TRUANT OF SARK is a blue-water cruising yacht of the first quality. Van Dam Nordia are world renowned for producing semi-custom yachts with extraordinary joinery and superb systems. The owners of TRUANT were very involved in the build and TRUANT set the benchmark for the Nordia 55, which was one of the most successful yachts ever produced by Van Dam. She has had one owner from new, and has always been exceptionally well maintained. Her latest refit at Berthon brought her right into the 21st century. She is in immaculate ready-to-sail condition and offers comfortable, capable sailing for a family; and with her flexible layout forward she is also perfect for two couples to cruise in great comfort.  Not for sale or charter to U.S. residents while in U.S. waters.

When deciding to commission the build of TRUANT, we carried out extensive research to find the right yard. We chose Van Dam for their engineering skill, their craftsmanship in aluminum and wood finishing, their flexibility, and their overall attention to detail. We wanted our Nordia 55 to be a new, more modern yacht than the existing Van Dam 54 and the Van Dam team were ready, willing and able to help us with that.

With Robert Van Dam we modernized the hull shape, to achieve improved performance and enhanced aesthetic appearance. This increased interior volume considerably in the saloon width and length, and in the owners’ aft cabin and sugar-scoop stern width. We also moved the backstay off the stern and onto the deck, uncluttering the bathing platform.

On deck forward we moved the anchor windlass from electric to hydraulic, put on a pulpit seat, and a flush hatch for the forward lazarette. The cockpit was lowered by 4 inches, to make it safer and the coamings more comfortable; a new design of integrated spray hood and bimini were fashioned; and a 16 mm teak deck was added to all flat surfaces: coach roof, cockpit sides, and stern.

However, the most major changes to a traditional Nordia were in the interior. We really liked the skill of the yard, but not their traditional rosewood and detailing. We commissioned UK designers, Fieldwork Design, to create a wholly new cherry wood interior, with a high level of investment in wood design and the creation of the feeling of space. We created flowing lines of sight with runs of ebony inlay and bull-nosing in cherry. We used paneling on larger surfaces in all cabins to bring out the curves and contours in contrasting cherry woods. We softened the interior lines by using curved surfaces throughout, with beautifully crafted entrance steps, curved forward cabin doors, and curved cupboard doors, which transformed the traditional harder edges of the traditional Van Dam design. Fieldwork’s skill with lighting and mirrors, plus all-white bathrooms and white spaces in the external cabin walls throughout also enhanced the overall feeling of light and space. 

On the floor we chose cherry and holly to harmonize with the rest of the woodwork. Again, detailing was key with curved lines around curved furniture and staggered line endings to emphasize the shape of the interior and furniture. The chart table and saloon table were inlaid with ebony in a simple compass design, drawing all the design elements together.

The overall effect was a totally new style of Van Dam, using the great skills of their craftsmen to transform their brand. TRUANT’s interior then formed the basis of the new Van Dam yachts going forward, but no other Van Dam had nearly so much intricate woodwork detailing or such extensive woodworking time investment. From the outset, TRUANT was recognized as a unique vessel, the result of a unique investment in crafted care and attention to detail. She was quickly voted the ‘Most Beautiful Boat’ by all other boats in the 1995 ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) and has been much admired all over the world ever since.

When TRUANT was launched in 1995, our intention was to sail to the Caribbean and back with our two children, then aged three and six.

We all so enjoyed living on board TRUANT that this plan evolved into a full circumnavigation of some five years.

We had sold our UK home and were therefore truly free. TRUANT was our only home. We planned each successive sailing season shortly before we finished the last, restocking, refitting and maintaining the boat as we went. We educated our children with a USA home-schooling program, with the annual boxes arriving in places like Tonga and New Zealand.

The boat made us truly self-sufficient. We were able to live without touching a dock for over three months at a time, only coming in for a refill of diesel when we needed to. We made enough water to live comfortably, including using our washing machine. The freezer carried enough meat for several months and was supplemented by fishing. We always had ice in the ice-maker. We kept tinned and dry goods in bone-dry storage, boxed out under cabin floors and seating. We had spares for our spares, also in fully dry storage, and much servicing, cleaning and polishing kept the boat in constant state of match-fit readiness for whatever was coming next. Then, when we arrived in an appropriate place, more substantial servicing and upgrading works would prepare her for the next ocean leg of the trip.

