Hallberg-Rassy 43

 

The portside passageway between the aft cabin and the saloon is a walkway for me (5ft 8in) and a stoopway for Peter who clears 6ft . Here you will find the navigation area, the freezer (which can also be used as a fridge) and a wet locker, just two steps from the companionway.

The engine room is under the cockpit, reached through a door in the walkway. Open the door and a light switches itself on; this happens a lot on the HR43.

There is room in here for the generator, the hotwater system and the watermaker, which are all fi tted at the factory. Ducting is in place for the aircon, if specified. A heating system is standard, but for the Aussie market Peter recommends deleting it (for a credit)
and adding, say, a couple of cooling fans.

Almost all the options are factory installed. Peter says local content is confined to radios, and sometimes the chart plotter. There is a lot of equipment on this boat, too much to talk about here.

Sailing

The headsail cars have tackle systems so they can be adjusted under load — vital on performance boats, equally vital on cruisers with furling headsails. We had 15-18 knots of breeze, perhaps 20 in the gusts. On the wind, when she got a little hard-mouthed in the gusts, Peter dropped the mainsheet traveller down the track only a few inches and she then tracked straight, almost steering herself. So there is excellent directional stability. Th e cockpit is well aft — it is not a true centre cockpit at all — so you stay dry behind

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the screen. If you want a bit of breeze, the screen’s centre panel opens. This is a comfortable place to sail.

The 55hp Volvo Penta is one of the quietest installations we have ever experienced, and pushes the boat to around 7.5 knots. 75hp is now standard.

On a big and relatively complex boat like this you can write volumes about the design philosophy and the detailing, but we don’t have volumes of magazine space (have a look at the builder’s simple and logical website).

The HR 43 is a size you can take anywhere in great comfort. It is tempting to say again that it is traditional in concept, but that is not strictly true; it is traditional where traditional means practical or seaworthy, modern where appropriate. These are attributes which are being eroded on many production cruisers and cruiser/racers which have become essentially day-sailers, which are used at weekends, then washed and put away.
There is nothing wrong with that — the industry reacts to what the buyers want — but when the intended use becomes more serious, the boat too must take a more serious approach.

Hallberg-Rassy assumes the boat should have the potential to be used for more than weekend sailing.

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