Review of Swan 40

Basic specs.

The Swan 40 aka Swan 40 Mk II is a large sailboat designed by the Argentine maritime architect Germán Frers in the early nineties. Less than 100 boats have been produced. The Swan 40 is built by the Finnish yard OY Nautor AB.

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Interior

The interior is like most other boats made of teak. Teak has the advantage of being naturally very oily and therefore water-repellent, which is suitable on boats.
The boat is equipped with 3 cabins, 6 berths, a galley, 425.0 liter fresh water capacity and toilet facility.

Rig

The Swan 40 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 Swan 40 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 boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.15 - 2.25 meter (7.05 - 7.35 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 40 is 2.00, 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 7.6 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 40 is about 260 kg/cm, alternatively 1456 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 260 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1456 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 40 is 25.2.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 27% of all similar sailboat designs. This comfort value is just below average.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Swan 40 is 3.11.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 69% 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 Swan 40 is 36%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 31% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just below average.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Swan 40 is 225 which categorizes this boat among 'light crusers & offshore racers'.

62% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A light displacement requires less sailarea and has higher accellerations.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

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

The SA/D for Swan 40 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 19.9, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 23.6.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 79% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

Over- / underrigged

The Swan 40 has more rig than 66% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is slightly overrigged.

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 45m² (484 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

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.

**Guiding dimensions of running rig**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Mainsail halyard	37.5 m	(123.2 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	37.5 m	(123.2 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	37.5 m	(123.2 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Jib sheet	12.2 m	(40.1 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Genoa sheet	12.2 m	(40.1 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Mainsheet	30.6 m	(100.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	26.9 m	(88.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Cunningham	5.0 m	(16.6 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Kickingstrap	10.1 m	(33.1 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Clew-outhaul	10.1 m	(33.1 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 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 Swan 40 (Frers) 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.