Review of Swan 43 (S&S)

Basic specs.

The Swan 43 (S&S) aka Palmer Johnson 43 is a large sailboat designed by the American maritime architect bureau Sparkman & Stephens in the late sixties. The Swan 43 (S&S) 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.

Rig

Swan 43 (S&S) anno 1981 with spinnaker. S. V. Fruition, a Palmer Johnson 43 (a/k/a Serendipity 43) winning Sarasota 2023 Bay Cherry Pie Regatta is the photo you already have. Here is another one.

Keel

The Swan 43 (S&S) has been built with different keel alternatives.

Unknown keel type

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 1.89 - 1.99 meter (6.20 - 6.50 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Fin keel

The Swan 43 (S&S) 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 2.11 - 2.21 meter (6.92 - 7.22 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

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 43 (S&S) is 1.64, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.

Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed

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.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Swan 43 (S&S) is about 225 kg/cm, alternatively 1262 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 225 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1262 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.

Motion Comfort Ratio

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Swan 43 (S&S) is 38.6.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 85% of all similar sailboat designs. This is a comfort value significantly above average.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Swan 43 (S&S) is 3.68.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is slimmer than 86% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a significantly more speedy hull design.

Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Swan 43 (S&S) is 51%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 98% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly above average.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Swan 43 (S&S) is 344 which categorizes this boat among 'heavy cruisers'.

10% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A heavy displacement combined with smaller water plane area has lower acceleration and is more comfortable.

Maintenance

Bottom Paint

When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy. The surface of the wet bottom is about 39m² (419 ft²).
Based on this, your favourite maritime shop can tell you the quantity you need.

Note: If you use a paint roller you will need more paint than if you use a paintbrush.

Rig

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**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Jib sheet	13.1 m	(43.0 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Genoa sheet	13.1 m	(43.0 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Mainsheet	32.8 m	(107.5 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	28.8 m	(94.6 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 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 Palmer Johnson 43 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

[Ref 1]: ISO 8666 Small craft — Principal data.
[Ref 3]: ISO 12215-5 Small craft — Hull construction and scantlings.