Now let’s look at the Arcona 50 and see what having another 7 feet 8 inches of LOA buys you. But first and I do think this is a first in the history of my design reviews: try as she might, Greta, my editor, could not get an underwater profile out of the Arcona group. So we will just have to use our imaginations as to what the hull profile looks like under the water. This should not be difficult given the paucity of design variations we see today. Maybe the designers have some breakthrough, radical underwater shape that they want to keep secret, but I doubt it.

The design is by Niels Jeppesen & Ariadna Pons. I am very familiar with the work of Mr. Jeppesen but not so with Mr. Pons. The plan view of the hull shows max beam right at the transom. Maybe, if I squint, I can see perhaps 1 inch of taper to the beam aft. In short, this plan view is a wedge. The L/B is 3.25. The D/L is 127 using the heaviest listed displacement presumably for the shoal-draft keel drawing 7 feet 3 inches. For the deep-draft keel drawing 9 feet 9 inches the D/L is 115. There is a third keel drawing 8 feet 3 inches. It appears that ballast amount was varied in order to keep the righting moment the same as draft was reduced. There is nothing in the specs explaining this but this is my best guess. 

There is no chine but there is a hard turn in the topsides but not hard enough to qualify as a chine. The designers got cute with the stem profile by slicing it off very slightly on the top 40% above the DWL. This has to be pure styling. Interestingly, the bowsprit is optional for this model. I can’t see having a boat like this without a sprit for asymmetrical chutes. The specs list twin rudders. I would hope so with a stern that broad.

There are two interior options. There may be more hiding with the underwater profile but I don’t see them. This is a very good layout with an unusual galley configuration that I really admire. You can choose from twin berths in the quarter cabins or one, large double berth. I’m sure you could have twin berths in one cabin and a double in the other. The owner’s cabin forward has its own head with shower stall and a double berth with access from both sides of the berth. 

The main cabin is pretty standard with a U-shaped dinette to port with a removable centerline bench seat and a deep settee and nav station to starboard. I like deep settees. There is another head with shower stall aft of the nav station. There are two galley layouts. Both work well but my favorite is the layout with the athwartships counter forward with the sinks on a short fore and aft leg of that counter. Look at all that clean counter space. You can do your meal prep while looking at the guests in the main cabin. The other galley layout features a long, fore and aft counter inboard with the advantage of having counter on both sides of the sinks. Either galley should make any demanding cook very happy. 

The finish below is Khaya mahogany with an option for Scandinavian light oak. If you compare the layouts to those of the X4.3 they are similar in components but the Arcona has even more elbow room and those great galleys. There’s just more “there” there.

The deck plan of the Arcona is very similar to that of the X4.3. There are flush hatches, self-tacking jib track, clear side decks and twin wheels. The Arcona also has a life raft well in the cockpit sole and a dinghy garage aft. The mainsheet is on a single, recessed block in the cockpit sole but there is an option for an electrically operated recessed traveler in the cockpit sole. Lines coming aft to the winches are hidden under the deck. The cockpit seats are in an L configuration. But the leg of the L is very small. Maybe your dog could sit there if it was a Chihuahua. What’s missing on the Arcona is that clever X-Yacht dodger arrangement. I can’t tell if the Arcona has a similar bulwark detail but I would guess it does.

If I use the heavier displacement I get a SA/D of 23.43. If I use the lighter displacement I get 24.9. The rig is a triple swept spreader with discontinuous rod rigging and hydraulic backstay cylinders on the split backstays. Carbon spars are an option as is an inner forestay for a heavy air staysail.

Sorry I can’t show you what the keel looks like.