A dynamic owner's association is willing to sustain the design development. Professional newbuilding, in wood as well as in grp, is presently very expensive. Therefore, the association decided to work out a new version, designed to make construction by home builders as easy as possible. An other target was to comply to present safety regulations, in particular for stability and buoyancy.
The association asks me to make this design work. I try to keep the boat as close as possible to the original Herbulot design. Herbulot has been a leader in France to modern wooden boatbuilding in the post world war 2 period, with many innovative techniques. Maraudeur hull is made each side of two developable plywood strakes and a cold moulded rouded bilge. I have myself use a similar method on my Meaban, Pen-Hir and Toulinguet. I must say that I learned sailing on Herbulot designs and I am still a fan of the naval architect. Of course, the new Maraudeur will keep the same hull lines, the same marconi rig, the same weight balance than the original design. But she will make profit of NC cutting and epoxy systems to make construction easier.
