Simoun

an area to discuss dinghy developments
Nessa
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Simoun

Post by Nessa »

Now squatting in the road outside the house (nowhere to put it) awaiting a thorough clean. Lost class? Old class? CVRDA qualifier in any shape or form?
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Rupert
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Re: Simoun

Post by Rupert »

Of course! Certainly lost in Britain, probebly not too common in France any more. I'm sure we can find a design date for it, somewhere?

More to the point, we all want to see her sailing - it is a class which has come up on here loads over the years, but never at a meeting in the flesh!
Rupert
Nessa
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Re: Simoun

Post by Nessa »

Good! The main challenge will be finding sails - I am hoping the m14 ones will fit. Any idea of a suitable py if they do? I have bought the thing mostly for our youngsters to race at Hunts.
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Nigel
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Re: Simoun

Post by Nigel »

Nessa wrote:Good! The main challenge will be finding sails - I am hoping the m14 ones will fit. Any idea of a suitable py if they do? I have bought the thing mostly for our youngsters to race at Hunts.

In the words of Le Wikipedia, the sail sizes are:

Grand-voile 7,70 m², Foc 3,5 m², Spi 13 m²

Also reviewed alongside the Simoun 485 in Bateaux magazine in May 1969
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.a ... p%3ft%3d72

In the absence of any other data, finding some results and doing some PY maths to convert against known boats in that fleet is as good a place to start as any.

Sounds like a good boat for Clywedog :)
Nessa
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Re: Simoun

Post by Nessa »

I hav e cse grade 2 maths. :cry:
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Nigel
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Re: Simoun

Post by Nigel »

No worries Nessa,

If you find a race result with foriegn PYs I can do the calculator bit. Just find some reference boats like the laser that apppear in that race and have a known PY in our world and it is a simple ratio thing.

For reference, the 420 was 96 in old money so it should not be too far away from that
Nessa
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Re: Simoun

Post by Nessa »

it is providing all kinds of entertainment. The m14 mainsail doesn't fit at all. A phantom mainsail sort of fits if I use a phantom boom. The m14 jib fits but is a bit too high off the foredeck. there is a big space under the foredeck which when removed looks like a flip top bin without the lid. This revealed the mast step has been reinforced with a whacking great length of 2 x 4, untreated, of course. It was horribly, worringly damp in there but this didn't stop the cat going in and under the floor. Should have fitted a webcam to her head....There are all kinds of strange french fittings, most of which seem to work. Oh, and the remains of a builder's plate which dates the boat to 1970. Older than her indoors!
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Bernard
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Re: Simoun

Post by Bernard »

Nessa
Is it a simoun 445 ?
If so I have been sailing one (circa 1977) at Bewl for the last 10 years (great fun).
If you need sail size I would be pleased to help


Bernard
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Simoun 445
Nessa
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Re: Simoun

Post by Nessa »

It is indeed a 445! Curretnly sportinga slightly too big phantom main and m14 jib. I think my jib must be wrong because the foot is well up off the deck. It's not so much the size I need as the shape.

Have you made any interesting modifications? presumably the bin I describe above is for holding the spinny? Does this work, or have you put a bag in?

i do love the simplicity of it all, with only one internal halyard and easy control lines, but should I beef up that kicker?

Do you use the trap? Mine doesn't have one fitted, but I have all the kit!
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LASERTOURIST
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Re: Simoun

Post by LASERTOURIST »

Hello!
The bin in front was meant as a spinnaker storage space and the spinnaker is 13Sq M so the best idea is to get a 470 Spinnaker???it was the greatest bonus of the 445 over the 420, much faster downwind , but more or less equal upwind.
The otherr great bonus was a totally self bailing boat.

Most fittings were by ERMAT a now extinct marine hardware firm...and as the 445 was a budget boat it was nor top range ERMAT (plastic cams on cam cleats instead of aluminium ones) and strange and generally nont wirking ermat ratchet blocks on the jib sheets (same principla as tufnol gibb ratchet blocks, with a spring and screw to control the point where the ratchets becomes effective (clever but generally blocked).

Take care of the mast , Gouteron had their proprietary tool for mast making and their unta^perd aluminium mast labelled STRUCTURAL were corrosion prone in salt water
Nessa
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Re: Simoun

Post by Nessa »

Thank you! I am currently experimenting with a range of sails. As Jim C says elsewhere, a solo main seems the obvious choice, but I can't find one. Some of the fittings are Ermat, including the very weird jib ratchets you mention, which have now been removed, but all the cleats are alloy and still very functional, so good news there. The mast seesm ok - it is silver aluminium, whereas the boom is gold coloured, so I wonder if the mast is not original.

If it's self bailing does that mean I don't need to bother with flaps over the holes in the transom? that would indeed be a great advantage.

8)
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LASERTOURIST
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Re: Simoun

Post by LASERTOURIST »

There are no flaps on the 445 /485 transom thanks to the raised inner bottom....and with the comparatively small drain holes, thetre is no need of a netting like there was on the La prairie SURF hat was another boat in the same league ....(the main sheet tended to take a fast getaway , along with the Water, as there was no transom whatsoever, like on the bigger CANETON STRALE, also by La Prairie.)

The gold anodized boom is certainely by Sytructural and normally sports a bronze off set lever (on a little rail track) for outhaul tension...and possibly another track for adjustment of the mainsheet blocks position if the mast has been broken at some point and replaced (either by a Z spars -round section - or a british holt /proctor or some other maker -teardrop section ) it is much better like this....
Nessa
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Re: Simoun

Post by Nessa »

that describes the boom exactly....the little lever things are cute but strange....it has been replaced by a phantom boom....
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Bernard
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Re: Simoun

Post by Bernard »

Transom holes work well, keep weight forward at slow speed and you keep very dry.
My boom is black, but i think i still have the original sails so if you need any measurements let me know. Are you going to BB this weekend? could bring them along
Regarding other points, never bumped into another 445 so i cant tell how much of mine is normal. I had the mast area of the boat rebuilt a few years ago so the problem of a soft area is relatively easy to fix ( not terminal)
Nessa
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Re: Simoun

Post by Nessa »

Unfortunately a splinted wrist means I,m not sailing at the moment, so BB won't happen for me. I would be keen to see any photos you might have. The comment about the transom holes is helpful. Was it the mast gate you had altered, or the mast step? The mast gate is scarily bendy (as Lasertourist said). What sort of work was done? Do you race the boat, and if so, have you been given a py?

All advice gratefully received!

Nessa
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