Our younger child was under the impression that most people lived on boats. Both children became totally at home on and in the water, and inured to the inevitability of bad weather. In 65 knots, hove to for forty-eight hours off South Africa, we all wished we were somewhere else, but always trusted in the strength and security of our boat.

When we came back to the Caribbean from South Africa we hatched a plan to go to France (and school), and kept the TRUANT in Antibes, sailing on weekends and school holidays. In 2003 we sailed the boat back to the UK, and decided that long-distance sailing would have to be postponed for the last years of the children’s education. We therefore prepared TRUANT for long-term storage, as detailed below, decommissioning her fully, and personally keeping a constant check on her well-being throughout those years.

After an eight-year rest, in 2011 she emerged again for her most substantial refit to date at Berthon Boatyard, UK, of which details are below. Following that we took her back to the Caribbean, where we now use her for three to four months a year, storing her in Antigua.

Since built, TRUANT has been through a number of upgrades and modifications, as she has travelled the world. We have always maintained the boat to a high professional standard, in care and systems. Our aim has been constant maintenance and improvement from the time of build, with the budget to match.

The interior has been treated with the utmost care, with protective covers and wrapping when appropriate for ocean crossings and local passages. The floors have been protected with fitted covers and rugs. 

Refits were carried out in Wayfarer Marine, USA; Orams Marine, New Zealand; Little Harbor, USA; Antibes, France. TRUANT was then stored under cover in a storage shed in the UK for approximately eight years, with a full winterizing program, prior to a most extensive refit at Berthon Boatyard in 2011.

1996 Wayfarer Marine, USA:

The most significant part of this refit was a keel alteration, which is unique to TRUANT among Van Dams. With international yacht designer, Chuck Paine, we refined the foil shape of the keel. This was done with much discussion with the Van Dam yard, following our first year of sailing. We all agreed that TRUANT was performing well downwind, but that a smoothing of the front edge of the keel and in-fill on the rudder stock would add to her upwind performance, which indeed it did.

At this time we also added several secondary, backup systems, such as a second Robertson auto pilot and a second 150 hp alternator on the main engine. We also carried out our usual program of in-depth servicing, varnishing and replacing, as necessary.

1998 Orams Marine, New Zealand:

Here we had a full exterior Awlgrip repaint; the rig was removed and the whole boat repainted, including the cockpit. (There is now a special British Racing Green color at Awlgrip called TRUANT Green).

As we were in New Zealand for half a year, we were able to carry out a major program of servicing, replacement or upgrading throughout the boat.

1999 Little Harbor, Rhode Island: 

This was an opportunity for some renewals, servicing and maintenance on our return to the Atlantic.

2001 Antibes, France:

We had planned to take the boat back to New Zealand and used 2001 to upgrade a number of the systems and pieces of equipment. We put on a new Vectran mainsail, new tender, and replaced or modernized the communication and navigation systems. As usual we carried out a program of mechanical stripping and full servicing, as well as varnishing of all cabin soles.

2003 Berthon Boatyard, UK:

In 2011 we undertook the most substantial refit for TRUANT to date at Berthon Boatyard, UK. This followed a well-planned, eight-year, inside storage period.

All machinery and equipment was either replaced, or stripped and fully serviced. For example, all the Reckmann furlers were sent back to the manufacturer in Germany and returned as new. All main engine pipes were changed, the heat-exchanger removed, oil samples were taken and the injectors serviced. Steering cables were replaced. The MaxProp was manufacturer-stripped and serviced. All deck hatches, front-opening windows and port lights were replaced; the sprayhood and bimini were replaced; new heads were fitted; and so on.

All the electronics and communication systems were upgraded and modernized with a PC-based navigation system, with MaxSea chart-plotting software. In addition, new Furuno displays and a Furuno chart-plotter were put in the cockpit. A Yachtspot WiFi system was added to supplement the Fleet Broadband system.

Some other new items were added: on-deck forward fresh water flush (in addition to the existing salt water); fresh water hose in the cockpit; fixed, dimmable LED bimini light and fixed LED boarding light; fresh/salt water option on the aft head; all new curtains and blinds, and a sofa in the forward starboard cabin. A dry-exhaust system was installed for the generator.

The aluminum hull was repainted and clear-coated in 2011 and is a very distinctive metallic green color, with silver detailing. The mast was stripped, repainted, and all reassembled. All new standing rigging was put in place with customized fittings.

