We are a licensed builder for all Francois Vivier sail-and-oar designs. All designs available as boat kits, bare hulls or complete boats.
YouKou-Lili
by Francois Vivier
Kit Status: Ready to cut on a per order basis
LOA 18'10" Beam 5' Weight 500 Sail Area 107 Sq. Ft.
Aber
LOA 14" Beam 4'11" Weight 484 Sail Area 102 Sq. Ft.
From Vivier's website, "Aber was the first boat created in 1985 as a result of the desire to provide a boat especially designed for the home builder. It is derived from Aven, my first sail & oars design. It is a little smaller, but has more buoyancy in the fore sections for better sea keeping. Aber kept the simple but so efficient lug rig in the Breton style, with a well peaked yard. It has a pivoting centerboard. The rudder is fixed but can slide vertically. Due to its moderate size, Aber is an excellent rowing boat for one or two persons. It is also a very lively and fast sailboat. In the sail & oars range, Aber is the best choice for small crew, from 1 to 3. As a result of these qualities, Aber was classified in the "top 150" by the English magazine "Classic Boat" (issue 150)." Kits include all 7 sheets of Okoume plywood CNC cut into parts of the boat and building instructions as well as access to our customer service are included. We can supply oars and spars for Aber, most notably a lightweight Birdsmouth mast.
Download Aber Drawings
Ilur
Kit Status: Ready to Cut and Deliver
LOA 14"6" Beam 5'6" Weight 660 Sail Area 129 Sq. Ft.
Ilur was designed as an enlarged Aber, a boat more able to accomodate crew and even a small family with its seaworthy, high-capacity hull. Vivier points out on his website, "Ilur is mostly wider and higher, with a generous freeboard. This makes a very different boat, with good seakeeping ability, but still in the sail and oar spirit. Its superior quality makes Ilur my best-seller plan (with nearly thousand copies sold). It has been built in many places, from the very heart of Alps, to Pacific islands!" She would be a little bit more boat to row than the others above, but her generous freeboard makes for a dry boat. A balance lug with boom is a good option for this boat because it allows the sailor to have more control over sail shape and keeps the sail boomed out when off the wind. We have a great deal of knowledge of lug rigs, the importance of having a well tuned set of spars, and can supply mast and spars in kit form or complete varnished and delivered. All 8 sheets of Okoume plywood (5 sheets of ordinary plywood for molds) are CNC cut and delivered to your door with instructions and customer service from us. The 3/8" planking is cut with cutting edge 'NC scarfs", interlocking glue joints that 'key' the planks together to align them in their precut shape.
Seil
Kit Status: Ready to Cut and Deliver
LOA 17'8" Beam 5'6" Weight 660 Sail Area 129 Sq. Ft.
Look at all those boats! The Seil 18 is hugely popular in France largely because of the efforts of a boatbuilder producing GRP hulls. But the plywood lapstrake kit would be among the easiest to build because of the pram hull form, a decendent of the Scandinavian regions. She was designed for a group of yachtsmen who were intending to use the boat mainly on backwaters and rivers. For protected waters under sail and oars -- a perfect compromise between the two uses -- she is optimal. Yet, the full ends makes for a seaworthy hull at the same time. Rowing can be done single or in tandem. The sail is a gorgeous high aspect standing lugsail, boomless, making it easy to stow and tack -- just pass the sheet from one hand to the other hand. Kits includes all plywood components including 3/8" planking and delivery, and building instructions. All 9 sheets of Okoume and Sapele plywood (6 sheets of ordinary plywood for molds/strongback) are CNC cut and delivered tabbed into the plywood. Bulkheads, centerboard, transom, rudder and buoyancy tanks are included.