@alexina
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Hi Charles,
A previous owner replaced the standard davits with some posh stainless steel (inox) ones. I am afraid I do not know who the manufacturer is.
For years we used a Quicksilver 320 with an airdeck and found it wonderful. You could get it to plane when singlehanded with our mighty 3.5hp Tohatsu and we managed eight people and a dog once. Sadly the Quicksilver disintegrated in the relentless UV of the Med and then the Caribbean.
We have now replaced it with a Walker Bay 8. It is reassuringly similar to the original C & N dinghy and does not protrude over the stern and catch on eveything like the Quicksilver did. It also has the advantage of having an inflatable oollar for stability and we have recently purchased a sailing kit. We have been so happy with the sailing kit that the mighty Tohatsu has been languishing aboard Alexina as we trip to and fro under the delightful zephyrs of the anchorage winds.
Peter
Hi William,
Welcome to the forum. Good luck with the project.
Hull No. 33 was built in 1969, yard number 979 and Lloyds Office No. 336194, Sail No. 877Y. Originally named Sione she went through life named as such until 1979 when the litle information I have runs out. Her owners were P.E.P Gibbings, Juan Horns, F.A. Biggs and Michel Carol.
Best Wishes .. Peter
Hi Peter,
I suspect they were very pleased to find we have some safety equipment at all. They did not check expiry dates too closely. It being the Dutch Antilles there is no where that you can find out what their regulations are, they have no website. As long as veryting looks shipshape and Bristol fashion you should be OK.
Peter
Peter, Alexina had all her standing rigging replaced by myself 18 months ago. It cost about 1500 euros and I bought all the wire and fittings from Contract Yacht Services in Levkas. At the same time we had a new suit of sails from Barry and Sue at Sioux Sails which they sourced from Rolly Tasker, these cost about 3000 euros.
We do have an after market in mast reefing system from Easyreef and to date have had no real problems with it.
It might be a good idea to note that the Nicholson 32 has the same main mast as the Nicholson 38 if you are looking for a replacement.
Hope this helps .. Peter
Hi .. It was such a hectic trip, we did make it up to Seattle for one day only but ran out of time and had to turn back South.
We shall definately return sometime but for now we are preparing for the East Coast of the USA.
Peter
What a great posting .. We were particularly impressed with the video clipshowing Rainshadow creaming along at 6.7 knots .. a veritable Ocean Greyhound.
We wish more owners would publish their Nicholson 38 adventures.
Peter, Helen and Tiger
Hi All, I have the following for Nicolisa
Hull No.:134 Yard Number:1431 Off No.: SOU102578 Original name:Nicolisa Original owner:J. McIntyre Built:1976 J. McIntyre owned her until 1978 She was sold as a “Part Assembly” and completed in 1978.
Peter
Hi Peter,
Ah! so many things to consider. I notice that Hull No 1, Rinji, built alongside Gypsy Moth IV is currently for sale, just to tempt you.
All I can suggest is that you take your time and decide want you want your Nicholson 38 to do. Their prices seem to vary depending on the location, they are expensice in Northern Europe, less so in the Med and even cheaper in the USA.
To answer your questions ..
We have been very happy with our aft facing nav station although it has to be said that with the advent of charts on PCs, GPS and AIS our navigation is now done almost entirely from a notebook computer in the cockpit.
The aft cabin belongs entirely to our eleven year old daughter, Tiger. We have no idea what configuration she and her chums have made of it.
We have never used our mizzen staysail as it would interfere with our mizzen mounted wind generator. We have installed an additional forestay and have the theoretical ability to fly a staysial but have never bothered as we have a roller reefed foresail.
We have had mixed successes with our Hydrovane, when it worked it was wonderful, unfortunately the rudder shaft sheared, we are not sure whether it was a result of a previous misadventure by an earlier owner or a design problem ( Hydrovane have since increased the size and soecification of the rudder shaft)
Best Regards .. Peter
Hi Peter,
Welcome to the group.
I am just relaxing at anchor at Grenada after a full year of cruising Alexina from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean. Tomorrow we lift out for a three month period and some light maintenance (we intend to solve the problem of subsidence under the mizzen). Earlier today I chatted with Tom, the owner of Prospero, another Nicholson 38.
In my erxperience, not only will your prospective Nicholson 38 look after you, indeed, you will find that she is a much better sailor than you are, you will also enjoy the privilige of instant friendship with other Nicholson owners, large and small.
Best Regards .. Peter
Hi
I do not have much experience with the Perkins 4107 or 8, Alexina has a “Volvo Perkins”. having said that the symptoms described seem reminscent of problems I experienced years ago with an old diesel Landrover. I eventually traced it down to a faulty lift pump with a tiny hole in the diaphragm. Hope this helps.
Peter
Peter has put together a very comprehensive list of advantages and disadvantages for the Hydrovane. They mirror my experiences with the Hydrovane exactly.
I was especially interested in the difficulty of manoeuvering when the Hydrovane rudder is down. We too experienced this and the standard drill when approaching close quarters work is to remove the rudder. We also experienced interaction between the Hydrovane rudder and the main rudder with very stiff steering when under power. So much so that we would remove the rudder for pasages under power.
As you may have read on our website the Hydrovane rudder shaft broke whilst on our Atlantic crossing. To be fair to Hydrovane we suspect that the previous owner had grounded the rudder on a quay and bent the shaft, creating a weak point.
After reading about Peter’s ‘off centre’ installation I wonder whether the stiff steering may have been caused by the bent rudder shaft.
