The Nutshell prototype is nearing completion. The hulls, deck, bridgedeck and coachroof are from female moulds. Also hatches, transoms, liner, space-frame and ceiling beams.
Looking good.
Pics from before the intro
Tag: houseboats
Happy 2022! Hulls are complete
The hulls of the prototype are now complete and ready to receive the bridge-deck. They’re looking good in pure white.
Further finishing is required and the moulds will be polished for the first production hull. In the meantime we will start installing systems and testing the de-mounting system.
Canvas enclosures
Tents! Well you either love em or you’ve actually been camping.
But marine awnings? A whole different thing. They are so good nowadays they’re pretty much a standard on any boat. Strung between a coachroof-lid and a bulwark, they stop wind and rain from ruining your evening, while still giving you that terrific view of the cute bay or harbour that you chose to stop the night in.
So given the option of enclosing a space for the times when the weather’s a bit dodgy or living within three walls when every cell in your body screams “I wanna be outside on this perfect evening”!What do you do?
Well I overstated it a wee bit, but you get the picture? Having a nice wide aft deck, on a boat designed for barmy weather, I’d rather have it open and close it up when needed.
Towing a Nutshell
While towing the Nutshell 26 is possible behind an SUV it is not an exercise to be taken lightly. Experienced drivers won’t have problems (it’s the same as towing a similar size centre console boat). Height is an issue but the weight is similar.
The complexity is with narrowing the boat. The trailer is designed to take care of this, but the boat has to be prepared before-hand. I suggest that this may not be an ‘every weekend’ exercise.
If you want to day-sail the boat, and leave off all the liveaboard kit, then the boat becomes a great water-sport base. You can load canoes, SUPs etc into the back of the boat and, once launched, you have a big aft deck, fridge and storage, plus a day-bed.
There will be two types of trailer. The standard one will tow the boat in the wider position. The split-back will additionally enable the narrowing of the hulls. This would be particularly useful for a yard managing multiple boats – that needs to access public roads to launch or recover. Or any business that stores the boats undercover – the space-saving for narrow boats is considerable.