[PhilMraz]

Speaking of late 80’s sailboat designs around 40’ overall that perform well yet are adaptable for offshore cruising purposes and “robust”, as some like to say, enough to withstand heavy abuse; may I submit the following two contemporaries for comparison.

Builder/Model Designer LOA LWL Beam Draft Disp. Ballast D/L S/D I J P E
Carroll Marine Frers 41 31.58 13.08 7.17 15750 6600 223 19.6 53.80 15.75 47.25 14.75
Jeanneau Sun Legend Peterson 41 32.75 12.92 6.42 17196 6878 219 17.2 52.50 15.30 45.00 14.10

The Frers 41 and the Sun Legend are very close to the same dimensions and were designed in the same era of moderating IOR influence. The Frers rates faster than a Sun Legend, which is no surprise given that it has a substantially better S/D ratio, but the Sun Legend is no sailing slouch and has more luxurious interior accommodations and tank capacity as a trade off. Both have healthy ballast/displacement ratios, though I think that Jeanneaus typically have iron keels rather than lead. They also utilized other economic production techniques, but appear to have retained reasonably stout construction qualities and include Kevlar within the solid fiberglass hull layup. Meanwhile, Carroll Marine stayed with more traditional fabrication processes and took measures to keep hull/deck weight down and the center of gravity lower.

Though the sail area is significantly greater on the Frers 41, rig proportions are virtually identical and though I would prefer to see smaller J and larger E dimensions, they are not excessively out of balance. In fact, a case can be made that more room is left for an inner forestay sail on these masthead rigs, a useful cruising component, and the Frers standing rigging typically already has running backstays to support such an addition. It also has a cockpit located mainsheet traveler for handy access from the helm, though many cruisers may find this a fault rather than a benefit.

All in all, they seem to be two closely related cousins that could accommodate all but the most extreme cruising needs within this price and size range. Though the Sun Legend may be closer to ready at slightly less cost, the Frers will likely get you there quicker with slightly greater effort. What opinions have we from our resident experts? I suspect these are rather non-conventional cruisers.

This line of inquisition pertains most to those of us seeking the widest possible range of use for our sailboats. I often relate them to motor vehicles. Do you want a sports car or a truck? I keep trying to define an SUV that can keep pace with the former while retaining the utility of the later, just like in the commercials. This is futility, but still I want to know, how close can we come? Motor homes are another case altogether. If I wanted the greatest comfort to live aboard and rarely intended to sail, I would look for something different.
-Phil