The Archambault A31 is a French

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

that was designed by

Joubert Nivelt Design Joubert is a French language, French surname. It is a regional variant form of Jaubert, originating in the centre west and centre south of France.Albert Dauzat (Foreword by Marie-Thérèse Morlet), ''Noms et prénoms de France'', éditions Larousse ...

as an

IRC Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called ''channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat and ...

racer-

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

and first built in 2009. The A31 is a scaled-down follow-on to the

Archambault A35 The Archambault A35 is a French sailboat that was designed by Joubert Nivelt Design as a racer- cruiser and first built in 2006. The Archambault A35 is often confused with the 2006 Archambault A35R, which succeeded it in production. Produ ...

and Archambault A40RC, both successful racers.

Production

The design was built at the

BG Race BG or bg may refer to: Organizations Businesses * Bergdorf Goodman, a department store on 5th Avenue, New York, US * Bord Gáis Energy, an Irish gas supplier * Bowman Gilfillan, a South African law firm * British Gas (disambiguation) (privatised ...

shipyard in

Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

for

Archambault Boats Archambault Boats was a French boat builder based in Dangé-Saint-Romain. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of monohull fibreglass sailboats and often partnered with the BG Race shipyard in Saint-Malo to produce its larger b ...

Dangé-Saint-Romain Dangé-Saint-Romain () is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region formerly in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France. Its inhabitants are called the « Dangéens » or « Dangéennes ». Demographics See als ...

. Production started in 2007 and ended in 2017. Archambault, which had been founded in 1967, went out of business in 2015. The BG Race shipyard, founded in 2013, itself went out of business in 2017.

Design

The Archambault A31 is a racing

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open wat ...

, built predominantly of

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

. The hull is a single skin, vacuum-infused

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natural ...

fibreglass, while the deck is a PVC polyester, vacuum-infused sandwich. It has a 9/10 fractional

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

rig with

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

spars, a keel-stepped mast and dual swept spreaders. The hull has a

plumb stem The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. It is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. Description The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up to ...

; an open,

reverse transom A transom is the vertical reinforcement which strengthens the stern of a boat. This flat termination of the stern is typically above the waterline. The term was used as far back as Middle English in the 1300s, having come from Latin ''transvers ...

, an internally mounted spade-type

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

controlled by a "D"-shaped

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

with an extension and a fixed swept fin

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

. The rudder is made from

and is mounted with

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

solid stock hardware on self aligning bearings. The boat has a light displacement of and carries of lead ballast. The boat has a draft of with the standard keel. All lines are led to the cockpit. For sailing downwind the design may be equipped with a symmetrical, masthead

spinnaker A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a reach (wind at 90° to the course) to downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinnakers are constructed of lightweight fabric, usually n ...

. Twin rudders were a factory option, as was an

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄγ ...

locker. The design has a hidden swim ladder mounted in a transom tube. The

mainsheet In sailing, a sheet is a line (rope, Cable-laid, cable or chain) used to control the movable corner(s) (Sail components#Corners, clews) of a sail. Terminology In nautical usage the term "sheet" is applied to a line or chain attached to the low ...

has a 9:1

mechanical advantage Mechanical advantage is a measure of the force amplification achieved by using a tool, mechanical device or machine system. The device trades off input forces against movement to obtain a desired amplification in the output force. The model for t ...

, while the adjustable

backstay A backstay is a piece of standing rigging on a sailing vessel that runs from the mast to either its transom or rear quarter, counteracting the forestay and jib. It is an important sail trim control and has a direct effect on the shape of the main ...

is 8:1. The Ronstan

mainsheet traveller A traveller is a part of the rigging of a boat or ship that provides a moving attachment point for a rope, sail or yard to a fixed part of the vessel. It may take the form of anything from a simple ring on a metal bar or a spar to, especially in a ...

is located aft of the tiller. The boat has a lifting bridle that exits through an inspection port for crane launching. The boat is fitted with an

inboard An inboard motor is a marine propulsion system for boats. As opposed to an outboard motor where an engine is mounted outside the hull of the craft, an ''inboard motor'' is an engine enclosed within the hull of the boat, usually connected to a pr ...

