Tartan 4000 Review

A progressive cruiser from a venerable builder

Tartan Yachts is a time honored marque in yachting. The Tartan 37 and 41 set high standards for sailing yachts back in the 1970s and 80s. In more recent years the company has been buffeted by the economic storms weve all had to weather lately and Im glad to see that they appear to be surviving, and perhaps even thriving under new ownership. The 4000 is their latest offering in the forty foot range. As you may know, Sailing World Magazines panel of experts named it 2012 Boat of the Year, so I think its worthwhile to take a good look at the boat.

Like all the recent Tartans, the 4000 was designed by Tim Jackett to be a wholesome and well appointed cruiser/racer, with the emphasis, in my opinion, on cruiser. Starting with the profile view of the boat I must say it is refreshing to see a new boat that hasnt been pushed to the far edges of the design envelope in pursuit of interior volume. The sheer is elegantly sprung and there is a nice aesthetic balance between the rake of the stem and the slope of the transom. Below the waterline the hull is relatively deep amidships and fairs into finer waterlines aft than we see in the newer boats from Europe. That raked stem has practical value beyond aesthetics. Cruising boats with plumb stems invariably accumulate scrapes and marks around the bow from the anchor chain or rode unless they have fairly long bow planks. Tartan refers to the keel as a beavertail. It looks like a squished bulb to me, which is fine. It gets the weight low without excessive draft and should provide good stability for this well balanced boat.

The bulb is different looking, but it does get the lead down where you want it.

The Tartan 4000 is propelled by an interesting sailplan that they call a Cruise Control Rig or CCR for short. The mast is carbon fiber as is the boom, which is V-shaped to capture the mainsail when it is doused, eliminating the need for a canvas stackpack. Thats a nice arrangement that I think will work well. The boat is rigged with double headsails on roller furlers. The forward one is a genoa and just a few inches aft of it is an inner forestay that carries a small working jib that sheets to a thwartships track just forward of the mast, making it self tacking. The idea is that in light air youll use the genoa and when the breeze is up youll switch to the working jib. For cruising, this arrangement might be okay as long as you remember that when sailing under the genoa, it has to be rolled almost all the way in whenever you tack. On the other had, when sailing under the working jib, that rolled up genoa is right in front of its leading edge, spoiling airflow and compromising its effectiveness. I think a better solution would be a single headstay with a well made foam luffed 140% genoa on a reefable furler. You would save the weight and cost of the second furler and have equal or better all around performance.

Tartan 4000 Cruise Control Rig

In the profile view of this boat its hard to fault the nice lines in of the deck. Its relatively low and well proportioned, with good clearances along the side decks. Ive given up on criticizing mid-boom sheeting since my own boat is rigged that way. Its not optimal from a sailing perspective but it makes other things work better, so I grudgingly accept it. The cockpit on the T4000 is really well done. Halyards and control lines are led to a pair of winches on the cabin top and the coamings are wide enough to sit on. Notice in the photo below that the mainsheet traveler is mounted on the cockpit sole, which is a practical thing to do. It might take a bit of getting used to, but it opens up the cockpit and offers much better sail control than the standard mid-boom unit. The boat has twin wheels mounted on nicely designed carbon pedestals. The photos also show that the hull is quite beamy aft, but there is considerable flair in the aft sections of the hull. I think this is a nice compromise that will reward this boat with good sailing manners in a breeze while still allowing for plenty of room in the cockpit.

Nice cockpit arrangement. Cruisers will miss having a swimstep built into the transom.

The accommodations in this boat are a pleasant surprise. The layout is thoroughly modern, with a queen-size berth in the forward cabin and strategically angled bulkheads in the main salon. The galley is large and offers plenty of counter space and storage. The nav station is also large and well designed, and just aft of it is a good sized quarter-cabin. All of these spaces work well and the only missing item is a good sea berth. Aboard the Finisterra Ive designed a lee-board to fit in the quarter cabin to make a snug berth for offshore passages and the same could be done with this boat. I think the designer was able to incorporate the nice open spaces into the boat because it has only one head. Personally, I think one head is enough for a cruising couple with occasional guests. Aboard the T 4000, they werent content with building a nice spacious and practical head, they incorporated a circular door for the shower. It may be cute as a bugs ear, but I prefer to eschew such gimmicky features that are likely to give trouble at some point.

Nice layout and solid wood joinery make for pleasant living aboard

I really do like the nice solid wood joinery in this boat. It is a refreshing departure from the IKEA-like styling of the new European inspired boats Ive been looking at lately. I saw one of these boats at a recent boat show and admired the quality of the furnishings. The engine is a 55shp Volvo with a saildrive located under the companionway. That many horses will push the 4000 along at hull speed in almost any conditions.  Back in my boatbuilding days we installed a good many saildrives, mostly Yanmars, and they work very well especially on racing yachts. But I personally prefer the trusty shaft and strut type for long distance cruising. Ive seen more than a few boats having saildrives replaced in inconvenient harbors.

