It is in Brittany, in Hennebont, that I met Kirikou which was then called Ardiden . After 8 beautiful years of life on board a river boat that I had renovated, I had just put my bag back on land, handing over the boat to my son. This one, vaccinated to the sail and to the salt water had tasted with me the joys of the river. He transported the boat on the Blavet river where he sails when the shipyard he manages allows him to. Considering that his father could not stay without sailing, he made me go around his second-hand fleet. I wanted a sailboat, but I was even less ready to assume the constraints of a harbour place, as my job often allows me to sail on board all kinds of boats. The Figaro 5, with its modest dimensions and trailer, suited my tastes, my means and my program. Its lines, both classic and modern, caught my eye!
Boots in my size!
It had been disposed of for the price of the berth after the death of its owner and no one was sure what to do with it. It was lying on a trailer with punctured wheels, and to say the least, it had seen better days: the paint was peeling off around the mismatched fittings, while the deck and cockpit showed worrying signs of rot.
Done! Once the deal was done, I started the tour of my new ship. I have always found this discovery phase pleasant. This time when we clean, tidy, inventory sails and equipment. This moment when we put on the boots of the previous owner to gradually make the boat our own.
A well-built but tired sailboat!
The plans of the Figaro 5 were offered for sale from 1975 in the pages of the eponymous daily newspaper. Amateurs could thus build a boat for a fraction of the price of an equivalent new model. The "marine" plywood could be covered with glass cloth laminated with polyurethane resin. This protects the wood but can hide many damaged areas
In more than 40 years, the boat I own has aged well! If the hull seems healthy, the wood of the deck has deteriorated in several places, to the point that the fittings are starting to tear off. The bottom of the cockpit is no longer watertight and water stagnates underneath. The bridge deck, the step in front of the companionway, is totally rotten and lets see the galley through a large hole. Finally, the transom has obviously suffered from a too powerful engine. It has been reinforced with a huge piece of solid wood, as heavy as it is unsightly.
All the equipment of the boat in double
It's amazing what can fit into such a small boat! I start by unloading everything that can be unloaded. The boat is lightened with fishing boxes, rusty tools, wormed and frayed ends, outdated rockets, oars, paddles, 2 anchorages, not to mention all the removable elements such as the cushions, the berth panels, and the polystyrene blocks supposed to ensure unsinkability. The amount of material is all the more important that the previous owner, obviously careful, had taken care to double each equipment, the useful as well as the futileeuros In all, it is a nice pile that I store while waiting to see what I could possibly reuse.
A clean and bare boat
A thorough (and necessary!) wash removes the strong and varied odors from the small booth. This preliminary cleaning allows me to see more clearly, but also to prepare a working space as pleasant as possible. Above all, the wood will be able to dry and sanitize itself well during the long weeks when I won't have the leisure to advance the work.
For the record, and to facilitate reassembly, I take measurements and photos before removing the fittings. Everything I dismantle is stored in boxes with its screws and bolts. This is a precaution that I know is useful, even if in the end I will reuse very little of this obsolete equipment.
This dismantling allows me to better identify the damaged areas, those where water has infiltrated or stagnated.
At the end of the day, the boat is no longer an old neglected hull, but the base of a renovation yard.
