The Trintella story
This yard, based in ’s-Hertogenbosch in the south of the country, some 70 miles inland of the North Sea, built thousands of yachts from the late 1950s onwards and was regarded as one of the best in Europe. Series production started in 1960, with a long keel steel 28-footer called the Trintel. This was followed swiftly by a 32-footer, which was later stretched to 34ft and called the Trintel ll. In all some 200 Trintels were produced.
However, it wasn’t long before EG Van de Stadt translated the design for fibreglass construction, adding a little extra beam. The Trintella 1 was launched in 1962, but was soon updated as the 1a, with a counter stern in place of the original transom-hung rudder, which increased overall length by one foot.
The 31ft Trintella ll was launched in 1966. This was still a long-keel boat, but with more beam than the smaller boat and a 24ft waterline length, which qualified the design for entry in RORC’s offshore races. They have been well proven as good sea boats and many have completed extended cruises, though passage making speed is restricted by the high wetted surface area and relatively short waterline in today’s terms. Equally, the shallow draught hampers performance to windward.
The later Trintella lla model has a redesigned underwater shape, with a separate fin keel and skeg-hung rudder. In addition, the transom was drawn out by almost two feet, extending the overall length to 33ft.
While modest for a boat of this length, the accommodation typically provides a pair of quarter berths, chart table, dinette, large linear galley, plus a vee berth in the forecabin. This is separated from the saloon by the heads and a hanging locker.
The centre cockpit 35ft Trintella lll and 40ft Trintella lV, launched in 1969 and 1971 respectively, were intended from the outset as long distance cruisers. They are much larger boats relative to their overall length than the earlier models, have big tankage and are capable of carrying hefty payloads. They also benefit from spacious layouts, especially the llla and lV, which have a big owners’ aft cabin with a full-width coachroof. On the downside, the long keels make manoeuvring in tight spaces a bigger challenge than for fin keel designs.
Founder Anne Wever sold the yard in 1987 and in later years the company built a succession of larger yachts in smaller numbers. These were often in aluminium and included a number of custom projects. After the yard closed in 2002 Hamble Yacht Services bought the rights and finished the remaining orders. Late in 2020 the name was revived by a neighbouring Dutch yard, which has commissioned very elegant 45 and 50ft designs from German Frers.
In the 1960s and 1970s demand for Trintellas was so strong that production of hull mouldings was contracted to Tonbridge, Kent based Tyler boats, which at the time was the largest fibreglass moulding operation in north-west Europe. It appears the Dutch company may not have had a watertight contract in place to protect its intellectual property – Tyler sold
hulls to other operations, including Offshore Yachts, to fit out and sell with their own branding, as well as to individuals for home completion.
In addition, Tyler sold completed boats directly under the Tufglass brand. The Harmony 29 and Tufglass 29, for instance, used the same hull as the Trintella 1a, while the Seacracker 33 and Tufglass 33 were copies of the Trintella II and lla. Unlike the Dutch boats, these models had fibreglass coachroofs, that may have stood the test of time better than the mahogany used in Holland, but were generally less well finished overall.
Equally, the larger centre cockpit designs that were built by UK yards were sold under Offshore and Victory badges. Genuine Trintellas can usually be identified by the builder’s plate from Jachtwerf Anne Wever and a yard number between 0-1,400.