Traditional wood joinery makes for very pleasant accommodations

The Tartan 4000 looks like a sweet ride for local cruising and club racing, and it could easily be optimized for offshore passagemaking. It has some interesting features such a cast and polished fairleads for the mooring cleats that add a touch of class . My guess is that most of the time youll bypass them, but they sure are pretty. I checked PHRF numbers for this boat and it looks like the rating is going to settle in the 72-84 range, which is quite respectable for this boat. Im sure the good looks, build quality and  BOTY award will generate lots of attention for this boat. Its definitely worth a look.

Nautitech 441 Catamaran

There is a big, boxy-looking Lagoon 40 berthed on the next gangway over from us in the marina and it got me thinking about cruising multihulls and how they have evolved since the partnership of Rudy Choy, Warren Seaman and Al Kumalae developed the first offshore racing/cruising cats back in the 1950s. Back then catamarans were exotic, and were shunned by the offshore racing crowd. Today, thanks to those pioneers and countless others, offshore cruising multihulls are totally mainstream.  I did a bit of research on the Internet and came up with some interesting numerical comparisons for medium sized cruising cats and after reviewing three of the more popular models in that size range I decided to take a more thorough look at the Nautitech 441. But first, here are the numbers:

The squarish Lagoon 440 is a beefy boat with lots of accommodations

Lagoon 440 

LOA:  45.83

Beam:  25.75

Draft:  4.25

Displacement:  37,265 LB

Sail area: 1,472 sq. ft. with square top main and roller furling genoa

The Leopard 44, designed by Morelli & Melvin offers more performance in a better looking package

Leopard 44

LOA:  42.56

Beam:  23.75

Draft:  4.18

Displacement: 32,930 LB

Sail area: 1,270 sq. ft.

Nice proportions on the Nautitech 441

Nautitech 441

LOA:  44.18

Beam:  22.33

Draft:  3.92

Displacement: 20,286 LB

Sail area: 1,055 sq. ft.

Each of these boats seems to emphasize a different aspect of cruising performance. At over 37,000 pounds, the Lagoon offers the most amenities. The Nautitech, at a little over half that weight should be the most fun to sail, while the Leopard falls somewhere in between. Of course its never just about the numbers. Hull design, ergonomics, rigging and other facets of the overall design play important roles in determining the overall desirability of each of these yachts. I chose to take a more in-depth look at the Nautitech because of the three boats, its balance of looks, comfort and performance comes closest of the three to what I think a good cruising cat ought to be. However, I should say out front that my ideal cruising cat would be lighter than all of these boats and be fitted with dagger boards instead of keels.

Efficient hulls, long and shallow keels and a short but wide rig. Most new cats incorporate  a square-top mainsail  instead of the one shown in the drawing.

N441 with square-top main sail

With all that said, lets start with the hulls of the Nautitech 441. If you visit the web sites for the Lagoon and Leopard boats youll get a sense of how much bigger they are than the Nautitech. For the way we cruise, just the two of us with occasional guests, this boat has more than enough space. These hulls are relatively narrow compared with the other boats which translates to less drag. The Leopard hulls incorporate substantial chines above the wateline, while the Lagoons hull are just plain beamy. These factors indicate that the 441 should be the better performer. All three boats have shallow fixed keels, so none will be particularly fast upwind, but thats not what these boats are about. They all have fairly large fuel capacity,  over 100 gallons in the 441 and 170 gallons in the Lagoon, so my guess is that the serious upwind work will be done mostly under power. The shoal keels will enable the 441 to venture into lots of places where deeper boats cant go, and also protect the sail drives from harm, but they dont help much in getting the boat upwind.

 The deck plan shows that not only are the hulls significantly narrower than the other boats, but there is less deck area and the deck house is relatively smaller as well. I like the wide open spaces on deck. Also notice that the anchor is stored on the port bow. I would prefer to see it mounted on a bow-plank along the centerline of the boat. The helmsmans perch is on the port side of the deck house and elevated so the driver can see over the top of the cabin. The photos show a hardtop over this area, Id like to have a windscreen as well. It will be a cold helmsman that stands the midnight watch on this boat in anything less than balmy weather. The trade-off is much better visibility compared to helm stations located in the cockpit or at the aft end of each hull. The sail controls are also clustered in this area. This can be a good thing for the shorthanded crew, but it can make for a very busy helmsman at times and I question the ergonomics of this arrangement. Notice the locations of the jib sheet winches on the cabintop. There is a pair of winches at the aft end of the cockpit for spinnaker sheets.  The drawing shows a mainsheet winch also located there, but I think it has been moved to the cabintop along with the other sheet winches.

