Nothing new or very exciting about the new GrandSoleil 40, but a yacht does not need to be exciting to be a great and fast cruiser. The design looks well-balanced and clean. The search for interior space is responsible for a beamy boat, considerably beamier than the previous GS 39 ( HL 38.10 ft, 3.70m beam), that even if smaller is a much narrower boat. But the GS 44 is also a beamy boat and is fast and performed well in handicap racing.
Also, the more advanced building techniques and better materials allow for a 7500kg displacement, which is about 500kg lighter than the lightest among big brand yachts and with superior resistance to torsion and flexion. All that will make for a better and much faster cruising boat, better built, offering about the same interior volume, with a better interior finish.
And the GS40 has considerably finer entries than big brand boats and a transom with the beam not all pushed back, allowing for a different hull that will allow more heel without increasing substantially drag and better performance in lighter winds due also to a lesser drag, being easier to sail with strong winds over hull speed.The GS40 is also offered in a race version, which will be much more expensive, and will have top sailing hardware that will include 6 winches, travelers for the main and genoa, sophisticated and efficient running rigging, and even carbon spars, as an option. The cruising GS40 comes standard with a 1.0m fixed bowsprit. The race version comes with a huge one, 1.70m. The smaller one includes an anchor stand, as well as the bigger one, and that is quite rare. 10 years ago, Grand Soleil was offering all this (except carbon spars) on the standard version. Times are changing, and fewer people want a top sailing boat.That makes sense because the majority of cruisers use the engine more than the sails and, when they use them, they don't bother with fine regulations. So, they don't need the more complex sail hardware that was offered as standard some years ago, which is now optional and can get that way to a less expensive cruising boat.
With a 300L water tankage and a 170L diesel, the GS40 is well suited for cruising, and even for the ones that like to motor, it is offered an optional 50hp engine that will give it a motor-sailor ability. The standard engine has only 30hp and it will work well as an auxiliary engine.
More information about the GS40 here: https://www.diamond-yachts.de/grand-soleil/modelle/grand-soleil-40-performance.html
Then I will make a bigger post comparing it with the Italia 11.98 (also a Matteo Polli design). In fact that comparison will be very curious because these two boats, designed by the same NA, apparently with the same purpose, have different hulls, being the Italia Yacht a bit narrower and with a relatively different transom.
The lack of a microwave, an option, that is seen in the drawings, makes the galley look unfinished. Like on the 44 probably there are optional cabinets that will fit in the space over the salon "widows" that is left unused.
Hello Paulo!
ReplyDeleteGlad to read your new posts :)
A year ago, I discovered your blog, it became a guide for me and helped me begin to understand the technical side. Thank you! I am still thinking which way to go: towards sailing yachts or motor yachts. Can you recommend a blog by a passionate yachtsman like you who writes about motor yachts?
Sorry for my English, I'm still learning :)
Sorry, I don't follow motor yachts, but if you search google for Forum motor Yacht you will find several Forums where you can find information about that.
DeleteTry also this thread on cruisers forum: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f74/why-not-a-motor-yacht-197417.html
There are many cruisers that do mostly motoring while cruising in sailing yachts. I remember many years ago an American that had own and cruised in motorboats and sailingboats, being the last boat a sailboat. He said that he prefer to cruise in sailingboats because he got bored in a motor yacht, without nothing to do, while on a sailboat there is always something to do. LOL.
Most motor yachts are not used for cruising in a sense a sailboat sailor talk about cruising, long range cruising is almost done exclusively by sailboats even if there are some motorboats designed for that, and used for that purpose.
A motorboat to offer the same seaworthiness as a sailboat has to be much bigger. You can cruise extensively in a 35ft sailboat, but for doing that in a motorboat you need a much bigger one.
But in the end only you can decide what you prefer. This year I have made while cruising 2300nm and put diesel on my boat for 3 times, wasting about 200L. One time I did not even went to a port and transported some diesel in the dinghy from an auto station. With a motor boat you will be much more dependent on fuel and will have less freedom of choice in what regards cruising routes.
Have a look at my cruising blog.
https://sailingalma.blogspot.com/
On the first posts you will have an idea about what is cruising in a sailing boat. It only makes sense to cruise the way I do if someone likes sailing as much as cruising, but I know many that use a sailboat mostly as a motorboat and cruise extensively: it is cheaper than a motorboat, it wastes less fuel, it has more interior space (for the money), the maintenance is cheaper. The only drawback is speed, but motorboats that are used and designed to cruise normally have a cruising speed between 8 and 10 knots (to save fuel), while a 45 to 50ft sailing boat while motoring has a cruising speed between 7 and 8 knots.
Thanks Paulo!
DeleteI read your blogs with pleasure and interest. I also read various forums and blogs of other authors. I feel that I have already gained enough theory, and it's time to move on to practice :) I will spend several months on sailing and motor yachts and find the answer that I like best. Can I sometimes ask you questions about sailing yachts? What is the best way to do this, to write the question in the newest post or in some other way?
I have one on order - based on what I saw at Cannes and a test sail on a GS44 it looks like it could be an exciting boat and an important one for GS. Looking forward to seeing some on water reviews as well as your comprehensive analysis.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I bet you are going to love the boat.
DeleteIf you are not going to race at high level have the cabinets on the saloon, it will not only make it more comfortable as they will be very useful for all those little things that you have in a cruising boat, from batteries, to head lamps to the product to add to the water (in the tank) and many other things.
Regarding in the water tests I would not give them much importance, all you have to know is that if equipped with the right sail hardware that boat is very fast, especially in light wind conditions, and you have already race results to prove that at the highest level, in ORC inshore racing and IRC offshore, and I an not talking about compensated results but about real performance over the water.
If it is fast racing it will be fast cruising. Cruisers tend to sail mostly in medium to week wind conditions (mostly due to wives LOL).