Dear customer,

My name is Marius Corbin and I founded Corbin les Bateaux Inc. in February 1977.

Preceding this event, I read magazines and visited many boat factories. My

requirements were quite simple: about 40', comfortable, giving good performance

to windward and in light air, strong enough for around-the-world cruising, an

interior layout suitable for two persons or a small family, and built to the

highest specs.

I was unable to find a boat that could fill all these requirements on the North

American market. Since I was already a professional boat builder, I decided to

look for a satisfactory design and build the boat myself. My search led me to

Dufour Yacht Design and the drawing of a 39'. It had nice lines, canoe stern,

flush deck, pilot house, aft cockpit, cutter rig, medium displacement and was

designed for fiberglass building.

The pilot house, cabin, cockpit, deck layout and interior were redesigned to suit

my needs, and a tall rig was adapted. The Corbin 39 was born.

I later considered that many people must have been in the same situation as I was.

How do you get to build the strongest pruduction hull without disturbing the

important ballast/displacement ratio?

We found that the only suitable material for high impact strength to relative

weight is Airex cored fiberglass. It provides very high impact resistance as

compared to other materials such as solid glass, wood, steel or aluminum.

In the event of an impact, Airex will not delaminate from its inner and outer

skin. It will recover its original shape after impact and should both fiberglass

skins break, the hull remains watertight. It has a secondary beneficial effect, it

insulates the hull against cold, heat and noise and also cuts condensation which

is the main cause of uncomfortable dampness in a boat.

One of our customers who asked a competitor if his boat was built to

"Corbin's Specs." was immediately answered, "No, Corbin's boats are overbuilt."

Of course, it was not a compliment but we took it as such.

In addition to using Airex core and more layers of alternate mat and roving than

recommended, we tripled the number of roving in the center of the boat (25 layers

of hand laminated fiberglass including 12-24 oz. woven roving), and quadrupled the

number of roving in the keel (a total of 35 layers). The sides of the keel and the

turn of the bilge incorporate 21 layers of hand laminated fiberglass, including

ten 24 oz. woven roving. When we install the lead in the keel, we hand laminate 8

layers of fiberglass on top of it to isolate the keel from the inside of the boat.

These 8 layers of alternate 1 1/2 OZ mat and 24 oz. roving are, therefore, added

to the thickness specified for the turn of the bilge. Our hulls are hand laminated

and we are sure that no other builder offers this much. We use 1 oz. and 1 oz.

mat with 24 oz. roving throughout; all this to achieve the strongest production

hull in North America. Hull lamination schedule : Gelcoat (20 mmj, I oz. mat,

1 1/2 oz. mat, 24 oz. roving, 1 1/2 oz. mat ,24 oz. roving, 1 oz. mat, 1 oz. mat.

# AIREX: I 1/2 oz. mat, 24 oz. roving, 1 1/2 oz. mat, 24 oz. roving.

No liner !!

Why don't we use liners in the construction of our boat? Since our customers may

use this boat to travel around the world, super strength must be achieved.

Therefore, six structural bulkheads are laminated on both sides in the hull and

deck during construction. Most of the boats that are available on the market today

have an inner fiberglass liner which is glued to the outer shell, and the

bulkheads are bolted to that inner liner.

Under the effects of wind and wave, a lot of stress is applied to the rigging and

the hull in almost unpredictable ways. If the structure is not integral, it has a

tendency to twist under load. If you have sailed in one of these boats before, you

may have experienced a door that will not close on one tack but will on the other.

A Corbin hit a buoy at full hull speed in the St. Lawrence Seaway. The buoy was

damaged but the boat only suffered two minor scratches (gelcoat).

Performance results are just beginning to be compiled on our boat but, eventually,

its strength will be recognized. The quality of our product is not only in the

hull structure. Just to mention a few items: the interior construction is of the

best quality solid mahogany or mahogany plywood and the finish is Burma teak

throughout. The chain plates are oversized 316 stainless steel. All ports are

/8" Lexan, deck hatches are double-framed and a 2" Edson manual bilge pump is

standard.