Unique deck arrangement lines on the N441

The helm station is set up with instruments and sail controls. A dodger would be a welcome addition 

The cockpit is smaller than the other boats but certainly large enough for a cruising couple and guests. I like the rounded contours aft that provides lots of space on deck. This layout doesnt provide as much shade as the more squarish designs, which would be noticeable in the tropics. Another difference between this boat and the others is the lack of a forward cockpit. The Leopard has a passageway from the cabin to that area while on the Lagoon there isnt one. These details account for some of the difference in the weight of the 441 compared to the others. I think the forward cockpit would be delightful on an inshore boat, but would find it less appealing for offshore work. One of the great things about all of these boats is their speed compared to monohulls of similar length. That translates directly to being able to do more of your passagemaking miles in good weather.

Nautitech offers the 441 in three and four cabin versions. I chose to focus on the three cabin version, which incorporates an owners suite in the starboard hull and a pair of double cabins to port. The owners suite is luxurious, with a large head and shower toward the bow, a desk and lots of storage space just forward of the passageway and a double berth arranged longitudinally aft. On the port side, there is a double berth way up in the bow, which will inevitably be converted to storage on most 441s. It is followed by a comfortable looking double cabin with an adjoining head. This head is also accessible from the main cabin. The aft stateroom offers more space and a private head.

Condo-like accommodations in fairly slender hulls

The main cabin works really well. The galley is large and the sinks, with lots of counter space, are located along the centerline of the boat. This makes them accessible from both sides, making the galley seem bigger than it already is. Opposite the galley is a large nav station with a large desk and plenty of room for instruments and all the other items I like to have handy when Im navigating.  The forward part of the cabin is dedicated to a large wrap-around dinette that incorporates a circular coffee table.

Lots of hatches and light colored wood adds to the sense of spaciousness

There has been a significant migration of sailors from monohulls to multis in recent years and its not hard to understand why. Vast amounts of living space, sailing flat instead of heeled, more speed, and shoal draft all add to the appeal of catamarans. I think its worthwhile to give these boats a look if you searching for a family style cruising boat.

Elan 400 Review

Here is an interesting new yacht from a British designer, Rob Humphreys, and Slovenia based Elan Yachts. The Elan 400 is their latest collaboration and it is indeed a unique boat. It is a racer/cruiser with twin rudders, hard chines and a very distinctive look. Its a look that I find visually quite attractive.

Elan 400: Slovenian Speedster

Lets start by studying the hull. In the plan view, notice that its rather full in the bow at the deck level, fairing into a  moderate beam of 12.69 feet. It carries that beam all the way aft where we find hard chines and a near vertical transom. At 16,500 pounds displacement the Elan 400 has a displacement/length ratio of 141. This is not much lighter than my unabashedly cruisey Beneteau 423, which has a D/L ratio 154. But coupled with a sail area/displacement ratio of 21.1, the Elan will be much quicker in all conditions than my slightly underpowered Beneteau, which has a SA/D of only about 16.0.  With these data points, its clear that the Elan is a pretty sporty ride, but what about those chines and the twin rudders? Do they offer any meaningful advantages or are they there merely for style? Starting with the chines, I would say that they do little, if anything, for performance.  Dont get me wrong, chines have been shown to enhance performance on sailboats. But in my opinion they only make a difference when a boat is in planing mode, which wont be very often for the Elan. I should point out that the Humphreys firm has designed at least one VO70 with chines, and I am certain they make a critical performance difference on such a light and powerful boat. But the 400 is a family style racer/cruiser and I think the chines are there more for style than planing performance. There is nothing wrong with this, they add visual interest and certainly dont take away any performance potential.

Humphreys VO70 at speed. Notice the chine at work, and the weather rudder almost completely out of the water.

What about the twin rudders? Once again, on a VO70 they make a lot of sense. But does that translate to a racer/cruiser like the Elan 400? It would be very interesting to compare a single ruddered 400 with a twin ruddered version. I have no data to support my opinion, but my gut feeling is that in most conditions that average people sail in, the single ruddered boat would perform as well or better than her twin ruddered sister. Here in southern California, we have lots of kelp and I can foresee plenty of fiddling around with a kelp stick and a fair amount of strong language as a racing crew struggles with kelp on our local offshore races. When I think of the added weight, drag and cost of a twin wheel-twin rudder arrangement, I would demand a meaningful improvement in performance from the two rudders and I just dont think its there in typical conditions on a boat of this type. With all that said, Id love to go for a ride on one of these boats.

