A lot of good information here for those interested in
buying an
aluminum French center boarder.
I think it was Nolexx or Polux that mentioned that there was some Boreals being
sold second hand. Can you point me to those? As far as I know there are none yet on the second hand market. I get emails monthly from those interested in
buying our Boreal 44 as they do not want to wait for the time it takes to have a new one built.
As far as the Allures are concerned, while in the
Canaries I had a Frenchman who was
crewing on his friends
Ovni for an
Atlantic crossing. We had dinner with him aboard our boat one evening and he mentioned that he was an Allures rep. I asked him if he was worried about
deck leaking with the
fiberglass deck on the Allures. He said that indeed he had had some Allures with leaking decks. I think the Allures is the most elegant of the French
aluminum center boarders very beautiful indeed but I would want an aluminum deck on an aluminum boat. Our Boreal has a 10 mm thick
hull and a 3mm thick deck. I would think that the 3mm deck is stronger and lighter than a glass deck. I like the idea that there is no through bolting in the entire deck and the welds for all
hardware and
cleats go below deck also making them very strong.
We did have an example of a French center border sliding when struck by a braking wave. We were 20 hours out from
Panama and the
Christmas winds were intense to our south as we sailed above the compresinon zone till it was time to
head on a SW course. Waves at times were 15 feet and every so often they would break throughout the day for an hour or so. The
Carribean sea is a strange place at times. I was on watch and sailing at about 120 apparent so I had the waves a bit on my beam. I had the
centerboard about half way up when we got a gust about 40 knots and we got to about 90 degrees to the seas for a few seconds. I was taking watch in the doghouse and to my port side I saw a wall of white
water coming at the boat in the dark. That wall of
water hit us beam on and went over the dog house to the boom. One hell of a bang and shudder but I was warm and dry in the dog house.
Cockpit filled up but emptied fast. But most amazing was we slid side ways for a couple of seconds then headed right on course without ever slowing down. If that had been our last boat a Mason 44 I think we would have been knocked down to the spreaders at least then rounded up into the
wind and stalled out.
These French center boarders
work very well as intended but there is a
learning curve one must learn, not a hard
learning curve mind you.
Cheers
Steve