Thanks to my friend Nyl for putting me wise to this diamond in the rough. She's 24 ft. long, home built from glass reinforced plywood, sits on an outrageously over engineered home built trailer, and, like her master, she's 40 years old. Also like her master, she needs a little work. (Okay, a lot of work, on both counts....)
The behemoth was originally built by a gentleman in New Mexico in 1968. When he got too old to sail her anymore, he donated her to the Boy Scout troop in Victoria, TX. Sadly, due to the fact that most of the members of the troop who were interested in sailing had their own Sunfish sailboats, she sat idle most of the time. The troop decided to sell her for the cost of what they had put in on improvements (lights and such), coming to a grand total of $500. (The sails are worth that much alone!)
She mainly needs sanding and painting, plus the replacement of a few pieces of the exposed wood. I'll likely start off by removing the amas (the two secondary hulls) to simplify access for sanding and painting, not to mention simplifying the next step, removing the vaka (the main hull) from the trailer and inverting it. Not only will removing the boat from the trailer simplify sanding and painting the hull, but it will give me a chance to perform some repairs and modifications on the trailer, including correcting a design flaw which allows the trailer superstructure to block drainage from the boat's drain plugs. I'll also want to re-pack the wheel bearings and install Bearing Buddies. Removing this beast from the trailer and inverting it will be something of an engineering challenge, but after perusing some boat building and repair forums, I have some ideas about how I'll need to go about it, and I've already procured an A-frame hoist to help with this.
Instead of spanning the space between the vaka and amas with a trampoline, which is the usual approach for modern cats and tris, a deck surface extends out from the sides of the cockpit, almost meeting the amas. I have a friend who does upholstery whom I will be recruiting to build boating seat cushions for these areas, as well as for the seat which folds down from one side of the cockpit to the centerboard trunk. From the schematics, it appears that an option was included to build a cabin which spans these side decks and most of the cockpit, and it is clear from an old photo of my boat that it had one at one point. I have no idea when or why the cabin was removed, and am now trying to determine what it will take to recreate one, and whether to do so during the current refit or save it for a future project. (The term "feature creep" comes to mind.)
I've not yet settled on a color scheme or a name. The current front-runner for the latter is "Spyglass' Folly." As for paint, I've already ordered pearl powder to give the paint job a pearlescent appearance. Stripping off the paint for a new paint job will also give me an opportunity to see if any of the fiberglass needs repair.
Note how deep the hull is, even on the secondary hulls. I have no idea where the waterline is, so I don't know how much of this is draft and how much is freeboard. Hopefully I will be able to determine this from Nugget photos I've found. Also note that, in order to accommodate the folded-down amas, the primary hull rides pretty high on the trailer. This will make removing it from the trailer more challenging.
Cockpit, looking aft. Note the board which folds down from the side to the top of the centerboard trunk, forming a bench seat. Also note the side-mounted helm. The original plans call for a tiller.
Cockpit looking forward. There is ample storage space at each end of the cockpit. Note also the plywood pieces which serve as flooring for the cockpit, sitting on the stringers. The button to the left of the opening activates the lighting system.
A closer view of the side-mounted helm, as well as a portion of one of the side decks. The wood isn't quite as weathered as the gray appearance would suggest. The entire cockpit had been painted silver at some point.
A removable engine mount. I'll need to keep a close eye on Craig's List and eBay for a cheap trolling motor.
The rudder assembly. The large horizontal disk at the top is a pulley about which the rudder control cables run.
2 comments:
Hi Glen,
Congratulations on getting your Piver Nugget. I have a fiberglass version of the Nugget that was built by Texas Trimarans back in the 60’s that I am in the process of slowly re-building. I think we both have our work cut out for us. I have been in contact with several Nugget owners. I see that you already have a link to his blog that already has a lot of pictures on it, but there is a guy in Portugal has a beautiful Nugget that has been lovingly rebuilt and maintained. He is a very cool guy who has sent me lots of pictures of his Nugget getting rehabbed. These pictures are really invaluable to someone who is rebuilding. There is another guy in California who sent me some pictures of his Nugget that is set up with Hobie Cat rigging. There are a lot of pictures that I would be happy to forward to you. Since there are so many pictures, the best bet would probably be to burn them to CD and mail them to you. Let me know you address. My email is tom@Forgetechnology.com and I live in Illinois.
My obstacles now are designing a folding mechanism that will allow the amas to fold down but remain high enough so that the boat can sit low on the trailer to be launched from a relatively shallow ramp. I also hope that the amas can fold while in the water, although I’m not sure if this will be possible.
I’m also struggling to come up with some better way to steer the boat. Since the cockpit is so far forward from the rudder, It requires a really long tiller. I’m thinking a tiller in the cockpit connected to the ruder via two lines on a cam might work well.
I’ll look forward to hearing from you and following your progress.
Tom
Hi Glen
Just like Tom I´d lie to congratulate you on getting a Nugget.
My name is Pedro. I live in Portugal and I think I´m the guy Tom kindly mentions on his comment to this post (by the way, thanks for the complements Tom).
As in a Nugget Owner´s brotherhood attitude I´d be more than happy to help you anyway I can in your task.
Feel free to place your questions to may e-mail at pedro_cabral@sapo.pt
My nugget is called Fulô and is, along with my father´s Gros-Plane, the star of the blog:
www.utrimaran.blogspot.com
Best regards! And good luck
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