With its powerful hull,  bow pole, non-overlapping jib and svelte cabin trunk, the Elan 400 is a sporty looking ride.

Moving on to the deck, Im impressed with the innovative features incorporated into it. The transom is wide open, with a seat panel spanning it. This panel is removable and doubles as a gangplank, complete with wheels on the shoreside end,  for when youre Med moored in Monte Carlo. The transom also has a drop-down panel making it into a water-level swim step with boarding ladder and transom shower.

The cockpit is beautifully laid out for racing.

The cockpit itself is very well laid out for a racing crew, with plenty of room to move and ergonomically sensible access to winches, etc. The twin wheels are mounted on fairly lethal looking pedestals and give the helmsman a great view. The general arrangement is typical of the modern racer/cruiser, with short seats forward and wide open space aft. The traveler is mounted on the cockpit sole, which I think is the best place for it and the halyard winches are on the cabin top where they should be. The designers have incorporated a number of tricky features into this area. There is a cleverly designed dining table that retracts into the cockpit sole, retractable footrests for the helmsman, and a recess near the transom for the life raft. Add covered bins for sheets and a retractable companionway hatch board and youve got a pretty busy cockpit. Yet it looks clean and elegant!

Beautifully detailed deck

The rest of the deck is fairly conventional with a low and aesthetically pleasing cabin trunk, jib tracks mounted close inboard and an anchor windlass and locker forward. The boat is equipped with inhauls for the jib, which is an indicator of how serious Elan is about racing performance. Your average cruising sailor wouldnt know what to do with them.

Elan offers the 400 with either two or three cabins. I chose the two cabin version mainly because I prefer to have a dedicated nav station instead of a fold-away chart desk. I think those things look great at boat shows but are not particularly useful. Of course if youre sailing is limited to local waters you have little need for a dedicated chart table and the space would be better used for other purposes.

Sensible layout for casual racing and weekends at the island.

The accommodations plan incorporates a good sized forward cabin with a V-berth, seats and storage lockers. Elan thoughtfully refrained from pushing the berth too far forward so the foot of the bunk is reasonably wide. As in the rest of the boat, there is a plethora of locker doors that conceal lots of fairly small shelves. In spite of all those doors, it looks like usable storage space is somewhat limited. This is because the builder has pushed the lockers well outboard, making them quite shallow, The trade-off is the visual sensation of bright, wide open space below.  I think this is perfectly acceptable given that the Elan 400 is not intended for living aboard or long offshore passagemaking.

In the three cabin version, the chart table folds away to make a full length settee on the port side of the salon.

Given the intended purpose of the boat, the galley is adequate, although you may wish for a bit more storage space here. The aft stateroom is quite large and comfortable looking. The hard chines may contribute to the extra space here, or it could just be that the transom on the 400 is in the neighborhood of eleven feet wide.

The 400 looks fast.

Overall, there is much to like about the Elan 400. The tall rig with non overlapping headsails provides lots of horsepower. The twin rudders should provide precise steering and the deep keel will keep the boat on its feet. As I mentioned before, to my eye this is a pretty boat that has excellent performance potential. While the squared off trapezoid shape deadlights in the hull could have been more artfully designed I expect the Elan 400 to turn heads wherever she goes. I took all the photos shown here from Elans excellent web site and I invite you to visit www.elan-yachts.com to learn more about this interesting boat.

The Cockpit Project Replacing the Teak Decking

Finisterra arrived at her new home on June 26th and we took a few days to unload cruising gear and get moved back into the house. Then I got right to work on the biggest project on my work list, replacing the teak in and around the cockpit and transom.

The teak doesnt look too bad in the photos but it is pretty well worn down between the caulking lines and occasionally offers up a splinter. There are also rows of bronze staple ends that are beginning to emerge from the teak in several areas. 

The dots in the foreground are staple ends sticking up through the wood. 

I think the way Beneteau makes the teak panels is to lay the teak planks on a table with the caulking grooves on the bottom, then staple them together to make panels. After the planks are stapled together into panels, they flip them over and fill in the grooves with silicone caulking. This makes the finished panels flexible enough to conform to the curvature in the seats. Then they fit the panels into recesses in the deck, bedding them in what looks like black 3M 4000 Polyether adhesive.

It was fairly easy to pry the teak off the deck, but much more labor intensive to remove the black adhesive. I finally resorted to a set of sharp chisels to scrape the black gummy adhesive off the fiberglass. The bead around the perimeter is similar to Dow 795 silicone and was fairly easy to remove with a razor knife and a chisel.

