NEW BOAT TEST: SUNBEAM 46.1
Does the Sunbeam 46.1 have what it takes to be the bluewater cruiser she claims to be? Graham Snook travels to Barcelona to find out
Sleek, stylish, but tough enough to take on crossing oceans, says Graham Snook
n the wrong boat, living on board can I feel like camping on the water. There are, however, boats that aim to be a home away from home. It’s a nice idea, but many boats fail because there has been a compromise too far — trading deck stowage for comfort, quality for price, comfort for practicality or worse still, practicality for comfort. There is no denying that all boats are a compromise, but a yacht aimed at bluewater cruising has to be a home from home and work as a proficient offshore or ocean cruiser.
At 46ft, the chances of finding a comfortable and practical bluewater yacht are increased, but still some manufacturers compromise, so to find a boat with the right balance makes the Sunbeam 46.1 a rare animal. While she might not look like a conventional bluewater cruiser, she has bags of features that those who are looking to sail extended passages hanker after — and I’m not talking about the illuminated, waterfall shower, although she does have one of those too.
PERFORMANCE
grip in the water. Pleasingly, the steering had a weight to it which gave her a firm secure feel.
The feel on the wheel is backed up by a sense of security and practicality around the helm. Forward of each wheel is a pedestal, the wheel to starboard had controls for the electric furling as well as the electric winches around the cockpit, and the engine control. The helm seat to the side is raised (beneath the port seat is gas bottle stowage), and there are lift-up foot blocks. Aft of the helm is a deck area that can be covered with cushions for your crew to relax with you. There are two lidded compartments here, handy for things that don’t like sun or water, and there will be an option for a pop-up seat. It’s good to have an aft deck that encloses the cockpit and moves the helm forward, away from the fold-down transom – the trend for open transoms don’t always feel so secure.
The bathing platform is wide and has a ladder with good vertical handles, so you’re not scrabbling like someone trying to get out of a hole in the ice. The bathing platform also gives access to the liferaft stowage. While this does take a bit of space from the large athwartships lazarette locker under the aft deck, the lazarette is still a good space. It is hull depth and goes across the boat. There are also two shallow cockpit lockers under the cockpit seating, and the deck locker between the two crash bulkheads aft of the bow anchor locker, which is both wide and deep.
The genoa sheets can be led to either of the two Harken 60ST winches recessed into the coaming and on this boat all were electric and the sheet winches could be controlled from each pedestal. If you don’t want the forward sheet winches to be electric, it’s possible to have the genoa led to leeward and the mainsheet to windward electric winches aft.
UNCONVENTIONAL
Some clever design has gone into the mainsheet system on this boat. The fixed overhead arch is low enough to take the sprayhood without ruining the sleek lines of the coachroof. The mainsheet, instead of going to the gooseneck like a conventional German mainsheet system, is led from the top of the arch to just forward of the sprayhood and down to the deck, then aft through ducting, reappearing at the winches closest to the helm. It’s a neat system that does away with lengths of line running along the boom and back, and keeps the sheet clear of the cockpit.
Day three we had sun but no wind. It was frustrating; this boat had already been sailed 400 or so miles from Genoa to Barcelona in the few months since her launch. In stronger winds there’s the option of fitting a cutter staysail, which can be self-tacking if required. Unlike many boats with cutter, Solent or slutter rigs, Sunbeam have added jumper stays to the head of the rig to support the mast when the cutter stay is in use, doing away with the need for running backstays. In-mast furling is standard.
In lighter winds an asymmetric or Code Zero can be attached to the fixed bowsprit. It’s not the most elegant of bowsprits but it is broad enough to safely climb aboard on and has a neat boarding ladder stowed underneath for bow-to mooring.
Further examples of the practical features on board can be found in the deep anchor locker with recessed windlass, the optional deck-mounted warping drum,
as well as the filler caps and stainless-steel stanchion stubs embedded in the toe rail.
The hull is quite conventional by comparison and uses a single rudder, but the chines in the bow add buoyancy forward, increasing the beam forward and lifting the bow up as she heels.
The 46.1 is lovely down below. The oak has a sense of life about it, you can see and feel its grain and it is not drowning under layers of varnish. The locker doors aren’t encased in frames, so the horizontal grain is free to run from one panel to the next with only a brushed metal insert to guide the grain and your eye forward to the bulkhead.
Features like the thick wooden companionway steps, laminated with dished edges, are both practical and stylish. The angled sides can easily hold a foot. There are also good handholds around the boat, and not stuck to the celling where only adults can reach. They are at deck height and there are fiddles behind the seat backs for this use too.
