52 Boating New Zealand
...Dan has applied a sailor’s
sensibility and a father’s
understanding to the
trailer-sailer concept...LAYOUT
In times past the cruising trailer-sailer
has been dogged by accommodation that
is only suitable for midget contortionists.
This turned most of them into day boats
dragging around the weight and complexity
of a cabin that is never used.
From the outset Dan had family cruising
in mind with the design of Hettie’s Gift.
“The owners Pete and Angela go away for
around 10 nights at a time with two young
children under five, so she needed to be
comfortable for everyone,” he says.
Getting standing headroom into an 8m
boat is a challenge for any designer. Dan has
managed to accommodate this by the use
of high freeboard rising up from the chines
and kept the cabin profile low and slim with
subtle curves and cabin window design.
There is just the hint of a reverse sheer
and a chine which flares out the stern;
combined with the ample freeboard,
this bodes well for a dry ride. While this
freeboard looks imposing on the trailer,
once Hettie’s Gift hits the water the hull
form settles into a handsome boat.
The cockpit is commodious by trailer-
sailer standards and feels more like the
layout of a Young 88. Input from the
owners and builder has resulted in some
clever design around the sail controls; the
cockpit is free from the usual clutter on a
racing boat.
This is aided by having the traveller right
on the transom and the jib sheets and fine-
tuners on the cabin top so that all the sail
controls are easy to reach from the helm – a
boon for short-handed sailing.
Twin rudders provide plenty of grip and
instead of having two tillers sweeping the
aft deck, a clever below deck rod-and-T-
bracket system do the job nicely. Either side
of the rudder system are the petrol tank
and gas lockers – generous in size thanks to