In this photo the teak has been removed, but you can see a few spots where some of it stuck to the adhesive. Notice the parts where there are vertical lines. Beneteau applied the adhesive with a serrated trowel and then bedded the teak in the stuff. You can see where the teak was actually in contact with it and where it wasnt. You can also see the bead of silicone around the perimeter.

To get the teak off, I first cut the silicone around the perimeter with the razor, then using the hammer, carefully drove a chisel in between the edges of the teak and the fiberglass.  Once it was started, I could drive the screwdriver further under the teak and pry up large chunks or complete planks of it.

Here you can see where I have removed the adhesive from part of the portside cockpit seat. 

To remove the adhesive, I used a razor knife to scribe sectional lines into it, then worked a sharp chisel between the adhesive and the fiberglass. I was able to remove most of it this way. Then I used the chisel to scrape off as much of the remaining adhesive as possible. Later I will sand the rest of it off.

It took several long days to get all the adhesive off the deck. It was fairly dull work but there is a lot going on in the industrial part of the harbor and I often paused to watch as ships came in to unload their cargoes from all over the world, then reload and head out to sea again. There was also no shortage of interested passersby, many of whom stopped to check my progress and offer advice, so the days passed quickly and before long the job was done.

I decided to replace the teak with PlasDECK synthetic teak instead of real teak for several reasons, not the least of which was the cost. The price Beneteau quoted for replacement teak panels was a little north of $3,000, while the synthetic material runs about $1,000. But price is only part of the reason for choosing PlasDECK. Its made of recycled plastic and I like the idea of putting less plastic in landfills. It is easier to keep clean and is quite durable. Of course no knowledgeable person is going to mistake synthetic for real teak, but Im okay with that. You can learn more about this material by visiting Plasteak.com.

The next step was to make templates for the replacement panels. I used 6 mil poly sheeting as pattern material, and glued it in place with a light spray of aerosol contact cement. Then I inscribed the outline of the perimeter of each piece along with all the other information the manufacturer needs to fabricate the replacement panels. Ill send them off tomorrow morning and in about three weeks the panels will be delivered.

The pattern material is temporarily glued in place, then marked with all the necessary information.

Its important that the "caulking lines" of the new panels line up properly so the patterns were carefully marked to show where they should be.

While Im waiting for the finished panels Ill have lots of time to finish removing the black adhesive from the seats and maybe even spend a couple of days at the Island.

Beneteau 423 Rig Conversion

Now that weve had the boat for a couple of weeks and Ive been able to dig deeper into the systems and construction of the Finisterra and Im able to start putting together a serious to-do list. Our purpose is to outfit the boat for long distance cruising so the number one item on the list is to lose the in-mast furling system. There are two basic ways to go about this. The easiest is to simply pull the roller furling main out of the mast, put slides on it and run it up the luff groove that is built into the mast. The other option is to chuck the entire roller furling (RF) mast and sail, and buy a new rig. Of course there are a few options between those two extremes, but they arent worth talking about.

Beneteau 423 close reaching under a 140% jib and RF main

After pondering the alternatives and doing the math, we chose to go all the way and put a new rig in the boat. Youre probably wondering why someone would take a perfectly good rig out of a boat and exchange it for something that is usually more work to set trim and douse. My answer is that RF mains work well for many things, but they can fail in ways that could be inconvenient at best and dangerous in some circumstances. They also cant deliver the performance that a full battened main can. In terms of danger, all you have to do is visit the B423 message board to read about a range of problems people have had with their RF main sails. Sails jammed in the slot, batten pockets torn, more jammed sails, maintenance issues on the furling system, etc. Dont misunderstand me, most B423 owners seem to love their RF main sails and have very few problems with them. But if youre planning for offshore cruising to remote places with a shorthanded crew, you want your rig to be 100% manageable in all conditions. So its out with the furling rig.

As it turns out, we can do the conversion for a very reasonable price if we manage it well. US Spars, the company that built the original B423 rigs happens to have some mast extrusions left over from the production days, and agreed to build a new classic rig for us at a very attractive price. We found a local rigger here in SoCal who will take the old rig on consignment and we can surely sell the sail at Minneys, our local marine surplus store. So with the new rig, modifying the boom and buying a new mainsail, I estimate that the entire project will cost around $15.000.

423 with classic main and stackpack

We will include a Battcar system, lazyjacks and a Stackpack to make sail handling easy. With full battens the sail falls neatly into the pack, eliminating the whole flaking exercise. More importantly, the sail can be reliably reefed in all conditions. Ill keep you posted on the progress for this project.

Mainsail neatly stowed. 

Beneteau 423 Review

One thing we noticed while on our cruise in Mexico is that people cruise aboard an astonishing variety of boats, from sophisticated luxury yachts to clunky old wooden double enders, and all manner of boats that lie somewhere in between those ends of the spectrum.

