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new flats boat?

41K views 78 replies 10 participants last post by  juro 
#1 · (Edited)
Tracy and myself are starting to get bored watching the garden grow and our son Nolan will be ending high school in one year. We may have decided that we are made of gypsy blood, anyway till we are too old to do so so we are thinking of a perfect cruising boat to sail again in. This one boat that we are interested in is so different than our old Mason 44. I could fish flats anywhere in the world with her as she just draws 1 meter and can be beached. She is made to go anywhere in the world even the cold climates above 50 degrees north or south. Would she make a good flats boat or what. Shoot us down if you think this is crazy or is this a poor idea in modern cruising sail boats. :smokin:

www.voiliers-boreal.com/
 
#6 ·
The boss told me I need to go to France soon and buy the Boreal. If we do she would be ready in spring 2013. Now I'm nervous:eek: God, new house being built soon and a new custom boat I think I'm going to need my blueprint eyes tuned up and my French which is non existent. WE, We, al la la. We will do flats fishing around the world for a good fee, you will just have to find us.
 
#11 ·
Thanks guys, The Boss is awwwwwesome!
Looks like I'll go over and talk business, hopefully do a sea trial between 3/21 and 3/25.
I think they only have sole fishing in that part of Northern France. 22 foot tides from what I hear.
 
#12 ·
This is beginning to sound like a serious itch that needs scratching.

Off topic, do you remember the wianno senior that was striped down to the skeleton at my cousins boat shop? I was google searchin on pleasant bay and found the link below. If you scroll down the thread you'll find a pic of the boat, "Gretchen".

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?68510-Bull-and-Bear-on-Pleasant-Bay
 
#13 ·
#15 ·
Shat Fred, What you trying to do corrupt me with wooden boats? I've owned one too many Al Masons and Philip Rhodes to go that route again. Never the less Gretchen is extreamly beautiful and it is good that someone loves her. I will go back to wood but not till I'm retired from offshore sailing. Those beauties you posted would be just the right size for an 80 year old.:cool: Did Karl do the work on Gretchen?
 
#16 ·
The town where the Boreal is built is called Treguir. Check out Treguir, france on google earth and click on the pics along the river and the coast. The tide has to be 25 feet or more! No wonder they are famous for their flat bottom sail boats. I'll be headed over March 20th for a week of sea trials and lots of boat design talk. Hey that is the best week of fishin here on the Hood:eek: Juro take over for me while I'm out of town.
 
#17 ·
I'm curious about the metal vs glass advantages/disadvantages:
Cost of materials?
Cost of build?
Performance?

Did Karl do the work on Gretchen?
I would guess he did. He's done a number of restorations over the years. Always seems to have a project in progress. While he has a rep for boat prep for racing I think his first love is old boats.
 
#18 ·
OC, that design concept certainly has some major advantages for a world cruiser. Thinking about sitting on the hard, have you seen details of the centerboard trunk/centerboard interface/tolerances and a weight for the centerboard?

BTW, who's going to do the poling on the flats?
 
#19 · (Edited)
The centerboard wieght is over 600 pounds, hydraulic up and down with hand crank in an emergency. The tolerance's are such that it does not make noise. I'm curious to find out how you scrape barnacles out of centerboard box. The centerboard comes out easily through the top hatch from what I have been told so I guess you use the anchor winch which is right in front of the mast and a halyard to lift it out.
Fred, glass is easy to take care of as it does not rust or have electrolis problems. Aluminum is really strong and can take the cruisers nightmare of hitting a container or a whale. Aluminum is easy to repair if damaged. The boat has a computer system that monitors electroilis and lets you know how much if any. But you still can get other types of corrosion if you do not do monthly checks throughout the boat. Keeping the bilge clean really helps and when you drill a hole somewhere make sure you vac up all the aluminum filings. Everything is a trade off on a cruising boat but we want the strenght of aluminum and the abillitty to anchor and cruise in the shallow water islands of the south pacific. We just want to try something new to American cruisers, were getting up there in age and a new boat like this makes feel like were 50 again:smokin: . Of the next 6 boreals being built 3 are for Americans.
www.varen.be/nl/a/2
 
#21 ·
Well I went and did it, we are now the owners of a baby. The Boreal 44 will be started in the fall and completed in June 2013. I couldn't say no as I went for a all day sail on one of the owners 44. The day on the Britteny coast was sunny and warm and we started out with 9 knots of wind. The Boreal sailed on a broad reach at 4.8 knots without a spinnacker up. I thought that was amazing but when the winds increased to 18 knots she flew at between 8.8 and 10 knots. Better yet after the wind hit 12 knots on a beam reach I didn't have to touch the helm for over 45 minutes and the boat sailed as strait as an arrow. That gives us so many options when thinking of power consumption when the auto helm is on, there won't be a lot of juice being used. The crew who build the Boreals were top quality and their workmanship was beyond anything I've seen in a boat yard. The two owners of the company are outstanding and have years experience cruising, coaching the French olympic Finn team, managing Puma in the Volvo cup team and running the french team in the America's cup. It's a different boat than anything I've ever sailed and had offers to buy it from Frenchmen who want one as soon as possible. Tracy and I feel lucky that we contacted Boreal when we did or else we would have been late, the company is now booked for the next couple of years at 6 boats a year.
Now back to fishing steelhead for awhile.
 
#25 ·
Thanks Guys,
Fred, hopefully that's what we have you for from time to time. Mind you we are booked for the Atlantic crossing already. Tracy's brother and Nolan demand first crossing. But we will need polers in the East Indies, yes?
Teflon their is a stern platform but the idea is to go into the flats and drop anchor fish awhile till the tide goes off the flats and then set the BBQ beside the boat and enjoy. They have been doing that over in France a lot with the Boreal.
 
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