Thoughts on your 41 please

 I have a 371, based in West Palm Beach, FL.  I purchased the boat in April, from a broker in St. Pete, and sailed it home in July.  The purpose is weekend racing and some cruising.  I have the shoal draft model (5' 6").

The boat is well built, and perfectly suited for our needs.  She has proven both fast, and easily handled.  As a European boat, there are a few quirks on the electrical side.  I also understand the broker had to basically re-install the propane system to comply with US standards. 

The only down-side on the boat was I don't like some of the blocks, and the jib shape is not particularly good.  The new boats have addressed this problem, with all Harken gear and now North sails.

Since the manufacturer is in Germany, you will depend upon your broker to handle any issues with the factory.  So, know and trust your broker.  The boat is excellent, but your broker's support and understanding of your needs is essential.

Overall, we made the right choice, and would do it again. 

There are good and bad points to all boats, all are compromises.

First, yes, that is the boat I bought.  David Erdman is the owner of Sailboats Florida, the sales person was Christine Silva.  They have been absolutely fantastic to deal with, and I highly recommend them. 

Regarding your broker's comments, I don't necessarily disagree.  The 121 is a fantastic boat, as are the Tartans.  Comparing my 371, the comparable Tartan is the 3700.  The 3700 is a better boat - but for an extra $100k it better be.  I also agree with your broker that the price comparable to the Hanse is the better Catalina Dehler Beneteau boats, but after examination I find the Hanse to be (mostly) better built.  Additionally, I think the performance of the Hanse is roughly comparable to the Beneteau 36.7, perhaps better in a little higher wind.

Best point on the Hanse is the ability to handle it short-handed.  While I would never let her know it, my 13 year old daughter is perfectly competent to single hand the boat, with the self tending jib.  In fact, I feel perfectly at ease letting her stand a daytime watch alone.  The boat is perfectly balanced, you can tack without touching a line, and the sails are easy to trim.  She can reef both the main and the jib by herself.  For family cruising, this is nice.

Performance is also good.  In over 10 knots of breeze, the small jib is all you need.  Under 10, a 140 is good to have.  Boat will readily make its polars, so you are looking at speed comparable to a Beneteau 36.7.  Look at the results from Cowes week this year in some detail.  The Hanse will sail competitively with much larger boats.  Of course, the PHRF numbers will get rid of that!

Handling and performance under power is also good.  The rudder is large, and the boat is very easy to maneuver in both forward and reverse.  She holds 20 gallons of diesel, so is good for about 200 mile range when motoring, at about 6 to 6.5 knots.  She will do an easy 7 under power, but fuel consumption and noise steps up.

The boat is comfortable for a family of four.  Unlike many other boats it doesn't have berths for more.  I consider this a good thing, I don't want berths for 12, I want comfort for four.

Storage is excellent, with the exception of the book shelves in the main cabin, which are just too shallow to be really useful.  I have a large locker on the sarboard side rather than an additional cabin, and find it very usefull.  I don't know of any other fin keel boat in this size range with as much storage space.

Biggest weak area is the insulation on the icebox - which is disgracefull.  Count on having to add a lot of insulation.  Hanse says it is more than adequate, but what is adequate for the Baltic simply is not adequate in south Florida. Additional issues are more "wants" than problems.  The boat has lots of extra wiring run for additional equipment, but the breaker panel is too small to expand. 

Overall, I love this boat.  By the way, we just went through Hurricane Frances with the boat at the dock.  Bent two stantions hitting pilings due to the heel of the boat in 105 knot winds.  A little rub rail damage also, where I banged up against a piling.  Thats it for 24 hours in a hurricane.  Oh - and she remained completely dry inside, did not leak a drop.

Yes, I am pleased with our choice.

On April 13th I wrote a list of observations on my 411. You can find it on this site  under "411 hints and tips". I have now owned the boat for 9 months and it has surpassed expectations.

You may find the list helpful.

Freya

Jon,

Thank you for the offer!!! That is incredibly generous. WHile surfing this forum I met a couple from Montreal whos boat was the first imported to the USA in 2002 and also was at both the Ann. and Newport show. They being like yourself, generously invited me on it since it just by sheer luck happened to be an hour away from my house. I was overwhelmed by how impressive it is. They just returned from a great trip and I intend on purchasing their boat asap. It is literally my dream boat and I will post many pics and posts for next seasons weekly races. I plan on entering every race possible in my area rfom the Governors cup to a few 24 hour races as well as our 2x a week competition.

 I didn't expect it to be so nice, having been on Sabres/C&Cs/Tartans. But I thought it was nicer then all of them! The only thing I felt needed improovment was stronger rails on the bow and a bigger fridge but, I will fix those things myself.

The couple who currently own it, were wonderful in showing the boat to myself and a friend. They went over everything and offered to take out for a sail in a few weeks or so should I buy the boat which I plan to do. Often times the boating community canhave a "chip on the shoulder" attitude from owners and sales alike. You and the couple I met show a great commeradarie that I intend on following

Thanks again for the offer and I may contacct you if I still go to Annapolis. At this point though, I don't see any reason to other then taking a day off and looking at Sail boats =)