Review of Sou'Wester 42/43
Basic specs.
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The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.
The boat is equipped with 586.0 liter fresh water capacity.
The Sou'Wester 42/43 is equipped with a masthead rig. The advantage of a masthead rig is its simplicity and the fact that a given sail area - compared with a fractional rig - can be carried lower and thus with less heeling moment.
The Sou'Wester 42/43 has been built with different keel alternatives.
CentreBoard
One option is a centreboard keel. A centreboard keel is a pivoting lifting keel, allowing to sail both coastal and inland waters.
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 enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.52 - 1.62 meter (4.99 - 5.29 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
Fin keel
Another option is a fin keel. A boat with a fin keel is more manoeuvrable but has less directional stability than a similar boat with a full 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.
Sou'Wester 42/43 can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.13 - 2.23 meter (6.99 - 7.29 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
The boat may be equipped with an inboard Westerbeke diesel engine at 52 hp (38 kW). Calculated max speed is about 6.1 knots
The fuel tank has a capacity of 227.0 liters (59 US gallons, 49 imperial gallons).
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.
What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?
The capsize screening value for Sou'Wester 42/43 is 1.73, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.
What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?
The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 7.5 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.
The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level.
The immersion rate for Sou'Wester 42/43 is about 243 kg/cm, alternatively 1362 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 243 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 1362 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.
What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?
The Motion Comfort Ratio for Sou'Wester 42/43 is 36.7.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Sou'Wester 42/43 is 3.42.
What is Displacement Length Ratio?
The DL-ratio for Sou'Wester 42/43 is 350 which categorizes this boat among 'heavy cruisers'.
What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?
The SA/D for Sou'Wester 42/43 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 15.7, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 18.9.
Maintenance
Dimensions of sail for masthead rig.
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.
| Usage | Length | Diameter | ||
| Mainsail halyard | 37.3 m | (122.4 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Jib/genoa halyard | 37.3 m | (122.4 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Spinnaker halyard | 37.3 m | (122.4 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Jib sheet | 13.0 m | (42.7 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 13.0 m | (42.7 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 32.6 m | (106.9 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 28.7 m | (94.0 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Cunningham | 4.4 m | (14.5 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Kickingstrap | 8.8 m | (29.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Clew-outhaul | 8.8 m | (29.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
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