Overview
Michel Dufour introduced the Arpège in 1966. Dufour now describes it as one of the company’s first two boats and reports production above 1,500. The design combines a 22-foot waterline, 9-foot-11-inch beam, 7,700-pound displacement, fin keel, and a rudder carried on a narrow full-length skeg.
Two keel depths were offered. The common standard version draws about 4 feet 5 inches, while the deep keel is about 5 feet 4 inches. Published figures should be matched to the actual boat.
Construction and layout
The hull is solid fiberglass, with a molded interior liner used to support and organize the accommodation. The cast-iron keel is externally fastened. The mast is keel-stepped, and the main bulkheads are tabbed to the hull. Yachting Monthly notes that the interior pioneered internal mouldings with slots to locate the bulkheads, and that the decks are foam sandwich. The magazine warns that older boats can suffer significant deterioration, particularly in the deck coring and around the mast support.
The forepeak is storage rather than a conventional V-berth. The saloon has settees and pilot berths, with quarter berths aft, a galley, and a navigation station. That arrangement favors sea berths and working space over a large forward double. Yachting Monthly describes a pair of quarter berths at the foot of the companionway, an excellent chart table and a rather poor galley that many owners later modified. It says the most significant variants were an extended counter and a deeper fin, both of which it called desirable.
Under sail
The keel and skeg give more lateral area than a modern fin-and-spade design. Owner reports collected by Sailing Magazine describe good tracking and strength in heavier weather, with some weather helm. Sail area varies in published sources and may reflect different calculation methods or keel and rig versions. Yachting Monthly describes the Arpège as beamy and shallow bodied with a high-aspect rig that performed well on the racing circuit, and says those who have sailed her call her perfect for fast offshore cruising. The magazine adds that over 400 a year were built at one time.
Buyers notes
The cast-iron keel and its joint are the first haulout checks. Establish whether the hull has had blister work, inspect the skeg carefully, and assume that standing rigging, wiring, through-hulls, tanks, and engine installations require proof of renewal. Original gate valves are not acceptable substitutes for sound seacocks.
The active French and British owner groups add useful technical depth. Their archives are a better place for model-specific repairs than generic used-boat summaries.
