Finot Follies

[Brent Swain]

I've been helping a friend revamp a Group Finot designed steel "Reve des Antilles" 38 footer . She was built by a Finot licenced builder . What a brainless abortion. She had massive framing in the middle of nowhere, away from any keel or anything which would even remotely justify it, diagonal bracing where there was zero chance of any diagonal movement whatever, a fully welded steel bulkhead, yet the skeg was short, about 18 inches by 2 inches wide , lightly welded to only the hull skin, with nothing inside to back it up but a single small transverse, and a skimpy piece of flatbar going down into the skeg. No wonder such skegs have so many structural problems, and failures. I had to use a hydraulic jack to get the rudder shaft out of the stern tube.
The massive framing reduced headroom considerably. She had a tiny aft cabin too small to house a big dog comfortably, which needlessly reduced the interior space.
It took me only two days to eliminate the huge wonks and distortion the ;'Finot Licenced "" builder had left in .
I guess what I was dealing with was a boat designed to appease the demands of French government bureaucrats, a warning about letting government bureaucrats run the show..

[Blue Stocking]

Brent,

--then I guess this is not your favourite boat, eh?

[knottybuoyz]

Originally Posted by Brent Swain

a warning about letting government bureaucrats run the show..

Hey Now! Watch it!

[barnakiel]

Much more likely the builders fault.

Have a look at Ourson Rapide and it is obvious Finot is not (and was not) an idiot.

b.

[Brent Swain]

The builder was a "Finot Licensed " Builder