On the front page of the Paimpol edition dated 24 october 2006 : "Woodenboats are dear to the Conrath brothers's heart"

« One is craftsman in ship carpentry since his youth, the other is betting to launch a venture in building plywood dinghies at age 49. Gilles and Emmanuel Conrath share the same love for woodenboats. A passion born in their most tender years when, living in the PAris area, they used to spend all their vacations at their grandma's house, on the island of Bréhat. »

Suite de la première page :

« The fiber of woodenboats reunites the Conraths

Last week, in the large building on the Dayot dock, Gilles Conrath and his crew were busy sanding wood, laying boards, nailing them... they were hurrying to finish the job on the trawler "La Sirène". In the warehouse on the other side of the street Emmanuel, Gilles brother, was assembling plywood parts to build a tender.

The passion for wooden boats is a family story with the Conraths. Gilles and Emmanuel recall their youth when they used to live in the Paris area, and when they couldn't wait for vacations to come stay with their grand-mother in Bréhat and spend a few hours on "Le Pirate", a wooden boat that she ordered from a local yard according to the traditional crabbing boat type in 1962... The boat is preserved today in the middle of Gilles's garden. »

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«The brother in tenders

Emmanuel Conrath shares his taste for woodenboats with his brother. But he didn't walk the same path to get there. After 25 years in information technology in the Paris area, he decided to drop everything to ride the bullet in boats. He left his native Oise to come closer to Paimpol. In the warehouse accross Gilles's shop, he builds 8-foot glued lapstrake plywood tenders. This type of construction requires much less technicity and know-how than massive wood and traditionnal carvel planking, "but the esthetic is the same!"

What remains to prove is whether there is a market for his plywood tenders. It seems that the answer to that question would be yes, indeed, according to the builder. The prototype for the tenders, presented at the "Grand Pavois" trade show in La Rochelle did please the crowds. To the point that the South African owner of a crusing catamaran (also presented at the show) bought it on the spot on the condition that it should be delivered at the end of the show, so that he could take it on deck when resuming a cruise around Europe! »