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Review of Swan 42


Basic specs.

sail specifications
The Swan 42 is a large sailboat designed by the New Zealander maritime architect Ron Holland in the early eighties. Less than 100 boats have been produced. The Swan 42 is built by the Finnish yard OY Nautor AB.

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Hull

The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.


Interior

The boat is equipped with 8 berths.


Keel

Fin keel

The Swan 42 is equipped with a fin keel. The fin keel is the most common keel and provides splendid manoeuvrability. The downside is that it has less directional stability than a long keel.

The keel is made of lead. Compared with iron, lead has the advantage of being 44% heavier, which allows a smaller keel and hence less water resistance and higher speed.

The boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.38 - 2.48 meter (7.81 - 8.11 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


Engine

The Swan 42 has been equipped with different engine alternatives.

Alternative 1:

Swan 42 may be equipped with an inboard Perkins 4.108 diesel engine

Alternative 2:

The boat may be equipped with a diesel engine at 42 hp (31 kW)..


Sailing characteristics

This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Swan 42 is 1.85, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.


Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Swan 42 is about 338 kg/cm, alternatively 1896 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 338 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1896 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.


Sailing statistics

This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Swan 42 is 3.24.

Slim Wide 62% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 62% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.


Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Swan 42 is 42%.

Low High 69% 0 50 100
This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 69% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just above average.


SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?

The SA/D for Swan 42 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 16.2, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 19.4.

Low High 27% 0 50 100
The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 27% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.


Over- / underrigged

Low High 15% 0 50 100
The Swan 42 has more rig than 15% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly underrigged.


Maintenance

Rig

Dimensions of sail.

mainsail specifications headsail specifications

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale



If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.



Guiding dimensions of running rig
UsageLengthDiameter
Mainsail halyard 38.4 m(126.0 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard38.4 m(126.0 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker halyard38.4 m(126.0 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Jib sheet 12.8 m(42.0 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Genoa sheet12.8 m(42.0 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Mainsheet 32.0 m(105.0 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker sheet28.2 m(92.4 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Cunningham4.3 m(14.0 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Kickingstrap8.5 m(28.0 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Clew-outhaul8.5 m(28.0 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section is reserved boat owner's modifications, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

Do you have changes/improvements you would like to share? Upload a photo and describe what you have done.



Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Swan 42 it would be a great help.

If you have any comments to the review, improvement suggestions, or the like, feel free to contact us. Criticism helps us to improve.



References