In the 2011 refit, we worked closely with Berthon Boatyard to change the configuration of the forward cabins so that there can be one VIP, en-suite cabin, with a full-sized double bed and sofa arrangement, or two cabins, as originally designed. This is a most ingenious design and execution, utilizing the original center panels and allowing fully-flexible accommodation. It was vital that the overall quality of the woodwork, so important to the character of TRUANT from launch, should not be compromised by this new work. And we were delighted with the match of woodwork quality that we were able to achieve with Berthon’s craftsmen.

RCD Status: Our understanding is that the yacht is exempt from the essential safety requirements of Directive 94/25EC (Recreational Craft Directive) as she was built and placed into use within the EU prior to 1998.

Hull, Deck & Superstructure Construction: 

• Aluminum hull
• 16mm teak deck and coachroof (12mm remaining, covered when out of use)
• Topsides Alexseal (2011)
• Superstructure Awlgripped (2011)
• Proctor/hall mast Awlgripped (2011)

Keel & Rudder:

• Balisto keel
• Semi-skeg rudder

Engine & Gearboxes:

• Perkins Sabre, 6 cylinder, 135hp
• Dual Separ fuel/water separator
• Newage gearbox

• Whitlock drive unit
• 15 hp bow thruster
• MaxProp, with shaft in integral oil-bath housing

Voltage Systems:

• 24V DC, 220 AC

Battery Banks:

• Mastervolt 660 amp gel batteries (2014)
• (2)  Gel engine start batteries (2011)
• Gel generator start battery (2011)

Battery Chargers:

• Mastervolt Masterview monitoring system
• Ample control and monitoring system
• Mastervolt 100 amp battery charger
• Mastervolt Combi, 60/2500 inverter/charger (2012)

Alternators:

• 150 amp Belmar and 40 amp on main engine

Generator:

• 6.5kW Onan generator

• Dry generator exhaust system; injectors; exhaust elbow (2011)

Shore Power:

• Shore power connection

Other Electrical:

• 24V and 240V outlets throughout

Fresh Water & Water Heating System:

• Autoclave Idro Ecojet water pressure and accumulator tank, 45 liters per minute (2011)
• Rheinstrom calorifier
• Freshwater outlets on aft deck, foredeck and cockpit (2011)

Watermaker:

• HEM watermaker - 175 liters per hour

Bilge Pumps:

• Electric and manual, with bilge alarm

Fuel:

• Total capacity of 1,350 liters (356 gallons)
• Sludge pump for diesel tank

Fresh water:

• Total capacity of 343 gallons

Grey/Blackwater holding tanks:

• Grey water tanks
• Black water holding tank, with on-deck pump out

• Vesari PC (2011)
• Canon printer (2011)
• Yachtspot internal WiFi system (2011)
• MaxSea marine charting software – Europe, Caribbean, east USA (2011)
• Furuno chart-plotter (2011)
• Sailor Fleet Broadband satellite communications (voice & data) (2011)
• Sailor SSB
• Sailor VHF
• (2)  GPS
• (2)  Hand-held waterproof VHF radio (2011)
• Inmarsat C
• Navtex
• Furuno wind/data instruments (2011)
• (2)  Autopilot, Robertson and Autohelm

Galley:

• Refrigerator
• Freezer, with two plates & two compressors
• Force-10, 3-burner stove
• Extractor fan and light above stove
• Icemaker (2011)
• Panasonic microwave, convection oven and grill (3 in 1)
• Bosch washer/dryer

Heads/Showers:

• (2)  Tecma heads, full-size (2011)

Heating & Ventilation:

• Eberspacher heating system throughout
• 220 v, 50 cycle air conditioning in aft cabin (2001)

Entertainment:

• Flat-screen TV & DVD (2011)
• iPod connection (2011)
• On-deck hi-fi speakers (2011)

Lighting:

• Lighting, all LED throughout (2011)

Summary of Accommodations:

• Cherry interior, with cherry and holly sole
• Hull ports all open, with separate mosquito screens
• Built-in tool rack in engine room, and shelving in forward lazarette
• Bilge and under-floor storage area boxed out
• Saloon blinds (2011)
• Curtains throughout (2011)
• Fully-sprung mattresses (2011/13)

Description of layout from forward:

