Fountaine-Pajot is a major French maritime construction company specialising in
catamaran
A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...
s both for private leisure,
cruising and offshore
chartering. The company was founded in 1976 by Jean François Fountaine and Yves Pajot, in the town of
Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis
Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis is a Communes of France, commune in the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regions of France, region of south-western France.[Charente-Maritime
Charente-Maritime (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Chérente-Marine''; ) is a Departments of France, department in the French Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, on the country's west coast. Named after the river Charente (river), Charen ...]
. It also now has a factory at
La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...
.
The Fontaine-Pajot business
Fontaine-Pajot has become a world renowned cruising catamaran manufacturer. The company started on an industrial estate in Aigrefeuille d'Aunis, and today is the town's largest employer, with some 250 employees; the group as a whole having about 430.
The company started to make public transport catamarans in 1983. Since then, the company has built 21 models and delivered 1,668 catamarans.
Nowadays the company makes between 150 and 180 catamarans a year, both sail and power craft.
In 2018, the company bought
Dufour Yachts, a manufacturer of monohull sailing vessels.
Innovation
Seeking to keep abreast of the competition, the company has a
research and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...
department which aims to develop new processes and designs. Fountaine-Pajot developed a new process of making boat hulls by
injection moulding
Injection moulding (U.S. spelling: injection molding) is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting molten material into a mould, or mold. Injection moulding can be performed with a host of materials mainly including metals (for ...
.
Fontaine-Pajot made the catamarans for the experimental
water taxi
A water taxi or a water bus is a boat used to provide public transport, public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an Urban area, urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a simil ...
service along the
River Seine
The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres p ...
, the
Voguéo
Voguéo was a water taxi service operated on the rivers Seine and the Marne (river), Marne in the Île-de-France (region), Île-de-France (the area around Paris).
The Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France (STIF) adopted the service in 2007. ...
.
Models
less than 40 feet
*Corneel 26 (1985)
*Maldives 32 (1988) (with pop-up saloon roof)
*Greenland 34 (1998) (motor yacht)
*Tobago 35 (1993)
*Highland 35 (2005) (motor yacht)
*Mahe 36 (2006)
*Louisiane 37 (1983)
*Antigua 37 (1990)
*Athena 38 (1994)
*Fidji 39 (1988)
40 feet
*Casamance 43 (1985)
*Venezia 42 (1992)
*Bahia 46 (1997)
*Belize 43 (2000)
*Lavezzi 40 (2003)
*Cumberland 44 (2004) (motor yacht)
*Summerland 40 (2007) (motor yacht)
*Lipari 41 (2009)
*Orana 44 (2007)
*Salina 48 (2010)
*Helia 44 (2012)
*Cumberland 47 (2013) (motor yacht)
*Lucia 40 (2016)
*Saona 47 (2017)
*Isla 40 (2020)
*Astrea 42
*Elba 45 (2020)
*Tanna 47 (2022)
50 feet
*Marquises 53 (1991)
*Marquises 56 (1992)
*Queensland 55 (2010) (motor yacht)
*Sanya 57 (2010)
*Ipanema 58 (2014)
*Saba 50 (2015)
*FP 51' (2022)
60 feet or more
*Eleuthera 60 (2003)
*Galathea 65 (2008)
*Victoria 67 (2013)
*Taiti 80 (1996)
*
Alegria 67 (2018)
See also
*
List of multihulls Types
* catamaran = two symmetric hulls
* proa = two asymmetric hulls, reverse-shunting (interchangeable Bow (ship), bow/stern)
* trimaran = three hulls
* quadrimaran = four hulls
* pentamaran = five hulls
Pre-modern Austronesian people, Austrone ...
*
Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis
Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis is a Communes of France, commune in the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regions of France, region of south-western France.[La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...]
References
External links
*
Official website
Fountaine-Pajot
French companies established in 1976
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