Muscadet should make a great comeback thanks to the association of Henriette Lemay, former aeronautical engineer, owner of a Muscadet, and Bertrand Maillard, former colleague of Henriette and now owner of a ship restoration yard, SOS Océane, located in Le Havre. Together, they wish to give "life" back to the mythical small family cruiser designed by the architect Philippe Harlé.
This owner of Muscadet for 25 years has launched herself into the adventure for pleasure above all. Secretary of the association for 2 years, she loves the family spirit that reigns in the Muscadet class "We have a good little class group and we participate in a lot of events with our boats. We get noticed in the harbours thanks to the sympathy capital of the boats. But we don't just perform, we also race!"
About 700 Muscadets had been built, of which 570 were produced at the Aubin yard. "The numbers you see afterwards are amateur constructions or come from an Italian shipyard, which built about 20 Muscadets in the same years as Aubin, in 1970/80."
To launch production, Henriette Lemay would like to obtain a minimum of 5 orders, "although 10/20 would be even better." Present at the Nautic in Paris in December 2015, she was able to present her project, which aroused the enthusiasm of visitors.
The new Muscadet will therefore be built according to the plans of the architect Philippe Harlé, to which some minor modifications will be made. " For the plans, I am in contact with the architect's family to obtain the copyright. As for the modifications, they will be invisible to the naked eye, they concern small points that we owners find disturbing, like filling in an empty space in a certain place, it won't affect navigation..." The boat will be built in Le Havre in Bertrand Maillard's shipyard, where he wants to start small series production.
All degrees of finish will be offered, from a simple bare hull to a boat ready to be launched on its trailer.
The Muscadet will therefore resemble a Muscadet even if it is rather difficult to define a typical profile. "The gauge of the Muscadets is not very precise, the boats are quite disparate, but the aim is to make boats that are quite similar. These new boats are going to be added to the existing ones, so they should be pretty much the same."
Currently, Henriette is working on bringing the plans back into conformity so that the products used comply with those used today (glue, plywood...). She therefore manages all the engineering of the boat, but will also take care of marketing.
The boat should moreover be sold for between 38,000 and 40,000 euros, even if it is not yet final. "I hope it's even cheaper, because Muscadets are pretty cheap boats and they should stay that way."
Henriette is in the process of finalizing the creation of the company that will market the boats, so we will keep you informed of the project's progress.
