Perry Design Review: Swan 80

Luxury Cruiser

By Bob Perry

August 4, 2000

If you find a Catalina 310 a little on the small side perhaps the new Swan 80 from Finland's Nautor will suit you better.

The Swan 80 powers away under sail.

At 88,200 pounds (loaded) this is a very light boat with a D/L of 120. L/B is high at 4.13 indicating a long and lean boat. L/Bs generally go up as the LOA increases. The sheer is that curious stern-high look that Frers seems to favor these days. I'm not going to question his eye, but it definitely appears he is going for a more "Euro" rather than classic look to his sheer spring. That makes sense given the target market. Sheer is hard to judge in a two dimensional drawing. The sheer spring has to be viewed in conjunction with the boat's distribution of beam. Too much sheer on a boat this narrow could result in a cartoonish look.

The canoe body shows minimal rocker fore and aft with a slight flattening in way of the keel. The rocker is almost symmetrical fore and aft around the trailing edge of the keel. I checked this with some tracing paper and found the two halves of the rocker remarkably similar. This might indicate that Frers is pulling volume into the ends to increase the prismatic coefficient. This distribution of volume also helps with the accommodations. Even with 80 feet to work with, the interior layout becomes a battle of inches.

The rig shows four sets of spreaders swept 17.5 degrees to support the giant mast. The SA/D is 24.66. "Could you bring the spinnaker on deck dear?" "No, not that one, the 1.5 ounce." Consider that an offshore-type Kevlar main will probably weigh about 350 pounds. The deck plan shows short jib tracks right up at the mast, indicating that overlapping headsails will not be carried. There is an inner forestay shown for a heavy air staysail. No runners are shown and the brochure indicates they will not be needed. The spar is carbon-fiber.

I'm sure Nautor will draw you a custom layout if you don't like this one. A preliminary layout showed the paid crew occupying the forward end of the boat, but the drawings for hull No. 1 reverse that plan. This layout divides the accommodations between the paid crew aft of the main companionway and the guests forward. I'd be happy working away in the enormous galley. There is no dinette for the crew. You know what that means? Vegemite sandwiches in your lap. Forward of the companionway the owner and guests live in opulent splendor where the biggest concerns will be picking the right Burgundy for the leg of lamb and untangling the thong bikinis.

Construction-wise this new Swan uses all the latest technology, and the deck is built in politically correct fashion using both male and female molds. A mobile oven will then be used to cook the pre-preg carbon laminate (probably pop that leg of lamb right in there with it). I anticipate we will see a variety of semicustom decks suited to this hull in the future, and that's probably why they used a male mold for part of the deck.

Can I please go for a ride?

Hull No. 1 of Nautor's latest luxurious bluewater cruiser.

LOA	80'3";
LWL	68'11";
Beam	19'5";
Draft	12'4" (light), 12'6" (loaded);
Displacement	79,400 lbs. (light), 88,200 lbs. (loaded);
Ballast	26,500 lbs.;
Sail Area	3,055 sq. ft.;
SA/D	26.46 (light), 24.66 (loaded);
D/L	108 (light), 120 (loaded);
L/B	4.13;
Auxiliary	220-horsepower diesel;
Fuel	528 gals.;
Water	264 gals., 21 gals. (hot), 1200 gals. (watermaker per 24 hours).