I know this is an old thread and by now the original poster may have found out a lot more about his/her Neriea
steel cutter. I have owned one since 1984 and have the brochure of the
builder, Practical Boat Constructions in
Sydney. As far as I know something like 12-15 were built in the late 1970s and
sold as bare hulls. Mine was launched about 1981 and sailed around to Fremantle via some Pacific Islands, where I bought Tiga in 1984. Since then I’ve sailed her to Bali and up and down the
West Coast 4 times. Of course, lots of local sailing, too. She is a great sea boat and will be sailing in the Fremantle to Bali Rally again this year - a mere 1440nm. Mine is a
cutter but the original drawings are for a timber
ketch.
I’m sure most of you know that Halsey is from a different branch of the
family following the feud between L. Francis and his father, Nat (as I understand it). Halsey did not acknowledge L. Francis in his museum when I visited about 10 years ago.