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Review of C&C 46


Basic specs.

sail specifications
The C&C 46 is a large sailboat designed by the maritime architect bureau Cuthbertson & Cassian in the mid seventies.

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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.
The hull is a double hull which improves the indoor climate. Especially when the water is colder than the air in the cabin, then the double hull insulates against cold water and reduce the condense water in the cabin.


Interior

The boat is equipped with 10 berths, a galley and toilet facility.


Rig

The C&C 46 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.


Keel

Fin keel

The C&C 46 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 2.29 - 2.39 meter (7.51 - 7.81 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


Engine

C&C 46 may be equipped with an inboard Perkins diesel engine


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 C&C 46 is 1.83, 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 C&C 46 is about 394 kg/cm, alternatively 2209 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 394 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 2209 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 C&C 46 is 3.39.

Slim Wide 54% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 54% 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 C&C 46 is 43%.

Low High 85% 0 50 100
This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 85% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly above average.


SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

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

The SA/D for C&C 46 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 16.8, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 20.4.

Low High 24% 0 50 100
The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 24% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.


Over- / underrigged

Low High 24% 0 50 100
The C&C 46 has more rig than 24% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly underrigged.


Maintenance

Rig

Dimensions of sail for masthead rig.

mainsail specifications headsail specifications

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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 40.5 m(133.0 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard40.5 m(133.0 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker halyard40.5 m(133.0 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Jib sheet 14.1 m(46.3 feet)16 mm(5/8 inch)
Genoa sheet14.1 m(46.3 feet)16 mm(5/8 inch)
Mainsheet 35.3 m(115.8 feet)16 mm(5/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet31.1 m(101.9 feet)16 mm(5/8 inch)
Cunningham4.4 m(14.3 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Kickingstrap8.7 m(28.6 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Clew-outhaul8.7 m(28.6 feet)14 mm(0.55 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.

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Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for C&C 46 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