Review of Contessa 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 Contessa 43 has been built with different keel alternatives.
Unknown keel type
The boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.40 - 2.50 meter (7.87 - 8.17 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
Fin keel
The Contessa 43 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 2.21 - 2.31 meter (7.25 - 7.55 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
Contessa 43 may be equipped with a Seapanther diesel engine at 30 hp (22 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.
The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level.
The immersion rate for Contessa 43 is about 329 kg/cm, alternatively 1845 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 329 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 1845 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 L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Contessa 43 is 3.46.
Maintenance
Dimensions of sail.
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 | 40.1 m | (131.7 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Jib/genoa halyard | 40.1 m | (131.7 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Spinnaker halyard | 40.1 m | (131.7 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Jib sheet | 13.1 m | (42.8 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 13.1 m | (42.8 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 32.6 m | (107.0 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 28.7 m | (94.2 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Cunningham | 4.1 m | (13.5 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Kickingstrap | 8.2 m | (27.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Clew-outhaul | 8.2 m | (27.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
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