The French builder of aluminum voyaging and expedition yachts, Alubat, announced this spring that the company was developing a new 50-foot raised-deck-saloon sloop designed by Mortain & Mavrikios. The new boat is scheduled to be launched in early 2025.
Alubat builds three lines of aluminum cruising sloops, Ovni, Cigale and OvniCat. The Cigale designs are ultra-light-displacement performance cruisers. The OvniCats are aluminum catamarans. And the Ovni line comprises Alubat’s voyaging and expedition yachts.
Since the company was founded in Les Sables D’Olone in 1973, this small, boutique builder. –with only 40 people on their team—has delivered 1,600 boats ranging from 28 to 65 feet. The company likes to assert that “most of them are still out sailing around the world.”
The new 490 incorporates a lot of the Ovni voyaging DNA but also benefits from the knowledge and experience of the shipyard’s new General Director, Luc Jurien. As it happens, before joining Alubat to run the Ovni brand, Jurien circumnavigated the world on his own Ovni 56.
The new 490 design nods to modern trends by showing off a slightly reverse bow with a sprit, a flat sheer and twin wheels set well aft in the cockpit.
Like her sisterships, the 490 has a swing keel that provides 10-feet of draft when deployed and a mere 39 inches when raised. Twin rudders set well aft will make steering the 490 a sports-car-like experience and will allow the boat to dry out and sit on its own feet without a cradle or poppets.
The cockpit has a fixed doghouse forward that can be enclosed so a watch stander, running the boat on autopilot or windvane, can maintain a 360-dedree watch in comfort and warmth. The chart table and all marine electronics complete the picture. This doghouse will be a strong selling point for many intrepid couples.
The initial accommodation plans call for a three-cabin layout with the master suite forward and the quarter cabins, each with a large double berth, aft.
The raised desk saloon’s dinette sits high enough in the main cabin so you will have a panoramic view of the seascapes around you when seated for meals or working on your computer. The in-line galley runs along the saloon’s starboard side.
Aluminum has proven to be a superb material for building voyaging and expedition yachts because it has high strength to weight ratios and is malleable and tough in collision or grounding emergencies.
If you dream of sailing a yacht suitable for high latitude expeditions or just want a great shoal draft, swing-keel sloop that sails very well, the new Ovni 490 has a completely unique appeal.