In the saloon sole is a hinged floorboard with storage beneath it and felt has been attached to the top of the carbon-reinforced grid to stop the floorboards squeaking. Felt is also found anywhere that two wooden surfaces touch. It makes the boat very quiet and refreshingly free from the usual groans and squeaks as a boat flexes. Not that this boat does much of that either as the hull is foam cored and the bulkheads are bonded to the deck and the hull. The carbon reinforced grid is substantial, bonded and laminated where needed.
Other hidden details like all the wiring above the waterline (so there’s less chance of water ingress) and easy access to the technical spaces all make long-term living onboard a yacht easier.
The layout has several options and the forwardfacing chart table can be sacrificed for a separate shower compartment in the aft heads. If you still want a navigation space there is an option of face-me,
She was responsive, had good grip in the water and felt secure to helm
face-you seating on the starboard side with the chart table in-between.
If you’ve been rooting around inside a chart table and merely touched the spring strut, causing it to buckle and drop the lid on your knuckles, you’ll like that the chart table lid has a gas strut to stop this. While the table isn’t abundant in stowage for pilot books, there is a locker that could be used. The table support houses a line of three long drawers that stretch under the width of the chart table.
Opposite these is the galley, and another line of drawers which are deep and long and like all drawers onboard are on soft closures. There are more long, but wider drawers at the aft end of the galley, making excellent use of the stowage space. Space at the top and back of lockers is used when otherwise it would stow nothing but air.
The J-shaped galley has ample workspace around the cook. This boat had the optional fridge in the return of the J. The worktop top is Hi-macs synthetic stone with fiddles that are slightly angled to aid cleaning, though if on a port tack and a plate were to slide, the inboard fiddle might act as a launch ramp.
The galley has a good splashback forward of the one and a half sinks. The standard top-opening fridge is outboard of this, while further outboard are Perspex-fronted lockers. Above these are more lockers, all with pegged stowage.
Moving aft in the accommodation, the port aft cabin berth is 1.47m (4ft 10) wide and over 2m (6ft 9in) long. There’s a little hanging locker with a light. The hull sides are lined with dark charcoal grey fabric by the mattress with white panels above and two lockers and a cubby hole under the deck. Between the aft cabins is a technical space with aft access to the engine and saildrive. There’s room for a generator and the optional stern thruster built into the hull’s skeg. Aft of both cabins is a further technical space accessed via inspection panels in the aft bulkhead.
There’s the option to have the starboard aft cabin as a larger cockpit locker or storage space, or as on board this boat, a mirror of the port cabin. Under the berth are the circuit breakers, and a support to hold
You don’t need a long keel to cross oceans. This boat is more than tough enough
the hinged bunk board up while you work. Engine access is good, with lights in both the forward and aft spaces, as well as in the technical areas.
In the saloon, the seating can be C-shaped or L-shaped. When the seating is C-shaped, the 86cm (2ft 10in) long aft bench seat can be lifted — if you haven’t filled it with bottles of water and tins — to become the central island seat for dining. If you’ve ever had to extricate yourself from the middle of C-shaped seating you’ll see the value of this layout.
In port it makes getting to the 2.30m (7ft 7 in) long outboard seating more civilised and a breeze to access the outboard lockers, beneath the seat or behind the seat backs. At sea it is secured forward of the galley making the passage forward clear.
FINISHING TOUCHES
Having stayed onboard for two nights, I know the lighting on board is good, with a selection of reading, downlights and LED strip lights to suit your mood. In daylight, two hull windows on each side make the saloon brighter.
In the fore cabin, quality woodwork is everywhere, with 1mm thick wooden edging to all the doors. Like all the cupboard doors and drawers on board, these are opened with paddle latches where there’s a recess in the thick wooden edging strip. Lining the hull and at the head of the bed there are dark charcoal grey panels along the hull side, which really bring a touch of class and make the oak and the light hull panels stand out.
Forward under the 2m (6ft 7in) long 168cm (5ft 6in) wide forward berth, is a water tank and then the retractable bow thruster, which comes as an option.
Aft, under the berth you’ll find a huge, 27cm (11in) deep drawer that’s over 1m (3ft 7in) wide. It’s not the only drawer either, as there are a further two compartmentalised drawers by the door. These, along with the vanity table outboard to port and having a second set of cabin light switches above the berth, make it all feel very civilised.
The ensuite heads has the illuminated waterfall shower with over 2m of headroom, while beneath the shower floor is a decent 14cm (6in) deep sump. There’s a forward facing heads — on the opposite side from that of aft heads — and stowage outboard.