On a scale of one to ten, with one being the luxury yacht and ten being the wooden double-ender, we are looking for about a number five: Our next boat will have some luxury but not too much, and be reasonably priced but not cheap in any way. We want a boat that is big enough to be comfortable but not too big for a couple to handle. We want it to be fast and weatherly under sail, yet capable of motoring three hundred miles. It should be good-looking and not too deep of draft, nor too shallow. We want a solid boat that can stand up to a blow, yet is not so heavy that it’s no fun to sail. We want a boat with a good engine and a simple and reliable rig. Down below, our boat should have a nice, big galley with a reefer and a freezer. We want a big double berth with plenty of ventilation and we want at least one good sea-berth that’s snug and warm in all conditions. We want a head with a separate shower and plenty of crystal pure hot water. We want a boat that is easy to operate and to maintain. Finally, we want a boat thats beautiful inside and out. In other words, we want our ideal boat. Over the last year weve spent a good deal of time searching the Internet, walking docks and studying new boat brochures.  We have settled on a length of 40 to 44 feet as the optimum and have a few boats on our short list of contenders. Lets see if the Beneteau 423 makes the cut.


In my opinion Yachtworld.com is by far the best place to look at boats without actually going aboard them and it is from there that all of the photos in this review come from. As of today, there are 25 of these boats listed there, all built between 2003 and 2007 and ranging in price from $159,000 to $293,000. 

Beneteau 423. 

Cruising is to a large extent about living aboard your boat in exotic, or perhaps not so exotic, places. So I thought Id start with the living spaces on this boat. Beneteau offered a two cabin and a three cabin layout in the 423. The three cabin version appears to be designed for the charter trade with the galley arranged lengthwise along the port side of the main cabin. I think this makes it unsuitable for passagemaking so Im going to focus on the two cabin version, which is the only one wed consider buying.

B423 Two Cabin Version

I really like this arrangement. There is a spacious owners suite forward of the main bulkhead that includes a head with separate shower stall, plenty of storage space and a big double berth. The berth has storage space under it and the top is hinged and fitted with gas springs to make it easy to lift, making all that storage space is easily accessible.

The salon includes a storage locker above the forward end of the port settee. Several of the 423s we looked at had flat screen TVs mounted there which was convenient for watching while lounging at the dinette. The table can be lowered, converting the dinette to very nice double berth. There is a seat opposite the table with a hinged lid. One of the 423s we looked at had this area converted to a wine cellar.  The Honcho has small windows in the hull that provide a surprising amount of visibility. The 423 has a pair of good sized windows adjacent to the dinette area, providing a good view of the outside world from the settees.

TV works better mounted above the forward end of the port settee.  The three skylights have shades, a must in the tropics. 

The galley is large enough for a true long range cruising yacht, with plenty of counter space and room for a microwave oven. This is one of the few boats of this size that features a top-loading freezer and a separate front loading refrigerator, making life in the galley much easier. Along with the big reefer/freezer, the 423 features substantial pantry space so finding room for a couple months provisions is not a problem. Overall, I give this galley high marks.

Lots of light, space and ventilation in the galley.

The nav station, opposite the galley, is rather small but well designed. There is room for a laptop, radar, VHF and SSB, along with a bank of breakers for the electrical system. Aboard the Honcho we used a Garmin 440 plotter in the cockpit and a laptop with Maxsea software connected to a GPS receiver in the nav station. These worked well but in Mexico they both interface with what are essentially digital versions of paper charts. The GPS can locate the boat within a few feet of its actual position, but then overlays that position on charts that were created before the advent of satellite photography and are not always accurate, especially with regard to longitude. We found that our I-Pad with Navionics software was superior as it projected our position onto perfectly accurate satellite earth photos. Very cool.

Aft of the nav station is another head with access to the aft stateroom as well as the main cabin. The quarterberth is cavernous. Since there isnt a good sea berth in the main cabin, Id rig a lee board in this berth to create a snug place to sleep while under way. Though there are sleeping accommodations for only two couples, I think thats about right for a boat of this size.

Clean lines and nice proportions.

I like the design of the deck of this boat much better than the current offerings from Beneteau. The new boats are, to my eye, not very pleasing to look at. The 423 has a low, well proportion cabin trunk and a large and well designed cockpit. Never a fan of built-in cockpit tables in the past, I find myself liking them more and more if they are well designed and dont hinder the crew too much. Lets face it, were not going to be short-tacking up to a weather mark, or engaged in jibing duels in this boat. Tacks and jibes will invariably be casual affairs in a boat like this so the table shouldnt be a problem. The cockpit itself is spacious and well designed for relaxing as well as sailing. There is a step-through transom with a large swim step equipped with a shower. Fishing is important and that swim step will make getting a fish aboard fairly easy.

