99
SVN Solovelanet Global
Details
The recess for the sprayho-
od, which is just forward of
the companionway, helps
to keep the boat clear and
tidy and is a much welco-
med new item.
The boat has a lot of portho-
les, hatches and windows,
in an effort to obtain a lar-
ge amount of natural light in
the below-deck area, which
in fact always looks very airy
and spacious.
The newly designed wheel-
houses replace the fibreglass
steering pedestals which
were integral to the cockpit
counter-mould and were not
very pretty. The new pede-
stals are made of aluminium.
The aft galley is intriguing
and much appreciated. Fit-
ted on all Dufour models, it
marked the success of the
shipyard in the dark years
of the 2008 crisis. The galley
is equipped with grill, sink
and hob.
The chain plates work di-
rectly on the hull, so the
passage from bow to stern
is almost completely free
from shrouds. The only one
remaining to cause mini-
mum hindrance is the low
shroud.
The stretcher is a very useful
item for upwind sailing.
Discreet and functional, you
raise it when you want to re-
main upright while the boat
is listing a lot.
I
n 1964 the engineer Michel Dufour founds the
namesake shipyard and designs a boat that will
change the history of pleasure craft: the Arpège,
which will be built in more than 1500 units. Thus
Dufour invents the real pleasure sailing boat
focused on space and comfort. From Arpège
onwards, the history of the shipyard has been full
of success and trouble. Boats built by Dufour are
always very popular with the public, and there
is never a shortage of customers, but managers
are not always up to the situation, and more than
once the yard ends up in bankruptcy procedure,
from which however they are always saved by
being purchased by new investors.
The launch and consequent stabilization of the
shipyard in the new millennium take place when
the CEO and then owner Salvatore Serio entrusts
the designs of the boats to the Italian firm Felci
Yachts. At first this design firm deals only with
the hull, then they take the whole design in their
hands and the boats become more and more
beautiful and more innovative. In 2014, for the
fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation, Solove
-
lanet created a special issue telling the story of
the yard.
The shipyard
