A BRIEF HISTORY OF EDEL SAILBOATS
a collection of notes and hearsay
Michael Petty wrote this on (I believe)rec.ott.sailing:
"Edel's were manfactured in Canada between '78 and '82 by a Canadiant subsidiary of the French parent firm (still in business, but making multi-hulls only). Sometime after that the molds were bought by Stanley Hatch Industries in, I believe, Brampton ON. I'm not really familiar with Edels manufactured by SHI (our 665 was from the original Edel Canada production run), but I recall seeing one at the Toronto Boat Show one year. I remember noting that the interior fittings weren't quite up to the quality of Edel's. Don't know if the hull lay-up suffered the same fate."
John Gahrmann wrote:
These boats were produced in the late 70's and early 80's and won a "Boat of the Year" award at the Paris boat show at some point (mine has the decal). Last I knew the molds for the 665 and 820 were being offered free for the taking by a guy on rec.boats.building. (that was summer '97) They may have been destroyed by now.
UPDATE - Looks like they may be moved to NC USA and put into limited production...
UPDATE - NIX that! The owner of the molds would not respond to the guys in NC when they asked about arranging shipping and license rights. Looks like they are goners.
Marc Edel (Former head of Edel France) wrote: About Edel hull numbers, I obviously cannot speak for the canadian production. The french production has been : Edel 540 (in France named 545) : First unit produced in 1974 Last one produced in 1982 Total produced (in France) : 2000 Edel 665 (in France named 660) : First unit produced in 1975 Last one produced in 1983 Total produced (in France) : 1500 Edel 820 : First unit produced in 1979 Last one produced in 1991 Total produced (in France - with central cockpit only) : 120
There were four models produced the 540, 665. 760 and the 820 with the numbers corresponding to the boat length in meters.(x.xx) For the English system folks out there that's 18, 22, 26 and 28 ft.
Here are scans of some of the original French brochures:
- Edel 6 - The French version of the 665
- 2nd page of the Edel 6
- 3rd page of the Edel 6
- 4th page of the Edel 6
- 5th page of the Edel 6
- 6th page of the Edel 6
- A lineup of models
- spec sheets for the French models
- Pg 3 of the brochure
- Pg 4 of the brochure
The 665 seems to have been the most popular or at least it is currently from the contacts I've made.
UPDATE - More and more 540 owners are contacting us...looks like it's winning the popularity contest!
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