Big cockpit. Here the drop-leaves have been removed from the table.

The Beneteau 423 is a fairly husky boat, which is a good thing for a cruising yacht, with a long waterline and a moderately shallow canoe body. Notice in the accommodations plan above that it is rather full in the bow and carries its beam well aft, resulting in a wide and powerful stern. Here are some numbers:

LOA:         43-2"
Beam:        12-11"
Draft:         6-11" (deep keel)
Disp:         19,797 lb
Ballast:      5,865 lb
Sail area:   860 sq ft
SA/D:       18.8
D/L:          154

As you students of yacht design know, the SA/D (sail area/displacement ratio) is an indicator of the power in the rig relative to the weight of the boat. At 18.8, this is a moderately powerful rig which would provide reasonably good performance in light air, yet is not so large as to be difficult to handle in typical tradewind conditions. The D/L (displacement/length) ratio is interesting. At 154, the B-423 is considered a moderately light boat. But in studying the hull, the fullness in the ends of the boat combined with the relatively shallow hull (not including the keel), along with the powerful stern indicates that the 423 has a fairly high prismatic ratio (Cp). The prismatic ratio is an indicator of the hull shape. Without getting too technical, we can say that a high Cp is indicative of a boat with more wetted surface, resulting in more parasitic drag than a boat with a low prismatic ratio. On the other hand, it would also generate a flatter wake, that is to say smaller bow and stern waves as it passes through the water. This is referred to as induced drag or wave-making drag. All of this means that the Beneteau 423 might be a bit sticky in light air, but should trundle along quite nicely at or near its hull speed in a bit of a breeze. I want a boat that handles well and shows good speed when the wind is up, and Ill take the trade-off of possibly motoring more in light air.

This is a long, fairly slender boat for a cruising yacht. The displacement is pushed out toward the ends of the hull and the ballast is concentrated near the bottom of the keel. This boat will show a good turn of speed in a breeze.

Notice the sailplan of the 423. It is fairly short with a long "J" and "E" dimension. This is not what youd choose for a racer but I think its a good compromise for a cruising yacht. The main traveler is on the cabin top so the dodger and bimini can be deployed all the time, whether at anchor or under sail. In the tropics protection from the sun is vital. The mid-boom sheeting is not as efficient as end-boom, so youll want powerful winches and at least 6:1 purchase on the traveler and mainsheet. If those controls are not easy to adjust, they wont get adjusted much and overall performance will suffer.

The long, uncluttered foredeck will be handy for carrying a dinghy and the big anchor locker can handle plenty of chain and rode. Im a fan of oversize ground tackle and will outfit our next boat, as I did the Honcho, with a powerful windlass and big anchors. I think the overall proportions of the deck, coupled with the moderately sprung sheer and short overhangs give the B-423 a respectable, offshore capable appearance. Weve been aboard several here in southern California and were pleased with the looks, quality of construction, and engineering of this boat and have added it to our list for serious consideration whenever the Honcho sells.

C C Redline 41 Review

There has been no shortage of fanfare surrounding the launch of the new C&C Redline 41, and with good reason. This all-new design traces its commercial pedigree back to  the fabulous line of racing/cruising yachts designed by the legendary team of George Cuthbertson and George Cassian, The history of C&C Yachts is convoluted so I wont go into the details here, but you can read all about it on the Internet. Back then I was still a kid and a huge fan of C&C boats and thought they were all designed by the two Georges, but in fact much of the credit for the excellent design work belongs to Rob Ball and Rob Mazza as well as other talented designers that spent more or less time at C&C.

That was back in the heyday of yacht building in North America. By the mid 1990s the company had fallen on hard times and was taken over by Tartan Yachts, which produced a series of boats under the C&C name that were designed by Tim Jackett. Those were, in my opinion, okay boats but not quite in the same league as those designed by Ball, Mazza and the rest of early C&C design team.  In 2013 the C&C assets were acquired by US Watercraft, which is based in Warren, Rhode Island.

Finally, C&C, which suffered the same stormy weather as all the other sailboat builders in America over the last fifteen years, has found a favorable wind. It will be a surprise to me if C&C does not return to something akin to its former success. In addition to C&C, USW owns and manufactures the Alerion, True North and Carolina Cockpit brands as well as Waterline Systems. They are also a licensed builder of several J/Boat and Farr models. They have enlisted the venerable Barry Carroll to manage the C&C brand and Mark Mills to do the design work. Its hard to imagine a more capable gang to carry on the C&C name.