• Deck-access lazarette: full depth; lined, separate anchor locker with fitting for drainage to bilge; shelving for storage and Bauer dive compressor; hooks for storage; switching for fresh-water deck wash, lighting

• Forward head: shower cubicle with teak grate; basin with cupboard beneath; full-size, electric toilet with optional holding tank and storage behind; large, shelved storage cupboard to port, hanging wet-weather gear storage cupboard to starboard; large mirror

• Option 1: Portside Cabin with single bed; Pullman berth for second occupant; large drawers for storage under bed; hanging clothes cupboard with secondary storage above

• Option 1: Starboard Cabin with fixed berth; Pullman berth for second occupant; storage drawers under berth; shelved cupboard with mirrors on door and secondary storage above

• Option 2: Single Cabin with a 4’-6” double bed to port; sofa to starboard; access to all storage.

• Saloon Portside: wrap-around sofa; dining table with opening central panel; under-seat storage and cabinets

• Saloon Starboard-side: navigation and entertainments station; chart-table; with two-person seat; bookcase; cabinets; flat-screen TV in cupboard; large opening drawer

• Galley: granite countertops throughout; custom-build fridge with cherry door; large top-loading freezer; Force 10 three-burner gas cooker with oven; extractor hood; ice-maker with cherry door; Panasonic combo three-in-one microwave/oven; Bosch washer/dryer in cherry cupboard; large understairs trash bin; cabinets and storage throughout

• Engine Room: large soundproof door; good access to engine, generator, water-maker, and all systems; racking for tools

• Aft Owners’ Cabin: central, extra-long king-size bed with zipped or split-mattress/lee-cloth options; sofas on either side with storage beneath; deep hanging wardrobe, with shelving and fitted storage for cockpit table extension and ironing board; deep shelved cupboard; bookcase above; two further full-length, shelved wardrobes; glazed cupboard with drawers beneath; slim cupboard, with large mirror above; bedside troughs and top-opening storage and side cupboards

• Aft Head: shower cubicle with teak grate; basin with cupboard beneath; full-sized electric toilet, with fresh or salt-water option; second cupboard

• On-Deck: teak seat at pulpit; “granny bars” by mast; on-mast spinnaker pole; jackstays’ fixings fore and aft; recessed fittings for wind scoops for three cabins; recessed fittings for passarelle chocks aft; fittings for life raft; aft courtesy light

• Cockpit: portside instrument panel; large portside, under-seat lazarette to maximum boat width, containing extensive storage area, two fitted dive bottles, manual access to grey-water tank; fresh-water outlet and hose; starboard-side cabinet containing Furuno chart plotter navigation unit; dimmable cockpit light; steering pedestal with two autopilots; folding steering wheel; helmsman’s footrest; deck cushions throughout, including higher helmsman’s cushion

• Aft Deck: hot and cold fresh-water taps and hose

Rig:

• Proctor in-mast furling with Vectran vertical mainsail, new 2001
• Cutter rig, with Vectran yankee and staysail (2011)
• Reckmann hydraulic furling units on main, yankee and staysail
• Carbon fiber spinnaker pole
• Standing rigging, 12mm Dyform with custom rigging screws & toggles (2011)

Winches:

• Lewmar Commander 5 power-pack hydraulics, for primaries and mainsheet

Sails:

• Asymmetric North spinnaker, with custom sock
• Vectran sails; foresails (2011)

General:

• Folding cockpit table, with separate extension
• Seawater anchor wash
• Teak and aluminum 10’ passarelle, with storage in lazarette or on removable deck fittings
• Bauer junior electric dive compressor
• (2)  10-liter dive tanks with fittings

• Lewmar 2000, hydraulic windlass (new drive unit; new gearbox; re-chromed 2002)
• (2)  75 lb. CQR Danforth
• 260’ stainless steel anchor chain (2011)

• Bimini/sprayhood (2011)
• Overall awning
• Full winter cover
• Deck cushions

• AB 3.60m dinghy (2011)
• Yamaha 30 hp with electric start (2011)
• Dinghy davits integral to hull
• Davit winches (2011)

• 406 EPIRB
• Avon vacuum-packed 6-man life raft (2011)

Fire-fighting equipment:

• (3)  Fire extinguishers (2011)

• Full complement of spare parts as appropriate for ocean-going yacht

The owner’s personal effects are excluded from the sale.

Not for sale or charter to U.S. residents while in U.S. waters.