Nani

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

for docking and manoeuvring. A

saildrive A saildrive is a transmission system for a boat whose inboard engine has a horizontal output shaft. The saildrive's input shaft is therefore also horizontal. That input shaft is geared so as to drive a vertical intermediate shaft extending dow ...

Nani was a factory option. The opaque plastic fuel tank holds and the fresh water tank has a capacity of . The design has sleeping accommodation for six people, with a double "V"-berth in the bow cabin, two straight settees in the main cabin and an aft cabin with a double berth on the port side. The main cabin has a

drop-leaf table A drop-leaf table is a table that has a fixed section in the center and a hinged section (leaf) on either side that can be folded down (dropped). If the leaf is supported by a bracket when folded up, the table is simply a drop-leaf table; if the ...

. The

galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...

is located on the port side just forward of the

companionway In the architecture of a ship, a companion or companionway is a raised and windowed hatchway in the ship's deck, with a ladder leading below and the hooded entrance-hatch to the main cabins. A companionway may be secured by doors or, commonly in ...

ladder. The galley is "L"-shaped and is equipped with a two-burner

propane Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used a ...

-fired stove, a

icebox An icebox (also called a cold closet) is a compact non-mechanical refrigerator which was a common early-twentieth-century kitchen appliance before the development of safely powered refrigeration devices. Before the development of electric refrig ...

and a sink. An oven and refrigerator were factory options. A navigation station is opposite the galley, on the starboard side. The

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

is located just aft of the navigation station on the starboard side and has of headroom. The interior is all white, moulded, structural fibreglass. Headroom in the main cabin is , in the forward cabin and in the aft cabin. The boat is normally raced with a crew of six or seven

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

s and has a

PHRF Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) is a handicapping system used for yacht racing in North America. It allows dissimilar classes of sailboats to be raced against each other. The aim is to cancel out the inherent advantages and disadvantages ...

racing handicap rating of 99 (Nova Scotia) to 108 (New England).

Operational history

In a 2009 review

naval architect This is the top category for all articles related to architecture and its practitioners. {{Commons category, Architecture occupations Design occupations Architecture, Occupations ...

Robert H. Perry Robert H. Perry (1924–1978) was the second editor of the popular reference work ''Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook'', originally edited by his father, John H. Perry, with the first edition published in 1934. Perry taught at the University o ...

wrote, "the Archambault boats are quickly making a name for themselves as quality-built race winners in Europe. The new A31 should also be a very fast boat and it is interesting to note the similarities between this design and that of the 9.5-meter Nacira. In this case the target is the IRC racer-cruiser class. This means that the A31, designed by Joubert, Nivelt and Mercier, will have accommodations designed to make it fit into that category, ensuring that it will be a dual-purpose boat." A review in

Canadian Yachting ''Canadian Yachting'' is a bi-monthly (six issues a year) magazine, and boating news website which documents the Canadian yachting scene - from dinghies to keelboats, cruising to racing, youth sailing and around the world events.kerwil.com: "Ab ...

, by Katie Nicholl described the interior, saying that it "sleeps 6 with an aft double-berth, a well-appointed galley, enclosed aft master suite and a spacious head that combines a work/storage area. With the large cockpit with a super-sized aft locker (plenty big enough for a lift raft, fenders, and lifejackets) and 1.82m (6 ft.) headroom below; the A31 rivals any other modern 31-footer in creature comforts. The interior has light warm wood, clean white finishes and modern microfibre upholsteries. Handle holds below match the through-hull bolts that hold on the jib tracks. The vacuum-infused, resin glass sandwiched hull, injection infusion structural liner and composite deck is built using an environmentally sound process while eliminating airborne toxins."

References

External links

* {{Archambault Boats Keelboats 2010s sailboat type designs Sailing yachts Sailboat type designs by Joubert-Nivelt Sailboat types built by Archambault Boats Sailboat types built by BG Race

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References

External links