Dufour Arpege-good for a novice?

[mickywillis]

Have recently been offered a Dufour Arpege of 1974 vintage.As a novice to things involving white flappy things on sticks, are there any pitfalls to avoid when buying? Are these good boats for novices? Any known issues with the particular model (osmosis, grp layup issues, hull weakspots, keel problems, etc)
Any info would be greatfully received. I have seen the boat and she is in good condition. The motor is a Volvo MD2, good oil prssure, but sometimes reluctant to start if its been stood for a while (any problems with this engine, are parts easy to obtain?)
Is there an owners website for the Arpege boats? Or any other resources/useful info I can look at on the web?
At the moment she is on a swinging mooring in Poole harbour. Ideally I'd like her in Portsmouth (or even Southampton) Can anyone give me suggestioins as to sub £1000 pa swinging moorings at either of my 2 requested choices and if so, any contacts to find out more info.
Thanks in advance!!
PS, I believe that there were some articles written about this boat? If anyone can email them to me at mickywillis@fsmail.net I would really appreciate it.

[danielgoldberg]

Last name Willis and you say things like "white flappy things." Are you related to John Willis?

[mickywillis]

Sir, if you are reffering to the late John Willis who lived in Filton, Bristol, UK, then yes, he was my uncle.
Any other Willis' I'm not aware I am related to!!
Any practical advice on my choice of boat then??

[sailingdog]

Micky-

A google search turned up quite a bit...

This is a review of the boat from 2001: LINK

Here's another page about the Arpege.

[mickywillis]

Thanks sailingdog, I had seen those pages-they were very useful.
I believe that some time ago, a UK sailing mag did a report on the Arpege, I was hoping someone may be able to email a copy of it to me?

[hellosailor]

Micky, are you in the UK? Here in the US Dufour never really built a good dealer network, so they are somewhat hard to find. There are probably more of them in the UK than in the entire US or any quarter of it.

They generally have a good reputation, but with any boat that old you must (MUST) really have a surveyor look at the hull and deck for water penetration and other expensive damage. Volvo engines are considered to be somewhat expensive to maintain in the US. Reliable, but parts are sometimes simply unobtainable on engines that old, expensive when they can be had (often shipped from Sweden), with some unique things like their integral starter/alternator being totally unavailable, and with 30+ years of raw water cooling, you may have salt water corrossion issues in the block that cannot be dealt with, so a mechanical (engine) survey may also be called for.

If you are not familiar with sailboats, the standing rigging (all that nasty silver wire that gets in the way of the sail) probably should be replaced if it is +15 years old. A good surveyor would point out things like that to you.

[dennismenace111]

those boats are built like tanks....the high aspect ratio main sail is a bit tricky to trim properly, and they arent built for racing...but you couldnt have a better ocean boat. I sailed a dufour 34 in the late 70s early 80s...raced from Daytona to Bermuda and finished DFL...but had a great time....This is a truly blue water boat...deep keel....

[mickywillis]

I am in UK, so boat is a local (ish) one in Poole Harbour.
Due to other pressing issues, I decided not to buy the boat yet, but if its still around come the end of September, I'm going to have another look.
Thanks to those that replied to my request.
Mike

[olddufour]

I too have a Dufour Arpege in Poole harbour. Well, actually been out of the water all year due to my ill-health. Anyway, I love her, I only started sailing late in life so I still consider myself a novice. But even with me she's capable of going virtually anywhere in all but the very worst conditions. I may have to part with her (I'm not trying to sell her to you), but heart problems mean I may have to. Good luck.