Opinions on Nicholson 44

[monkfish24]

Hello All,
I'm fairly interested in a Nic 44 (the stretched 42) built in 1981.

It needs a lot of work but is not outside my skill set andcould end up being a great boat.... if ..... it is any good in the water. I'd hate to finish the work and it handle like a pig. Has anybody sailed one?

https://yachts.apolloduck.com/boat.phtml?id=553360

From what I can see it may need re decking and possibly a new bulkhead on the cockpit/interior bulkhead.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

A lot of work you say.

 

[monkfish24]

Luckily for me, I only work 6 months of the year!

 

[sailaboutvic]

Have you looked here over yet ? Good price but I guessing she going to need a lot of work and money spend on her .
Good luck we almost just finished our second refit and although every job was done by us , the cost was no where near what we first tho it be .
The old saying double what you think it be ? thats about right .
She could be a nice boat in the end .

 

[monkfish24]

Have you looked here over yet ? Good price but I guessing she going to need a lot of work and money spend on her .
Good luck we almost just finished our second refit and although every job was done by us , the cost was no where near what we first tho it be .
The old saying double what you think it be ? thats about right .
She could be a nice boat in the end .

I haven't seen her yet, Im currently at sea with work and I saw the boat for sale about 6 months ago and was interested in her then. I live in Cornwall and the boat is in Kent so I obviously don't want to waste time going to see it if it's not worth bothering with. I found an advert for it in the SOF for sale in 2015 after it had the hull redone.

The woodwork is easy and the varnishing is just labour intensive. I can see the corners on the bulkeads are a little black from damp but the interior in general is fairly good.

The engine and electrics don't worry me, I deal with a lot bigger and a lot more complex on a daily basis at work.

Its got a mast and sails so thats the biggest expense with rig covered.

I could see myself keeping it for a very long time so the expense, to me would be worth it, especially if its value did outweigh the renovation costs. I just want to make sure its not a horrible boat to sail, it would be an anti climax after doing the work.

 

[Tranona]

I could see myself keeping it for a very long time so the expense, to me would be worth it, especially if its value did outweigh the renovation costs. I just want to make sure its not a horrible boat to sail, it would be an anti climax after doing the work.

The value will never be greater than what you spend on it. They were rich man's toys when new and will over the years have emptied many rich (and not so rich) mens' pockets. Just look at what was supposedly spent on the hull - 3 times the current asking price.

The real question is whether your pockets are deep enough to be the next person in the cycle.

Of course it will be a fantastic boat if it were done properly, just like it was when it was new. Don't forget you need a goodly crew to help you spend all your money if you want to sail it seriously.

 

[pvb]

Its got a mast and sails so thats the biggest expense with rig covered.

If you look closely at the brokerage pics of the boat in France in 2015, you'll see that the sails were basically shot then. See http://www.classicyachtbrokerage.co.uk/product/marili/

I could see myself keeping it for a very long time so the expense, to me would be worth it, especially if its value did outweigh the renovation costs.

Its value will never ever in a million years approach the cost of renovating it, even if you chuck your time in for free. The boat's for sale again because it's not a sensible renovation project.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I bought a commissioned yacht in 2008 that was launched in 1974, probably had some refit work over the years. I negotiated a big discount (or rather my wife did) on an already discounted price. I work 28 days on and 28 days off, salaried so get paid on my days off and earn a very good salary.

In 2013 I took her out the water to refit because it was too slow doing this in the water. I have finished the refit, 2017 and still have an older boat. The next things I will be replacing are sails and one day I will upgrade the electronics. So far I focussed on integrity: rigging, windows, repairs to water damaged wood, electrics, stern gear, engine mounts, tank cleaning, potable water - stuff that was simply worn out. I easily spent what I paid for her. The work was a mix of DIY and professional trades. Two key points - there is always more to be done than you see / currently estimate and once you start you need to go on with other unplanned stuff e.g. when the rewire was done, we decided on LEDS, which meant headlining, that resulted in not just headlining but headlining boards as well.

You are probably looking at multiples of the current advertised price. Also you need to consider that over 40' everything gets more expensive by a fair degree.

In my time off I still had to manage my family expectations and family spend as it is difficult to justify another 4k on the yacht and the kitchen needs refitted (which we did along with many other stuff).

The bottom line - the time and money I have spent on my yacht when she has not moved an inch and been out the water, including the purchase price, would easily pay for a 38' 5-8 year old Bavaria or Hanse, as recently advertised on YBW. Old boats are money pits of the worst sort, all spend with no sailing. Do yourself a favour, buy a newer, second hand boat and go sailing, not a dead lump that will just drag you down.

