Hallberg-Rassy 43

 

The boat shown here was fitted with in-mast furling mainsail, one of a number of options for the main. Sailors tend to have strong opinions about mast and boom furlers, but the set-up on this boat, which included one powered winch, enabled Peter Hrones to sail this substantial 43-footer alone and with ease.

You can specify two electric sheet winches — Lewmar 54s — and an electric mainsheet winch. The main furls and unfurls at the press of a button. T e main has vertical battens and radial panels on the tack and clew, and it sets much better than many mast-furlers we have seen.

With judicious use of the bow thruster this 43-footer is away from a tight dock and almost instantly under sail.

Below Decks

The layout features two cabins, but detail variations are available. The owner’s stateroom aft features a queen-sized, double berth off set slightly to starboard, but you can have a single berth in the space portside. The bow cabin is quite long and roomier than the stern cabin. It is ensuite with the forward bathroom, which is bigger than the one aft, resumably as it will also act as day head and will be used by the crew.

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The galley is to starboard, alongside the main companionway, and is arranged in a tight U-shape. Th ere is a grabrail in front of the two-burner (with oven) stove, so you can wedge yourself in and hang on no matter what the angle of heel or degree of pitch. The fiddles around the worktop are deep. In the crockery lockers the shelves can be adjusted for height, and the shelf where the cups live features a drilled base so dowels can be adjusted to fi t any type of crockery you care to buy.

The trim is in mahogany (with lighter coloured stain than usual) and there is a lot of it, up to window height. All the wood is taken from the same log to ensure colour continuity — Rolls-Royce used to do this before wood went out of fashion in cars.

Have a look at the timber trim in the HR’s overhead hatches. No joints are visible in the vertical panels, and the lower edge is capped so the hatch structure looks as if it was chopped from a solid lump of wood. I like the minimal, moulded interiors of modern yachts, but I also like wood, particularly when it is done this well.

The boat shown here has two lounge chairs on the starboard side of the saloon, opposite the dinette. You can specify an extra single berth here, with lee cloth, and you can also choose to swap the curved dinette seating for an angled arrangement that provides for another single berth, also with lee cloth.

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