Recycling
A new environmental model was born in Lorient this winter. Dimitri Caudrelier’s company reconditions sailboats.
Breton Dimitri Caudrelier forged his environmental expertise on the benches of the EPFL in Lausanne. But his career took on a whole new meaning this winter in Brittany. On January 30, a new workshop was opened in the heart of Lorient’s “Sailing Valley”. It all began with the reconditioning of a fleet of Grand Surprises, under the Yellow Impact Sailing label,” explains the president. Seven units are reconditioned every year. Following this initial experience, a systematic approach was born, and with it the desire to work on individualized projects. With its ten-strong workforce, Reboat’s first priority is to provide expert advice that takes account of customers’ needs, resources and schedules. The company advises on the purchase of an old sailboat. It then applies a complete reconditioning method, drawing on the skills of a multidisciplinary team. The hull is stripped bare and everything is redone. No small jobs here. Sailboats are “reboated” in their entirety.
The originality of the service also lies in the fact that you can take to the sea again with a new guarantee, expressed either in time or in nautical miles. Dimitri Caudrelier predicts an environmental gain of 52% to 65% less than the purchase of a new boat. In financial terms, the experiments already launched point to potential savings of up to half the price of a new boat. With an annual refit capacity of 15 to 18 boats, Reboat focuses on aging rental fleets. To get as close as possible to its sources of supply, the company is not ruling out the possibility of eventually setting up a base in the Mediterranean.