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Prices Start At*: 300 000 GBP (300 000 USD) excluding VAT | ||||||||||||
Designer: TT Boat Designs (1990)
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Bucklers Hard Boatbuilders have years of experience in building Nelsons and have built many fine motor yachts including the first of the new 42s. Nelson motor yachts are designed and built to suit the owner's requirements and Bucklers Hard Boatbuilders take pride and pleasure in producing a boat to the owner's specification in every detail, from the type of engines fitted to the type of hardwood and joinery detail used in the construction.
The new Nelson 42 built by Bucklers Hard Boatbuilders is constructed using well proven methods and materials and with high standards of construction and engineering, but above all the boats are built following the Nelson principle, the principle that boat is going to sea.
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Like its predecessors, this new Nelson motor yacht is an aft cabin design, although the section forward of the wheelhouse offers some flexibility of layout. Here, a galley and dinette at the foot of the stairs with vee-berth forecabin looks the obvious arrangement, but a third cabin would be possible at a pinch.
The furniture, fixtures and fittings on semi-custom craft are purely a question of the owner's preference, and much of the enjoyment of owning a boat like this comes from knowing that it is an individual creation.
The Nelson 40, designed by Peter Thornycroft in 1964, has carved itself a niche in maritime history as the quintessential pilot boat, it's a familiar sight in harbours and ports around the world. But the 40 was originally designed as a private motor yacht for a certain Mr Wheelwright, who had firm ideas about performance and seakeeping, and insisted that his new vessel be built in the new-fangled GRP to Lloyd's +100A1 classification.
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Although subsequently a runaway commercial success, the original design didn't fit every owner's idea of a leisure motor cruiser, particularly those more interested in accommodation space than in an ability to charge through 10ft seas.
The first aft cabin version was produced by Halmatic for James and Caddy - who called it the Weymouth 42 - in 1970. Over the years, as boats were fitted with ever more luxurious and elaborate interiors, weights rose to far above the original design displacement of nine tons - with predictable effects on performance.
By 1990 a new version was long overdue. Arthur Mursell of TT Boat Designs (who originally worked as Peter Thornycroft's assistant) drew the Mk 2 with lines to cope with a displacement of around 12'. tons. It follows the Nelson tradition in being a round-bilged design of semi-displacement form, with the turn of the bilge tightening up as it moves aft, and a hollow in the run of the buttock lines in the last third of its length.
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The new hull has 15in more beam and greater draught, while fuller forward sections with more flare above the waterline give a drier ride and better handling in following seas. The knuckle in the topsides is also more pronounced. Maximum design speed is 30 knots - which would require around 1,000hp and close attention to weight distribution throughout the boat.
An essential safety aspect is that the fore and aft engineroom bulkheads are watertight up to the level of the saloon sole. This divides the underwater hull into three watertight compartments, each with its own manual and electric pumping arrangements.
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The new superstructure develops the original theme, with wide sidedecks, excellent wheelhouse and an external helm station above the full-width aft cabin.
Unlike production leisure craft, which are often designed, moulded and fitted out in house, semi-custom motor yachts can be built by different yards. All start off as a set of mouldings produced by a specialist supplier - in this case Halmatic.
But a lines plan and a pair of hull and superstructure mouldings do not a Nelson make. Strict compliance with the engineering specification, weight distribution and scantlings specified by the designer are essential for good handling and performance. If you want a 42 Mk 2, your builder will need the approval of Halmatic and TT Boat Designs.
Construction is conventional, with a solid GRP laminate of hand-laid chopped-strand mat and woven rovings in isophthalic polyester resin. The lay-up weights do not appear massive at first glance, but the shell is particularly well stiffened with deep longitudinal members laid over foam-cored frames and stringers.
Bucklers Hard Boat Builders have a close relationship with the design office, having built a number of previous Nelsons, and were chosen by the designer to loft the original plans and construct the plug from which the Mk 2 mould tools were made.
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Bucklers Hard Boat Builders The Agamemnon Yard, Bucklers Hard, Beaulieu, Hants SO42 7XB - UK Tel: +44 (0)1590 616214 Fax: +44 (0)1590 616267 E-mail info@bucklers.co.uk |
 Reg No 136286 |
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