Racer/cruiserr

This design is a development of the Corel 45 hull, modified to make it more cruiser friendly. The hull clearly shows the influence of the IMS with its snubbed-off bow and aft overhang. This may be a rule aberration but it sure looks good.

The entry is very fine, and the stern moderate in beam by today's standards. The bow sections are quite slablike to reduce drag. Remember back in the early '70s when Bill Lapworth and Brit Chance would use huge radii on their stems? I wonder what they thought they were accomplishing by this. The fastest boats today have knifelike bows that cut cleanly through the water rather than mushing it aside or straight up the stem.

The rocker of this hull shows the IMS-type of depth distribution with the flattening in way of the keel. The counter aft almost appears to go hollow in profile. There is considerable sweep to this keel and a large fillet at the leading-edge hull intersection.

Draft is 9 feet, 6 inches. With this draft and a bulb at the end of the fin keel providing stability, there is very little need to develop any form stability in the hull. Form stability is drag. The D/L of this design is 111.

This is a nicely sculpted deck. Obviously the designers needed more cabintrunk than on a pure race boat to give headroom forward and conform to IMS racer-cruiser requirements. Still, challenges like this can produce exciting results, and I think this is a very handsome boat. Full, standing headroom will begin to disappear at the mast, and the cockpit shows the effect of the racer-cruiser requirements with its seats, cockpit coamings and seat backs. Did you ever think we'd see the day when even decks had to pass rule requirements?

The twin wheels make access to the swim step easy. Note that the lines running aft from the mast are led under a popped-up portion of the coachroof. The interior features a couple of curved bulkheads as you come down the companionway. The galley to port is spacious and would be ideal if it had 11 inches of counter space aft of the stove. Note the wet locker to starboard.

The plumb bow works great for shoving the interior forward. This big forward double will be very comfortable. The two heads show you just how far this design leans toward cruising. The drawing shows the aft head door swinging into the head. This won't work. Otherwise this is an excellent layout, conventional and effective. There is tankage for 60 gallons of fuel and 100 gallons of water.

If you were inclined to put the Concordia 47 in the same racer-cruiser category that Tartan would have you put its 3700, don't. This is a different breed of cat with far more horsepower per pound than the 3700. The Concordia is 10 feet longer and weighs 600 pounds more than the Tartan.

This hull is laid up with wet pre-preg, epoxy E-glass and Kevlar, vacuum bagged and post cured in an oven. The core is Superlite balsa core. The deck uses vinylester resin and E-glass with wet pre-preg E-glass laminate over a foam and balsa core of varied densities. The keel is an iron fin with a lead bulb. The engine is a 47-horsepower Yanmar saildrive. I think it would be nice to find this boat under the Christmas tree.