Offsets for the French Fragniére Moth Classique

Plans de voiliers classiques Moth, Plans de dériveur classique Moth.

When I have some spare time I try to load a Classic Moth design onto the computer (usually with modifications, but hey, this is the beauty of the Classic Moth!). This time I have the offsets for the French Fragniére design, designed in the late 1950s and equivalent in design progression to the North American Mint or Cates design (which we classify as Generation 1). The Fragniére is a simple V-shape design with lots of rocker. The most unusual characteristic is the V-shaped transom bow which may not be at its best in open water but gives the design a distinctive look. This was a very popular design in France and should present the competent amateur with a straight-forward building project (except for the curved transom bow as shown in the plans - which would take some planning).

(To work with the PDF file, click the pop-out icon on the top right-hand corner to open the PDF file in another tab. From there you can print or download the file.)




Click here for the offsets of a three planker modified Fragniere Classic Moth design.

Read More..

Gouget Aluminum Moth Classique

About two years ago, I spotted an aluminum sailing dinghy being refurbished over at Bobby Mullers yard in Eastport. Though I vowed to return with a camera to take a photo, I never did. Sailing dinghies built out of aluminum are rare animals. There are plenty of aluminum Grumman canoes, aluminum small fishing outboard skiffs, and most of the motorized pontoon boats on American lakes have aluminum hulls, but very few small sailboats were ever built with aluminum hulls. This aluminum sailboat at Mullers boatyard remains a mystery - one of these days Ill return to make inquiries at the yard office.

An aluminum sailing dinghy I did unearth on the InterWebs was the French Gouget Moth design from the 1960s. Designed as a recreational dinghy and not a racer, the Gouget was competing against the newly introduced fiberglass dinghies - a battle for market share it obviously did not win.

Side view of the Gouget aluminum Moth. We can see it sports not a plumb bow, nor a scow bow, but a pretty raked one. Also we see an enormous bow cleat with chock. The sections seem to be a simple V.

It appears the wood decks were applied over an aluminum deck, but only in the bow and around the cockpit. Sitting on the aft deck in the summer sun must have been sizzly hot. Given the general nature purpose of this Moth, the aft tank sported an extremely large storage hatch.

This Moth also sported hinged plywood flaps on both sides of the cockpit. These appear to be flopped open to provide more hiking power and seated surface when sailing. When the Gouget was stored ashore, these flaps were flipped back to the center, as is seen here.

Ad for the Gouget aluminum Moth.

Click here to read George A.s post on the even more bizarre French camp/cruising Moth.

Read More..

Concours de Plans pour Moth Classique lancé par Le Chasse Marée

The Design Competition for Classic Moths sponsored by the French traditional yachting magazine, Le Chasse Marée, September, 2001

I was under the mistaken impression that there were only two singlehanded dinghy design competitions over the last fifty or so years; the three IYRU singlehanded trials in the 1960s that would select the Contender to replace the Finn (NOT!), and the more informal singlehanded trial weekend in 1970; the American TeaCup regatta sponsored by the One-Design and Offshore Yachtsman magazine in which the Laser, and the cut-down Flying Junior, renamed the Banshee were introduced.

It was up to a transplanted Frenchman on the Left Coast, Dominique Banse, to correct me. He sent along a 2001 article from the French traditional yachting magazine, Le Chasse Marée which reported on a singlehanded design competition they hosted for Classic Moths. The regatta was run by the sailing club, ASPTT Voile de Nantes, and over twenty Moths showed up; some old, some new. Eighteen different Moth designs had been submitted to the magazine but only six new Classic Moths actually showed up to test their designers thinking on the race course. Unfortunately several of the new ones were not ready when they rolled in on the Friday and it took the midnight oil to get them on the water. Not the best way to prove your racing mettle!

Two of the designs, Mariposa and Francois Viviers Moth Grand Largue were aimed more at being a lively daysailor rather than an all-out racer.

Below are some of the photos taken (by, I think, Marc Morell) during this Classic Moth regatta.

The French vintage Moth Nantais is very similar to the American Dorr-Willey and Ventnor vintage Moths. The red hull Nantais has an enormous bubble-deck (which was one way to keep these small dinghies dry before the invention of bailers and double-bottoms). Mariposa, which was featured in a blog post on Earwigoagin is the blue hull on the right.

The purple, transom-bowed, plywood, V-shaped Bilbon (foreground, designed by Christophe Couton) was the best of the new designs at the competition but Im guessing it was still off the pace compared to the Olympic Europe Dinghy (leading to the left).

The transom-bowed Swiss Fragniére was the most popular French Moth of the late 1950s to mid- 1960s.  Here is one with a wooden mast approaching the finish line. A 1960s video short featuring some Fragniéres can be seen here.

On shore before the racing, from left to right;

• The older, 1960s Swiss Fragniére, 
• Julia, the yellow Moth modeled after the Laser shape, designed by Didier Laveille. 
• The purple Bilbon from Christophe Couton. 
• Another new design, the black hull Berga Moth put together by Jerome Amouraben from the Nantes School of Architecture.

Julia, the Moth with Laser-like hull sections.

The English translation of the Chasse Marée article on their Classic Moth design competition. (Again, many thanks to Dominique Banse for working hard to get this one right!):

Read More..