The Redline 41is intended as a racer/cruiser with the emphasis on IRC racer.  Here are some numbers:

LOA:  40.7
LWL:  35.4
BMAX: 12.13
Draft:  8.2
DISP:  15,100 LB
BAL:  7,232 LB
Calculated Sail Area: 891 SF
D/L:  152
SA/D:  23.3
BAL/DISP:  48%

Wire frame drawing shows a moderate displacement hull with firm bilges, narrow waterline beam, long overhang aft and no chines. 

I visited the C&C web site (www.c-cyachts.com) and found all of the photos for this article, including the beautiful wire frame drawing that gives us a pretty good understanding of the overall proportions of the boat. So beginning with the hull, we see a very clean shape with a narrow waterline beam and minimal wetted surface. Notice the slightly raked stem and the longish stern overhang. I like the raked stem for aesthetic reasons, and the long overhang aft provides reserve buoyancy when the boat is pressed, leaving a clean wake.  Notice the distribution of beam, its been pulled in a bit at the transom and there is plenty of flare in the hull in that area. Up forward, the bow is fine, with just a bit of hollow in the waterlines, and the knuckle is placed just above the waterline . This is going to be a slippery and well behaved yacht on all points of sail.

Driving upwind. notice the clean release of the wake off the transom. 

The keel consists of a cast iron vertical fin mated to a lead bulb. The bulb is an inverted "U" shape in cross section. This helps get the center of gravity (CG) as low as possible but does generate more turbulence than a more symmetrical torpedo shape. Im sure the Mills team analyzed this trade-off and decided that the benefit of the lower CG outweighs the cost of the higher turbulence.  The rudder is a deep, thin blade that should provide good control. With a displacement/length ratio of 152, the 41 isnt going to be a downwind planing machine but should surf along quite nicely on races such as the Transpac.

The IRC rule encourages moderate displacement and high-ish freeboard. This 41 is not equipped with an anchor locker or bow roller, but it sure is pretty.

Notice the inboard and outboard tracks and barber hauler.  

The cabin trunk is low and aerodynamically sculpted. It is relatively narrow amidships, leaving wide side decks and plenty of room to locate the jib tracks well inboard. Racers need tight sheeting angles. Notice that the forward end of the trunk is fairly wide, leaving very little side deck in this area. This was likely done to provide headroom in the head and forward cabin. The cockpit design is a nearly perfect for a racer/cruiser. The seats forward allow for headroom in the quarterberths and offer some comfort for the crew. The mainsheet traveler is located on the cockpit sole, with the sheet led to a pair of winches at the aft end of the seats, Admirals cup style. The photos show a recess in the open transom and I noticed in one of the renderings on the web site that they were at least thinking about a fold-down panel there that would serve as a swim/boarding platform. I dont think its necessary for cruising since the recess provides enough of a step that boarding from a dinghy wouldnt be a problem.

Sensible deck layout and reasonable accommodations for a racer/cruiser

The rig is pure raceboat. The mast and boom are carbon and so is the retractable bow pole. The chainplates are out at the rails so jibs are limited to about 105%. The boat has inboard and outboard jib tracks and barber haulers. This will allow the trimmer to dial the jib in perfectly. There is apparently an option for a short permanent bowsprit in lieu of the retractable pole. That would be a nice place to mount the anchor and roller, but since there is no provision for an anchor locker or windlass theres no point in trading the pole for the sprit.

The V-berth is snug and lightweight.

Going below, the accommodations are exactly what I would expect from the builders of the Alerion, a tasteful blend of white surfaces and wood accents. You might wonder what all that wood is doing in a boat like this. It certainly harks back to the days of true racer cruisers that C&C once built. The layout is functional for racing and offers just enough comfort for coastal cruising. The V-berth looks small, a perfect place for the kids. The head is minimal for a racer/cruiser and is located forward of the main bulkhead with access from the forward cabin. This isnt a perfect arrangement but is acceptable, in my opinion, because the Redline 41 is a racing yacht with cruising amenities rather than a cruising yacht racing capabilities.

Basic but comfortable accommodations.

The galley is bright and spacious for a racing yacht.

Its nice to see a well designed nav station on the Redline 41

The Redline 41 is going to be a fast and fun boat to sail. As for cruising, its easy to envision spending a week at the island, on a mooring. People passing by will inevitably slow down and admire it, ask what she is and comment on what a beautiful boat she is. Its harder to envision this boat spending a month cruising in more remote areas where good ground tackle, sun protection and shallower draft are important. Its a racing yacht that can be cruised. As I mentioned earlier, I will be surprised if this boat isnt a huge success and a worthy successor to the legendary boats that C&C produced in its heyday.