 

[monkfish24]

I think you are all correct unfortunately!

The seawolf is getting to the point that it needs major money spending on it too. The Interior is tired, I'm halfway through a rewire but then Ive owned it for nearly ten years and it's a great sailing boat that sails well. BUT it's a 26ft'er, bills are never going to be extortionate with it.

I didn't think about the practicality of sailing it either, it's a crewed boat and I need something that I can sail solo. I'd like a bigger boat, something that is able to take me off on long trips but has the space to relax in too. Something like a Rustler would suit me down to the ground but purchase prices are hard to convince the wife that it's a feasible venture compared to buying something at rock bottom and building it up.

But let's be honest, boats never make any financial sense.

 

[sarabande]

All the IOR style boats of that era were fine to handle upwind when you get them in the groove. Downwind they drag an enormous quarterwave and are rather sensitive to Chinese gybes. Also a tendency to round up quickly when on a beam reach.

If you want an easy solo boat, there are many better-behaved ones for similar money. She is too cheap. Run

 

[E39mad]

All the IOR style boats of that era were fine to handle upwind when you get them in the groove. Downwind they drag an enormous quarterwave and are rather sensitive to Chinese gybes. Also a tendency to round up quickly when on a beam reach.

If you look at the pictures in the link there is nothing remotely IOR about the underwater profile but purely a traditional encapsulated long fin keel.

Lovely boat BTW

 

[Motor_Sailor]

If you look at the pictures in the link there is nothing remotely IOR about the underwater profile but purely a traditional encapsulated long fin keel.

Lovely boat BTW

Well, she was designed in the early years of the new IOR rule. The '69 season was the first for the 'international rule' that came out of the CCA and RORC rules. Early boats obviously showed strong resemblance to their parent forms but lots of competent designs of that time (S&S34, etc) were what the designers thought were best suited to the new rule.

 

[monkfish24]

If you look at the pictures in the link there is nothing remotely IOR about the underwater profile but purely a traditional encapsulated long fin keel.

Lovely boat BTW

I know, thats why I'm so interested in it. It is a beautiful boat and in a finished state it would be beautiful for a coastal cruiser around the cornish coast.

 

[Biggles Wader]

If you really like the boat and you have the time and skills to restore it and you enjoy that sort of project then why not? I would be very hard nosed about the price though. In reality the boat is probably not worth anything more than a nominal sum as it stands.

 

[Tranona]

If you really like the boat and you have the time and skills to restore it and you enjoy that sort of project then why not? I would be very hard nosed about the price though. In reality the boat is probably not worth anything more than a nominal sum as it stands.

Even a £15k it is nominal in relation to what you will subsequently spend. Just a decent suit of sails and redoing the deck to the standard the boat requires is likely to cost double the purchase price - and who knows what is behind the damp patches on the structural bulkheads?

 

[monkfish24]

If you really like the boat and you have the time and skills to restore it and you enjoy that sort of project then why not? I would be very hard nosed about the price though. In reality the boat is probably not worth anything more than a nominal sum as it stands.

To be honest, I wouldn't expect to pay anywhere near that asking price.
Considering it was for sale in commision in 2015 for 15k, I would refuse to pay that much.

 

[Tranona]

To be honest, I wouldn't expect to pay anywhere near that asking price.
Considering it was for sale in commision in 2015 for 15k, I would refuse to pay that much.

You might "refuse" all you like but remember the seller has the option to accept or not.

Anyway the point is that the purchase price on this sort of project is just the entry fee to a far higher level of expenditure and once you have started pulling it apart the value falls pretty much to zero until you put it back together again.

 

[pvb]

To be honest, I wouldn't expect to pay anywhere near that asking price.
Considering it was for sale in commision in 2015 for 15k, I would refuse to pay that much.

To make it anywhere near a viable proposition, they'd need to pay you to take it away! Even then, you can count on spending £50K and a huge amount of time to get it into decent nick. And it's still a 1981 boat. For £50K you could buy a similar boat from 1994, in fairly good condition, virtually fully sorted, with good electronics and a decent engine, and be sailing it next week - see https://lancashire.boatshed.com/camper__nicholson_45-boat-221655.html

 

[Tranona]

Pity the deck looks so bad in the photos - lots of failed seams!

 

[monkfish24]

You might "refuse" all you like but remember the seller has the option to accept or not.

Anyway the point is that the purchase price on this sort of project is just the entry fee to a far higher level of expenditure and once you have started pulling it apart the value falls pretty much to zero until you put it back together again.

While I agree on your second point, on the first, I can refuse, it's been up for sale for at least 6 months in it's current state. If he isn't interested in my price, I'm not interested in his boat. Simples.