Design and Construction
The hull is moulded in two halves from massively thick chopped strand mat — crude by contemporary standards, but a laminate that is strong, self-evidently repairable, and thick enough to resist most casual abuse. Hull, deck, ballast, bulkheads, and furniture are all bonded together for maximum strength and integrity. The encapsulated lead keel is a defining feature: the same volume in iron would have forced the centre of gravity upward, ruined the boat's balance, and stolen headroom from the cabin sole. The full bow sections give the forecabin far greater foot room than most yachts of this size, a dividend of the "cod's head and mackerel tail" hull philosophy that shaped the entire design.
Construction quality was a deliberate priority from the outset. The boats were fitted with stainless steel backing plates moulded in to accept deck fitting bolts, a detail that was genuinely novel in 1963. The dedicated toilet compartment moulding, introduced on the very first boats, remained a hallmark of the class through all eleven marks and was considered one of the firsts in new building techniques. The Halmatic-moulded hulls were built to Lloyd's A1 Scantling certification, a standard that shaped every resin and glass choice the builder made.
Rig and Handling Under Sail
The rig is masthead throughout the entire production run and, remarkably, remained unchanged since the boat was designed. Silver-anodised Proctor spars with a single set of straight spreaders were standardised from the Mk II onward. The shroud arrangement uses a U-bolt pattern that passes through the deck to a substantial stainless bar bonded into the topsides — a system designed so that shrouds and chain plates can be dismantled with ease when service demands it.
On the water, the boat rewards patience rather than aggression. Trying to squeeze up super close to the wind will never deliver good results in a long-keel boat, and the Nicholson 32 is no exception to that principle: tacking through a genuine 90 degrees is achievable, and boat speed upwind is typically five to six knots across a range of wind strengths. The combination of short mast, hefty lead ballast, full keel, and buoyant hull means she rarely heels beyond a comfortable lean, and the barn-door rudder, while carrying more weather helm than a balanced fin, never loses its bite, meaning she is unlikely to broach in big seas. On a reach the boat can maintain average speeds of around 6.5 knots. In very strong winds her sea-keeping record speaks for itself, though it bears noting that no small boat is without limits — a Golden Globe Race competitor lost the rig of his Nicholson 32 and was forced to abandon her some 600 miles off Australia.
Two handling characteristics bear a clear-eyed mention. First, the buoyant bow sections produce a tendency to yaw downwind, a nuisance in a Solent chop that many owners address with modest ballast forward. Second, the keel-hung rudder has no balance area, so helm loads are heavier than on any fin-and-skeg or spade arrangement; the boat remains manageable under tiller, and the directional stability conferred by keel length means the helm can be left for short periods without the boat wandering dangerously off course.
Accommodation
Across eleven marks the accommodation evolved considerably, but certain constants held. Water and fuel tanks positioned above the keel frees the bilge space under the bunks for gear stowage throughout the class. The full-width heads compartment between saloon and forecabin, with much use of easily cleaned glassfibre mouldings, survived from first to last. Headroom throughout the saloon and galley area runs to 1.83m throughout.
The early marks had two straight settees plus a pilot berth outboard of the port side, an arrangement that underscored the boat's narrow beam of only 9ft 3in. By the Mk VI the pilot berth was replaced with a pull-out double that made the main saloon much less cramped. The Mk X of 1972 added three inches of freeboard, moved the coachroof further forward to increase standing headroom, introduced a centreline companionway replacing the original offset to starboard, and relocated the chart table to port to allow a properly gimballed cooker in an enlarged galley. The Mk XI of 1977 added a glassfibre accommodation module that has generally worn well even on boats that have had a period of poor maintenance, a port-side quarterberth, and optional wheel steering. Large windows on the early models flood the saloon with natural light; the later boats compensate with additional windows in the front of the coachroof. On deck, wide, uncluttered side decks and a raised teak-capped gunwale provide good foot bracing on passage.
Known Issues
The two issues that follow any survey history of the Nicholson 32 are osmosis and the chain plate fixing arrangement on the very earliest boats. On the chain plates: the original flat-strap design passed through the deck-to-hull joint, and when sailing upwind with leeward shrouds loosening, water could enter and track through the cavity formed by additional interior bonding. This was resolved in 1966 from hull number 41 onward by the U-bolt system described above, and most earlier boats will have been retrofitted by now.
