sheds of that are were haphazard draughty buildings where the weather frequently penetrated and the doors were opened frequently to move boats in and out. Fixing this was a major capital expenditure for a builder.

The only way to use this to track the liability of a Nicholson to osmosis is to first find out where she was moulded, then find out when that works made the improvements and compare that with her moulding date - a tall order. Perhaps better to rely on a good survey.

The other option is to look for one which has been peeled and epoxied by a good yard and check on that yard's practices for temperature / humidity control in their spray shop. A good yard will keep a record of the shop's temp and humidity throughout any spray job, from when the hull is first moved in up to at least 24 hours after the last coat is applied.

Peter