Swan 48 - Advice / Opinions

Here we go again! I posted a few months ago re the pruchase of a Swan 41 but missed out as was too slow off the mark

Have now located a Swan 48 for sale located in the South Pacific. Am keen to hear any thoughts and opinions on these boats.

One specific question I am keen to get feedback on is the options in regards to accomadation. I am lucky enough to have a partner who is keen to spend an extended period of time cruising....she will obviously want to have a double berth (me too)......what are the options for converting the forward berths into a double? Has anyone done this, have any pictures or plans on how to do this?

Thanks in advance

Matt

Dear Matt,

yes, I did the forward double berths on my S&S Swan 38, she had the pipe berths and I had two very comfortable berths, even if the 38 fwd cabis is quite small. Please loot at the pic, and if you want to get more images, please let me know.

Fair winds and good luck with the S&S Swan 48!

Matteo (38/067 Only You)

Hi Mat,

I own a 48 ( hul number 042) and I would be very happy to share with you my comments/feelings on this beautiful boat .
She is very well built, strong but easy to sail in almost all conditions by a family crew. Even if she's not a lightweight boat she is incredibly fast in light winds conditions. I have sailed her from UK to Italy - where the boat currently is - and really enjoyed all different conditions , including a storm in the Alboran sea !

IN FAVOUR
* seaworthy
* comfort
* speed ( 180 nm/day on passages as average)

AGAINST
* downwind leg with Spi
* 10 people minimum to race
* small kitchen

I did a full refit during the last 4/5 years ( hull peeling + epoxy, nem mast, new engine, watermaker , new winches, keel & rudder check .... ) therefore I almost investigated all parts/equipments of the boat.I was tempted to sell her last year but ......well the problem is I don't know what to buy next!!
Feel free to email me sergio.revello@gmail.com to share comments/photos.

I will be in Marciana and if you are coming I will be happy to show her in details. Sergio "Clarion of Skye"

Thank you for your replies, I will contact for more detailed info once I have got to a stage of buying the boat

Thanks again

Matt

Matt, like the 41, the Swan 48 is an all time classic. The first one "Noryema" (the owner's name spelt backwards Ron Amey) won the Bermuda race straight out of the box and about 20 years later one of the US Navy owned boats "Constellation" from Annapolis did it again. The head of Pantaenius has owned a 48 "Elan" for many years and has had great success with the boat. Another much modified and two tons lighter 48 " Jacobite" has been supreme on the regatta circuit and somewhat embarrassing for Nautor as it keeps beating their new boats. Good luck with your quest.

Gavin

thanks gavin....the boat I am looking at is 48/001...she is the one that won the Bermuda race...now called Sundance

Here we go again! I posted a few months ago re the pruchase of a Swan 41 but missed out as was too slow off the mark

Superb yacht, know every square inch, with the assistance over the years of Nautors Guru, Lars! 2nd only to a Swan 65', and that's debatable, or possibly because I sold my 48' and bought a 65' Sloop! Alan

Dear All,

maybe not everybody knows that when Ramon Carlin went to Nautor to commission a yacht in order to participate to the Whitbread he signed a contract for a Swan 48. It was just after he discovered that Nautor OY had a project for a larger yacht (the Swan 65) that he switched to this new one, and signed the very first contract for a Sparkman & Stephens designed Swan 65: Sayula.

Fair winds!

matteo (38/067 Only You)

I couldn't agree more with Alan!

I am currently looking for a blue-water live-aboard in the 40 to 45 foot range. There is a 48 in Seattle that has a very attractive price as it needs a new deck. Are there any known issues I need to look for? A Swan broker told me that most of the S&S boats had at least one design flaw that needed to be corrected. Our sail away budget is $300K, a $120K boat needing a $100K deck job does not worry me as long as a bunch of other stuff crops up.

I am currently looking for a blue-water live-aboard in the 40 to 45 foot range. There is a 48 in Seattle that has a very attractive price as it needs a new deck. Are there any known issues I need to look for? A Swan broker told me that most of the S&S boats had at least one design flaw that needed to be corrected. Our sail away budget is $300K, a $120K boat needing a $100K deck job does not worry me as long as a bunch of other stuff crops up.

The design flaw thesis is news to me. I have never heard of that one.

...brokers...

matteo (38/067 Only You)

Hi Matt,
I own a 44 and I realized by myself the forward cabin.
I kept the original pipe beds as a support for 2 long wood tables and one triangular in the middle.
over the whole two mattresses side and a central triangular. the two side covers we wanted them to protect our daughter (in photo)
;)

Alberto
Pippus 44-011

The design flaw thesis is news to me. I have never heard of that one.

I think he was referring to relatively minor stuff such as mast step or chain plate corrosion that might be accelerated due to a lack of drainage. He was a Swan dealer, not just a broker selling a Swan. We talked on the phone for a while and he seemed to know, in great detail, the condition of every (under 50') Swan for sale in the U.S

Only a limited number of boats have a good drainage design as ALL the Sparkman & Stephens designed boats, and Swans are no exception, this was point no. 2 * in Rod Stephens List of 100 "must" that a proper sailing boat should have.

Rod Stephens spent his life racing and travelling, and used to visit the shipyards all over the world where S&S boats were under construction, and Nautor of course was among them of course, and he would have never let a boat be delievered if she was no perfect to his opinion. He visited Nautor many times per year, and checked (and sailed...) every model before accepting it.

I am told for exemple, today's designer visits (he or someone on his behalf...) Nautor only one or two times per year, and sometimes he stops in the offices, don't even bother to go and see the boats, doesn't bother to sail to see if he designed a good boat or not.

If I were a broker I would sail and race Sparkman & Stephens boats (Swan or not a Swan, they are all fantastic engineered sailing boats) before talking and saying nonsense.

This is my opinion

matteo (38/067 Only You)


* 2. Poor Bilge Drainage and Poor Limbers: I have always felt that a tea cup full of water, put in right at the fore-peak, and one just inside the transom should find its way immediately to the lowest part of the bilge, where the pump intakes are located; and the capacity of the limbers must be such that they can get water to the pump intakes just a little more rapidly than the properly operating bilge pumps can take it out.

Dear Matt

This is what I did with the forward cabin in my 41. There are 3 large sail bins under the bunks.

regrds Cosmo Little