Guy Couach, who founded the Guy Couach shipyard in France in 1962 to manufacture boats in composite materials, died January 6, 2014. He was 88.
Couach was the grandson of Albert Couach, who founded Couach marine engines in 1897. Guy Couach joined the family business as a young man and was among the first people to consider the mass production of motorboats, with work he began in 1946. In 1962 he founded Guy Couach shipyard, which built boats in composite. One of his earliest developments was the Aramat, a yacht built in 1970 from a Kevlar-based material.
Several hundred high-performance yachts have followed in the decades since. Nepteam, a regional investment group, bought the Couach yard in 2011. The facility continues to turn out composite boats from 65 to 164 feet LOA, including patrol and rescue boats for navy and coast guard operations.
Couach’s legacy lives on at www.couach.com.
