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dang · 09-06-2007, 02:34

greetings from a new member!

i have for some time now been looking at a tri labeled only as a 1971 nottingham custom trimaran. pictured here:

www.myspace.com/trisail

(if you click on the "pics" link below the small pic in the top left, it takes you to a gallery of about 40 pics)

the boat has been for sale on and off for a bit now, and i had a chance once again today to go in for a closer look. needless to say, i am very interested in this boat, and have spent the past few hours trying to find out whatever i can about it... which is a fairly hard thing to do as it turns out.

at this point, i've stumbled across Donald Crowhurst and his sad voyage - which led me to stumble across Arthur Piver, who designed/built wood/fiberglass boats that look VERY similar to this one, such as the boat recently sold here:

Used piver loadstar 40 trimaran, Y-Knot

the tri i am looking at is indeed a 40' wood/glass job, which seems to be the right design and from the right era, and i'm wondering if it is a variant of a piver 40? it seems piver let just about anybody build his designs (that was his goal, it seems, to let anybody affordably build a tri). in further researching this fact, i then also stumbled across the nottingham shipyard in seattle, wa - which i'm fairly certain doesn't exist anymore, as it's very hard to get info on them, but a fair amount of these boats seem to be around this area, and it seems that nottingham may have been involved.

at any rate - (sorry this is getting long-winded) - is this boat a piver? and if so - is a piver a decent boat to buy? of coarse i would get it surveyed before purchase - but if all that checks out - how do they sail? how do they hold up in rough weather? exactly how much work is involved with a wood/glass boat - i've only been involved with all glass or all wood boats up until this point - and i know that an all wood boat needs a certain amount of attention every year. is this same attention necessary with a wood/glass combo?

thanks for your input, i'll let you know what more i find out as it happens!

-dan

slomotion · 09-06-2007, 08:04

Nigel Tetley sailed a Pilver designed trimaran in the same race as Crowhurst. Tetley's boat was his private yacht, not specially built for the race. The boat survived the southern ocean and completed a circumnavigation, but broke up and sank off the Azores a few hundred miles from home. Obviously, if properly built and maintained these are strong boats.

I have no idea what the boat in the picture is.

The South African · 09-06-2007, 08:36

I know a few Trimarans, but the pic is no longer at the link - there is a monohull now.

CaptainK · 09-06-2007, 08:59

Greetings Dan. And welcome to the cruisersforum.

Yes!!! That is a Piver.

Kai Nui. One of our Moderator's on this forum owns a Piver. And another member from eastern United States also owns one. Forgot which member that was?

From what I have read and heard. They are good boats, if maintained. And yes!! A plywood/fiberglass boat is different from all tupperware plastic and wood boats. You still have to keep up maintaince on the fiberglass. And also be keeping an eye for wood rot on the plywood. Just like with any of the boat building materials of that medium.

But, if you have the money. And you know where one is. I say go for it. Go get her!! Cause, if I were in your shoes. I sure as hell would. Cause Piver's are on my highly demand list.

And once again, welcome to cruisersforum Dan.

**Steve Rust** · 09-06-2007, 10:33

I was only able to see the one small pic but I would say that it is a Piver or close copy. It also looks like a Nimble but they were 30 feet long. I thought the Lodestar was 35-37 feet, The Victress and AA40 came in at 40 feet. Less maintainence than a traditional wood boat but probably a little more than a glass boat. If the boat is sound you just need to check it closely every so often and repair any small cracks or breaches in the glass sheathing. Keep the bilges dry or failing that make sure they all have a heavy coat of epoxy resin. In my boat where there is tankage, ie fuel water, and holding, I have also put down a layer of glassfiber cloth. Rotting from the inside out probably killed some of these early boats. Check around deck fittings and hatches for soft spots. The best way for attaching things that require holes is to drill an oversized hole, fill it with thickend epoxy putty and then redrill the proper size hole.
These were first generation boats so understandably the designs that followed improved on the concept with better sailing ability and design engineering but you still find these old Pivers out there doing it 40+ years later. Kai Nui and I are of like mind when we say that these older designs, Piver, Brown, Cross, and Horstman still provide the most bang for the buck. If it seems to be in good shape go for it. These boats are easy to repair if the problems are localized so don't be scared off if minor problem areas show up. They can be brought back to life even with major problems but it is a big project.

