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Located in Cholet in France and specialising in the transformation of plastic materials, the Nicols boat building yard was founded in 1986. Alongside the production of canal boats Nicols opened its first base in Dole (in the Franche Comté region) in 1990, before creating a reservations office the following year – which would market and manage the bookings of both French and overseas customers who wanted to hire a boat and explore France by water. Now, nearly 40 years later and with many more bases and many more boats, Nicols expertise continues with the three complementary offerings of the very best in boat building, marketing and promotion of boating holidays and the operation of a network of bases across Europe.
In addition to utilising a highly skilled and experienced team of boat builders one of the reasons Nicols has continued to raise the bar in boat building innovation is due to ongoing engagement with the very people who use their boats – the customers. Suggestions on improvements to comfort and aesthetics have been adopted and is one of the reasons how, over the years, generation after generation of boat has been developed. First, we saw Marina and Riviera models before the easily recognisable ‘sea yacht’ style of the Sedan range was born. Then, aimed more at smaller crews, arrived the Confort range of boats before in recent years we have seen the Estivale and Fly ranges added to the fleet. This complete range of boats were all produced by the Cholet boat building yard with the constant desire to always adapt and better meet customer expectations.
Since 1986 there has been a total of 25 models across 6 ranges of Nicols boats – with a total of nearly 700 boats leaving Cholet for a life on the waterways.
2025 marks the next landmark for Nicols boat building operation as we’re excited to share details of our next project – the relaunching of the iconic ‘Pénichette’ model that will supply the fleet of our sister company Locaboat Holidays. Find out more about the launch of the Pénichette Neo®.