Duet is a "Trintella 29" also known as a "Trintella 1a", designed by E. G. Van de Stadt. See this for a nice description and this for a history of Trintellas. She was built of fibreglass in 1969 by Tyler Yachts of Rochester in Kent UK. That's comparatively old for a fibreglass boat, however it is generally thought that in fibreglass older is better. Prior to the oil crisis of the 1970's, builders were much more generous with the resin (an oil based product) so the resulting boats were much stronger and stiffer.
Under way.
At Jak's Jetty in IJmuiden
She was originally owned by Arthur Smith and his colleague. They bought the bare hull from Tyler boats, and fitted her out themselves. Fortunately Arthur's colleague was a very good carpenter, and she was beautifully finished inside.
We bought her in 1984. Arthur was the father in law of one of Nick's work colleagues, and we discovered by chance that he had a boat for sale. We were taken for a demonstration sail on a perfect idyllic day and fell in love immediately. Knowing nothing about boats, or boat buying, we almost certainly paid more than we should have done, but we didn't care!
She was laying to some piles Poles that stick up out of the water in pairs, to which you tie the two ends of your boat. up the Hamble river, near Southampton, and we were able to keep her there for a short while. Much innocent fun was gained, blowing up dinghies, attempting to row, etc. Not to mention learning to handle a 29' sailing boat. But Duet was exceptionally well behaved, and looked after us superbly.
The Solent is an excellent playground, with sheltered waters and lots of pretty harbours and anchorages all within easy sailing distance. Which is why it's so unbelievably crowded. Our first solo trip was only across to Cowes, but it seemed like a huge expedition then, with a resultant glow of achievement which lasted for the whole of the long weary trek back to London. Subsequent outings took us further and further afield, but each was a major undertaking at the time. When we moved to our new moorings in Poole, it felt like an ocean crossing.
In Poole harbour we moored at a marina belonging to the Sunseeker boat company. Quite possibly the most beautiful powerboats in the world. The marina was run by a man named Jim, very quiet and self-effacing. However we noticed that whenever Sunseeker were testing a new boat, or trying to impress a potential client, Jim was on board. It took us a long time to discover that in his younger days, just before and after the second world war, Jim had been the driver for the BP powerboat racing team! During our stay there, we saw him manoeuvre all types of boats (including Duet) with a skill that we have never seen matched since.
We spent 4 years having adventures on Duet before we decided to give up the rat race and move aboard.
Prior to moving aboard we made some changes to her internal layout. A young cabinet maker called Andy Chell, who lived in the wonderfully named Sixpenny Handley, did a lot of the carpentry. He had been wanting to move into boat work and we were his opportunity. We benefited as well, because he was very good.
The principle changes were to her living arrangements. She was originally designed to sleep an optimistic 5 adults, which meant that no-one got a comfortable bed. So we changed the forepeak The space right at the front of the boat. into a double V berth You get to play footsie all night!, which was quite spacious, albeit interesting to enter and exit. We extended the galley Boat speak for kitchen., so that there was reasonable storage and one didn't have to do everything in a strange twisted position. This meant shrinking one of the saloon The main compartment in the centre of the boat. berths into a two seater settee. We did away with the quarter berth A compartment on one side of the stern of the boat, normally extending under one of the seats in an aft cockpit (as in Duet). completely, changing the saloon end into a chart table An area for working on a chart while at sea,in order to navigate the oceans. , and the cockpit The area outside from which she is steered. Comprising a footwell and normally seats. end into a second full size cockpit locker A large locker only accessible from the cockpit.. We lined the engine compartment with sound (and fire) insulating foam, because the engine was pretty much in the saloon with you. Otherwise, we added shelves and soundproofing, and rewired her completely, adding breakers and an impressive control panel. These mods made her quite comfortable for two small people without many possessions. We then proceeded to move the contents of Nick's house and Pip's flat aboard!
Interior before moving aboard.
Interior after moving aboard.
One of the results of all this was that her waterline Where the water comes up to when she is floating normally. rose by about 6 inches. For those who don't know about such things, that means that she was sitting a lot deeper in the water. This actually had little effect on her performance; it took slightly more wind to get her going, but she was still quick. However it did mean that the floor of the self draining cockpit A cockpit designed to drain itself, if filled with water. This is normally achieved by having the floor of the cockpit above the waterline, with holes through to the water. was very close to the water line. If we had guests sitting in the cockpit with us, we all used to get wet feet, as she tipped slightly to the stern with the extra weight. Somewhat unnerving for the guests.
We managed to live on her reasonably happily, if increasingly cramped, for 15 years, but we were fighting a losing battle, as we are both natural hoarders. We cruised along the English coast for 3 years before we started to consider a larger boat. The magnum opus that was to be Rusty began.
We continued living on Duet quite happily while building Rusty, but, without the excitement of cruising around, the lack of space began to take its toll. It got a lot worse when we started working again. One needs far more equipment, especially clothes, when employed.
Once we had moved onto Rusty we emptied Duet, and realised how cramped she had become over the years. Once again she became the boat we had fallen in love with so many years earlier.