I remember reading that Nigel Tetley drove his boat to pieces spurred on by the phony position reports of Crowhurst.

09-06-2007, 12:46

I also could only view the small photo, but it does look like a Piver lodestar. Unfortunately, the deck configuration on Pivers varie so much from one boat to the other, it is really hard to tell without much more detail. Steve's list of models is correct. The one in the picture looks larger than a nimble, so my guess would be a Lodestar.
I am very happy with mine so far.

dang · 09-06-2007, 13:22

Greetings again!

Thank you all for responding! Many apologies about the myspace link - I completely forgot that one must have a myspace account to view any of the pictures... as i've got one, i was able to without even thinking about it.

I've got a few pics on my camera (a better pic for sure than the one small one you all have seen so far). How does one go about posting a pic on this forum?

All that being said - I'm glad that so far everyone seems to think this is a Piver Lodestar, because that was pretty well the conclusion I was coming to as well.

There are only a few things holding me back from immediately buying this boat: the main one being that of moorage. I simply must have a place to reliably come home to, and that being said, the marina where I live has at least a 10 year waiting list.

I'm going to do some research on other marinas around here, and I'll definately get back to you as events unfold!!

man, I'm excited!

Thanks again,

Dan

09-06-2007, 13:27

Dan, if you will update your user info to include a few details, it will help us help you. THere are lots of places in my area to dock a tri.
As for posting pics, there are a couple of threads that address that. Try a search, and if no luck, PM me, and I will walk you through it.
Good luck on your endeavor.

dang · 09-06-2007, 14:45

ok, i did in fact add a little bit to my profile.

for those that are curious, Bellingham, WA is about 90 miles north of Seattle, and about 45 miles south of Van BC

there is a smaller marina in Blaine (right on the Canadien border) that may be able to help us out. I'll call them Monday.

in the meantime, here's two pics of the boat in question, at this point I'm pretty sure it's a Piver Lodestar:

CaptainK · 09-06-2007, 15:11

Well Dan.

Thanks for putting up the photos. Now we all can have a better look at this Piver.

What you have there, is a Piver Loadstar. No doubt about it.

And good luck in finding a marina around you there. Yeah!! Some marinas have a very, very long waiting list. Sad but true!!

redtwin · 10-06-2007, 03:43

Hi there,
once registered in myspace I could see all the photos. I dont know too much about Tris, but do have friends who have owned Pivers, Hartleys, Crowthers etc, and do have a soft spot for them. I missed out on a Loadstar earlier, before moving into a cat. They can be great project boats and are very easy to maintain. Lot of boat for the money.
Some parts of this Tri does not resemble a Piver, especially the stern and extra wide cabin top. Most of the ones I have seen also have transom hung rudders.
But most Pivers did have some mod done to suit owners so this may be the case here. There was a model called Piver Herald which I dont know much about, this one may be that. Some other Kiwis on this forum may confirm cause lots of Pivers were and are built in NZ.

dang · 10-06-2007, 04:26

hrmmm... i dunno, to me it seems to follow the shape of a lodestar fairly closely.

see this link:
Used piver loadstar 40 trimaran, Y-Knot

i guess the reality is it could be just about anything...

it's listed as a nottingham - which i'm guessing is nottingham shipyard, out of seattle, wa. (i've heard just a little bit about these guys, but they don't seem to exist anymore so it's pretty hard to trace)

anybody got any info on nottingham? is this in fact an NZ thing?

the other wierd thing about this boat is until recently the steering control was a giant tiller - which apparantly broke recently, and the current steering (mechanical/hydraulic) was installed. you can actually see the tiller tied upright in the lower picture i posted.

cheers!
-dang

**Steve Rust** · 10-06-2007, 13:11

I have seen the phrase Nottingham trimaran once or twice over the years so your idea on the boatyard is probably right. There was a certain lack of standardization of Piver's early designs so lots of descretion was left to the builders so variations are probably common. I saw a Piver Lodestar in the Bahamas many years ago that the owners had extended the stern about 3 feet and added a small aft cabin. From the pictures she looks well cared for and in decent shape. Maybe some combings around the cockpit for something to lean against and a little security and you have a pretty nice boat.