Review of Helmsman 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 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.
The interior is like nearly all boats made of wood.
The boat is equipped with 4 cabins, 6 berths, a galley, 400.0 liter fresh water capacity, toilet facility and 40.0 liter waste water capacity.
The boat equipped with a fractional rig. A fractional rig has smaller headsails which make tacking easier, which is an advantage for cruisers and racers, of course. The downside is that having the wind from behind often requires a genaker or a spinnaker for optimal speed.
Fin keel
The Helmsman 43 is equipped with 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.
The boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.32 - 2.42 meter (7.61 - 7.91 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
Helmsman 43 is typically equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta 2003 T diesel engine at 48 hp (35 kW). Max speed is 7.0 knots.
The transmission is a shaft drive. A shaft drive will in the long run require less maintenance than other types of drive e.g. a sail drive.
The fuel tank has a capacity of 150.0 liters (39 US gallons, 32 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 Helmsman 43 is 1.77, 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 8.1 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 Helmsman 43 is about 268 kg/cm, alternatively 1504 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 268 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 1504 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 Helmsman 43 is 28.0.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Helmsman 43 is 3.66.
The ballast ratio for Helmsman 43 is 43%.
What is Displacement Length Ratio?
The DL-ratio for Helmsman 43 is 168 which categorizes this boat among 'light racers'.
SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)
Indicates how fast the boat is in light wind:
- Cruising Boats have ratios 10-15
- Cruiser-Racers have ratios 16-20
- Racers have ratios above 20
- High-Performance Racers have ratios above 24
Sail-area/displacement ratio (SA/D ratio): 26.85
Maintenance
When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy.
The surface of the wet bottom is about 50m2 (538 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.
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 | ||
| 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 | (107.4 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 28.8 m | (94.6 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
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