On osmosis: the laminate's use of chopped strand mat means that moisture absorbed into the hull is held longer due to the short glass filament strands. Marine surveyors report full-blown inter-laminate osmosis rather than the shallow gelcoat variety found in some other production boats of the period, and the Nicholson 32 has not escaped it. The consensus among surveyors is that almost all boats with osmosis problems have been treated successfully, but that epoxy treatment only tends to last around ten years before re-inspection is warranted. One surveyor's note is that Halmatic may have over-consolidated resins into the chopped strand matting, leaving them a little dry, which may account for some of the susceptibility. There are also reports of a slight flexing and crazing of the hull mouldings on some early boats around the main bulkhead areas, though affected boats were returned to the yard for stiffening. Deck joints and stemhead fittings have been known to part on some models. A gas locker that drains below the waterline has been found on some older boats and warrants immediate remedy. Finally, the U-bolt chain plate itself can groove and harden where a clevis pin bears against it; regular inspection of this area is standard advice.
Refits and Owner Upgrades
Because the Nicholson 32 community is unusually active — a dedicated owners' association has run since the boat's production years — a substantial body of upgrade practice has accumulated. The most common engine story is replacement: the original Watermota Sea Wolf petrol unit, then the series of diesel options from Sabb and Volvo, are now decades old, and most engines will have been replaced with newer units. Repowering with diesels as small as the 18hp Yanmar 2GMF has proven adequate, and the 27hp four-cylinder marinised Kubota fitted to one well-documented example represents a more powerful end of the range. The 24V starter motor peculiarity of the original Sea Panther installation — incompatible with the boat's main wiring until a 12V system was designed for the starter — should be treated as resolved on any boat worth considering, but is worth confirming.
Winch upgrades appear on nearly every well-maintained boat. The original Canpa E winches were noted as likely to need replacement with more efficient, modern equivalents, and owners have fitted Lewmar 40s, Andersen self-tailers, and similar. Leading running rigging aft to the cockpit is another common improvement, particularly on boats intended for shorthanded sailing. Interior rebuilds range from targeted galley upgrades to wholesale strip-outs and full reconfigurations in new timber. Anchor handling has been rethought on many early boats, where the original hawse pipe running between the forecabin berths is not surprisingly something many owners have found a way to re-route. Osmosis remediation remains the largest structural investment: the epoxy encapsulation approach, in which the entire lower hull from well above the waterline to the bottom of the keel is wrapped in several layers of epoxy and woven glassfibre cloth after thorough grinding and local relamination, represents best practice and restores structural integrity to the original standard.
The Verdict
The Nicholson 32 belongs to a small group of production yachts whose working record has overtaken their specification sheet. A boat that can tack up narrow Patagonian channels under sail alone when the engine is out of action, or cross an ocean reliably on 120 miles per day, has earned its reputation on evidence rather than brochure copy. The long keel and heavy displacement that make the boat arguably its biggest weakness under power — large turning circle, pronounced prop walk, poor steerage in reverse — are the very characteristics that deliver a comfortable motion even in confused seas and the course-holding stability that single-handers prize. The accommodation is traditional rather than voluminous, and anyone whose priority is marina lifestyle in a modern wide-bodied hull will find more for their money elsewhere. What the Nicholson 32 offers instead is a demonstrable go-anywhere passage-making capability in a hull whose structural integrity, when properly maintained, is not in serious question sixty years after the first boat launched.
Pros
- Encapsulated lead keel and bonded construction delivers a genuinely strong hull
- Comfortable, non-slamming motion in confused seas and offshore conditions
- Course-holding directional stability well suited to single-handed and short-handed sailing
- Masthead rig is simple, well supported, and easily managed
- Wide side decks, raised gunwales, and deep cockpit coamings make deck work secure
- Large, active owners' association and well-documented upgrade history
Cons
- Handling under power is poor: large turning circle, strong prop walk, slow steerage in reverse
- Osmosis is endemic to the class and treatment must be re-inspected on a ten-year cycle
- Early chain plate design on boats before hull 41 requires careful survey attention
- Narrow 9ft 3in beam limits saloon width relative to boats of the same length from later eras
- Tendency to yaw downwind in chop; original gas locker drainage arrangements need checking on older boats
