Cruiserr

So out Paul's circular driveway and across the bridge back to Annapolis, we find the busy Farr design office. Bruce and his team of designers drew this boat for Boat Sales International, and the boats are built by BSI Marine in Sweden. A quick look at the sailplan will show this 50-footer to be very similar in concept to the Wauquiez Pilot Saloon 40. But the Farr office had an additional 10 feet to work with, and that makes a difference.

Consider this: A 50-footer is 25 percent longer than a 40-footer using LOA. But if we use displacement as a measurement of useable volume, in this case 37,400 pounds for the 50-footer vs. 22,075 pounds for the 40-footer, the difference is almost 70 percent. And that's just below the waterline. When we talk about "size" in boats, displacement must be considered right along with LOA. In short, the displacement or "size" of the boat increases in proportion to the cube of its length.

Now let's see what Farr did with this additional volume. There are two layouts available, and they both represent a break from the typical layouts we see in center-cockpit 50-footers. To begin with, this boat has a large fo'c'sle and a large lazarette. These are not features that will add to the boat's boat show dazzle, but they sure will make the boat easier to live with while cruising. The other interesting feature of these layouts is the way the aft double berth has been moved forward to tuck under the cockpit where we would often find an engine room. In this case the engine is under the pilothouse sole. Sure, this is not as good as a dedicated, walk-in engine room, but it does open up a lot of volume for additional accommodations.

Both layouts have three heads with the amidships head being the day head, which you have access to without going through any of the staterooms. These are complex layouts with a lot of small spaces. I like the aft cabin. Note that the designers have used the volume under the starboard, raised dinette to work in that small double berth. This layout clearly shows the same limiting pilothouse effects that we see on the smaller Wauquiez.

This is a handsome boat, plain and simple but well proportioned. The sheer is almost flat, like other Farr sheers, but its low point is back around station 8, where you would usually find it, as opposed to being pushed forward as is the case with many Farr designs. Either way, the photos show that this sheer is attractive and effective, hiding a 4.5-inch bulwark capped with teak. The hull is very much like a larger version of the Wauquiez hull with an L/B of 3.25 and a D/L of 198. The keel is a winged fin with full tip-chord-length wings. I think at this point we can trust the Farr office to produce a very good sailing hull.

There are two rigs. If you want in-mast furling you get extra P, no roach and vertical battens. I'd go with the shorter P and in-boom furling if it were my boat. I don't have much faith in vertical battens. I like mine the old fashioned way, horizontal. Spreaders are in-line, and there are runners and a babystay. The SA/D is a safe and sane 18.27.

The engine is a 100-horsepower Yanmar turbocharged diesel and with tankage for 198 gallons of fuel and 140 gallons of water.