I am still debating what to do about the Hydrovane. I understand from the very helpful people at Hydrovane that I can replace the rudder shaft assembly at a cost of about £2200 with the possibility of a little machining. I could get a new shaft, housing and bearings made up by a machine shop or we could bite the bullet and get another wind vane.
Peter
We cannot compete with your wonderful photo but here’s one of Alexina preparing for an imminent blow.
[img]https://www.nicholson38.org/wp-content/uploads/c047k-Stormy-weather-ahead.JPG[/img]Hi Everyone,
As many of you know we have been experiencing problems with our ancient Neco Autopilot.
I suspect that I have found the source of the problem, it lies with the electric motor. At some point someone had replaced the brushes. The lead to the brushes is protected by short lengths of insulation. As the brushes wore (there is plenty of life left in them) the insulation snagged on the brush cavity, preventing the springs from pushing in the brushes to the correct extent and leading to erratic, gradually worsening performance. Simply slipping the ends of the insulation into the holes appears to have fixed the problem.
Hope this little tip proves useful.
Best Regards .. Peter
Hi Peter,
Yes I fitted bon return valves to both sets of drains and sail with the sea cocks open. We have taken pains to lightem Alexina in preparation for the Atlantic crossing and this no doubt helped. We used the Whale LV1215 non return valves.
I understand the mini washboards are a standard issue. We leave ours in place as they act as door stops and I have nightmares about people slamminmg the dors shut and tearing open the hinges. We did replace two of our hinges after a two and a half year saga on the internet sourcing them.
Best Regards .. Peter
Hi Van,
Prior to the Atlantic crossing we worried about taking a sea in the cockpit. Following excellent advice from Jeremy Lines we maintained the original cockpit drains but installed non return valves. We installed screw-downs for the cockpit floors and bedded them down on neoprene hatch seal.
When at sea, above 20 knots of wind, we always sail with the cabin doors closed. As a result when we took our sea in the cockpit no water at all made it into the cabins, to our delight no water made it into the engine compartment either. We were mightily impressed with the speed at which the cockpit drained. All in all we were very happy. Bit glum about the cockpit cushions getting wet though.
Best Regards .. Peter
Hi Richard,
We are in the process of building a Jordan series drogue which I intend deploying from the aft cleats. I had assumed that they would be strong enough but now you mention it I am thinking again, If anyone has any experience I would be very grateful.
Peter
Hi Mike,
Yes, we have a Hydrovane fitted and so far are very happy with it. It does interfere with with the mizzen boom so when we are using it we either dispense with the mizzen entirely, scandalising it or lashing it to the downside of the davits. If using the mizzen we ensure that the mizzen is very well prevented
Best Regards .. Peter
Alexina has been treated with Gelshield epoxy. Despite this every year when lifting out we have a handful of blisters. We simply abrade them out and fill with epoxy. Over eight years of ownership the number of blisters decreases year by year.
This gradual treatment is the one recommended by Hugo du Plessis in his comprehensive book “Fibreglass boats” He goes further to say that Nicholsons are prone to osmosis. Boats that have been treated on a blister by blister basis appear to have fewer problems than those who have had a systemic treatment of gel coat treatment and epoxy replacement.
We have however had problems with the rudder which required removal of the gell coat and replacement with an epoxy layer. This was successful for four years but this winter we had about ten blisters on the rudder. These were abraded and filled.
Peter
Hi Jeff,
You have described almost exactly what I built. It’s a piece of 4mm stainless 100mm by about 2000mm, bent into a narrow U shape with the open ends formed to make cheekplates on the mast. The length of s/s pipe provided by Marlec is welded into the other end with a smaller s/s pipe coming down to another cheek plate on the front of the mast. The whole thing is attached with 5mm monel pop rivets. It stands forward of the mast sufficient to allow rotation through 360 degrees.
To date it has proved solid, so much so that I use it as steps when climbing the mast.
Hi Peter,Thanks for that.Mike Bennett had just mailed me to tell me that he thought you had one, so I was looking forward to hearing from you. Would you be able to take some pic’s of the mount for me, with approximate dimensions. I’m already having a local Co’ make up a 2nd bow anchor arrangement & I was going to have him look at the Mizzen-mast with an idea to make something out of 5mm alloy or 4mm St/steel, with the cheek-plates on the Mizzen extending forward (so that halyards can pass through) & a substantial base-plate to take something like a 600mm pipe that Marlec supply with it, & then the R913 mounted on top of that, well clear of the mast-head. I realise it’s going to look a bit odd up there but at least it would pick up any breeze that was around.What’s yours made of Peter & did you rivet it or use self-tappers.?Another thing that occurs to me is, if yours is not mounted at the top of the Mizzen how does it revolve through 360 degrees.?How many rivets/screws did you use & is it still all solid after 5 yrs.? I’d think a ‘long’ mast fixing bracket would be ideal, as the wall thickness of the mast is only about 3-4mm so you’d want to spread the load over as big an area as possible.?
over as big an area as possible.? I’ve riveted steps onto both masts so I can work on anything up there now.Regards…JeffHi Jeff, We’ve got a Rutland 913, had it for five years now and are very happy with it. It’s mounted on the mizzen on a custom mount I designed myself, just above the spreaders. It works well at low wind speeds compared to other generators and is the quietest generator we know of. We have had no problems with vibration. If you do mount one on the mizzen make sure you can climb up the mast to snub it during very strong winds. We have put a few mast steps on the mizzen to aid with this. We have not had positive experiences with the Marlec HRDX controller and would recommend their bog standard regulator. Best Wishes .. Peter
