Design and Construction
Van de Stadt designed the IIA with a fiberglass hull and deck at a time when Dutch yards were embracing molded glass in earnest. The hull has a fin keel and skeg-hung rudder.
With a displacement of 9,590 pounds, the IIA sits firmly among what one reference calls “heavy cruisers,” with a displacement-length ratio of 309. Its 4,409 pounds of lead ballast produce a ballast ratio of 44 percent—higher than two-thirds of comparable designs—and work against roughly 23 square meters of wetted surface.
A beam-to-length ratio of 3.57 makes the boat slimmer than 79 percent of similar sailboats. In numerical terms, those proportions suggest a hull shaped more for sea kindliness than maximum interior volume.
Rig, Performance, and Handling
The IIA is a masthead sloop with a combined mainsail-and-jib area of 44.1 square meters. By the numbers, it’s significantly overrigged: its sail plan exceeds that of 76 percent of similar boats. The sail-area-to-displacement figure is 16.8 with the ISO reference sail and 19.9 with a 135 percent genoa. That surplus of canvas, combined with the boat’s 9,590-pound displacement and 4,409 pounds of ballast, suggests that it stands up to its sail well.
The capsize screening value is 1.73, high enough that, by that formula alone, the IIA would be accepted for ocean racing. Its Motion Comfort Ratio of 28.8 places it ahead of 73 percent of similar designs for ride quality. Theoretical hull speed is 6.6 knots, while an immersion rate of about 137 kg per centimeter indicates how reluctantly the hull settles farther into its lines as load increases.
Accommodations and Capacities
At 32.8 feet overall with a 9.2-foot beam, the IIA has a compact but purposeful interior. The layout includes two cabins with three berths in total, along with a galley and toilet facility. The divided sleeping spaces are useful, but the boat doesn’t pretend to offer the accommodations of a larger cruiser.
Fresh-water capacity is 100 liters, and the fuel tank holds 25 liters. Those figures are better suited to coastal and short offshore passages than extended, self-supported cruising.
Propulsion and Running Rigging
The boat may be fitted with a 25-horsepower Volvo Penta MD2B inboard diesel driving through a shaft. Together with the 25-liter fuel capacity, that makes for a modest auxiliary installation intended more for harbor maneuvering and battery charging than sustained motoring.
Running-rigging estimates call for a 29.2-meter mainsail halyard of 10 mm diameter and a 25-meter mainsheet of 12 mm, dimensions that reflect the scale of the masthead rig.
Verdict
The Trintella IIA is a van de Stadt-designed fiberglass cruiser with heavy displacement, a slender beam, and an unusually generous sail plan for its size. It comes across as a seakindly, overcanvased small cruiser, built in limited numbers by a Dutch yard at the dawn of molded-glass series production.
Pros
- Slender, heavy hull, with comfort and capsize figures ahead of most peers
- Significantly overrigged masthead sloop that carries sail well
- Low-production van de Stadt design with a fiberglass hull and deck
Cons
- Small fuel and water capacities limit range
- Three berths across two cabins restrict guest capacity
- Fewer than 100 built, so spares and comparable boats are scarce
