ME & MY BOAT
We sail a Hanse 400
yachtingmonthly@futurenet.com Yachting Monthly, Future Plc, 161 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9AP
Voted European Boat of 2006, the
J & J-designed, Hanse 400 still has all the attributes of a modern performance cruiser.
Founded in 1993, Hanse became Germany’s second largest production sailing yacht builder after extending its Greifswald site in 2005, and now produces 750 yachts annually including the Moody, Dehler and Privilege brands. Since 1999 all Hanses have been designed by Judel and Vrolijk, a renowned team of performance yacht designers with America’s Cup heritage.
Hanse yachts aren’t just modern flyers, they have all the comforts needed for extended cruising as well. The look of the 400’s interior isn’t particularly to my liking, with its sharp edges and unusual design statements, such as pea-green Plexiglass panels, but you can’t fault the layout’s flexibility and the intelligently thought-out key areas such as the well-appointed galley and heads.
Where the 400 scores over other more conservative performance cruisers is in the sailing stakes. With dinghy-like performance, she’s just so easy to drive that you positively long to go out sailing alone, just to prove you can. I love the idea that a 40ft yacht can be sailed quite safely single-handed – it gives you a fantastic confidence boost, meaning you’re more likely to take her out and sail her every chance you get.
DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION
The Hanse 400 is sleek-looking with plumb ends, low freeboard and a long waterline. With shallow underwater sections and a broad beam, they were designed to be quick and easily handled, and strong enough to cope with rough conditions offshore.
The hull is reinforced using a rigid floor framework and laminated foam stringers, while weight is minimised by incorporating a balsa core above the waterline. For a little more money, the 400 was also offered in epoxy (400e), which not only reduced its displacement over the polyester/vinylester model by being a thinner layup and having foam sandwich below the waterline, but also increased its impact strength and flexibility, and virtually eliminated any risk of osmosis.
DOWN BELOW
The 400 is unashamedly modern. The highgloss finished furniture is all a bit square and slab-sided, with stainless steel grab rails and the occasional green Plexiglass panels.
When buying from new, Hanse offered up to 16 different layouts and 99 options, so few ended up identical. The interior is split into three design sections, each of which had several different available styles, such as a choice between one or two aft cabins.
The long, straight saloon settees make good sea berths and there’s stowage underneath. Headroom is a generous 1.95m/6ft 5in, but the table will only seat four in comfort. The chart/coffee table option comprised a small table between two seats on the saloon’s port side with shallow stowage inside for folded charts. The locker containing the electrical panel has limited instrument space, which isn’t ideal as the doors have to be closed at sea. The sensible alternative is to go for the straight settee, use the saloon table for passage planning and house most of the sailing and navigation instruments up in the cockpit.
The galley is large with plenty of stowage in numerous lockers and drawers, a full-size gimballed cooker with oven and a
voluminous top-loading fridge plus a separate, smaller drinks cooler below.
Opposite, the heads is roomy with 1.83m/6ft headroom and separate shower stall with seat, under which are housed all the pumps and filters. All the seacocks are neatly arranged and clearly labelled beneath the sink.
The aft cabins boast 1.98m/6ft 6in-long berths, 1.88m/6ft 2in headroom, a dressing area with seat and a large clothes locker. The portside cabin has a slightly wider berth than the starboard one and is adjacent to the aft heads. Beneath the port berth is the calorifier, while the fuel tank is under the starboard berth. Hull sides could be smartly wooden panelled for extra insulation.
The forecabin had the most layout options and was clearly intended to be the owner’s cabin. Though long, in the pullman version the offset berth is only 1.00m/3ft 3in wide, which is narrow for a double. The vee-berth option gives you more, but you lose the locker forward. The choice then was whether to have a second wardrobe, a small ensuite heads/shower, or a desk/dressing table.
ON DECK & UNDER WAY
The cockpit is wide and spacious, with straight seats cutaway around the large single wheel. Initially, the transom had an open gate as standard; later a ‘drop in’ one became optional. Either way, a fold-down transom platform provides room for showering and boarding from a dinghy.
Stowage is good, although better in the single aft cabin model, which has a full-depth cockpit locker to starboard. She has a 150mm-high companionway threshold and, cleverly, the one-piece Plexiglas washboard stows conveniently on top of the sliding hatch cover.
The mainsheet track is on the coachroof as standard and its sheet, together with all the other lines, are led back to the cockpit via neat rope garages. A mainsheet across the cockpit, just forward of the wheel, was optional and popular with racers or those regularly cruising shorthanded, but it did mean sacrificing the fold-up cockpit table.
Clear access along the side decks is enhanced by the inboard shroud plates and genoa tracks, although the handrails are tokenistic. The toe rails are a solid alloy extrusion with integral fairleads, and all six cleats are a good size and well positioned.
The foredeck is clear of obstructions, the anchor chain being fed under the locker lid to a windlass below decks.
The chain locker is absolutely vast and able to hold an armful of fenders as well as 80m or more of chain. The single bow roller is offset to clear the bowsprit and to enable the forestay to be attached well forward, thus allowing space to have the largest jib possible.
RIG & SAILS
The 400 sports a high-aspect, 9/10ths fractional rig with twin spreaders and noticeable pre-bend. Her backstay bifurcates above the cockpit and has a powerful six-part adjuster, while her standing rigging is discontinuous.
She comes with a fully battened, slabreefed mainsail and lazyjacks. This, plus her self-tacking jib and primary winches right beside the helm, makes short tacking in confined spaces simple, even singlehanded. For lighter airs there was an optional 140% gennaker, using the tracks and travellers already provided, and downwind a large asymmetric can be set on the short, retractable bowsprit supplied with the gennaker kit.
UNDER WAY
She has a tall mast and generous sail area, making her a quick and powerful boat, despite the relatively small headsail. Close reaching, she is well balanced and quick, pointing high thanks to the tightness of the jib sheeting angle and ploughing her own groove with little or no input required from the helmsman to keep her on course. A little further off the wind and she truly flies, with the log remaining above 8 knots in a constant Force 4 plus. The rod-link steering is light but sensitive, providing plenty of feedback, and the helming position is excellent, offering a clear view forward over the low-profile coachroof.
Her streamlined underwater profile results in little wake and swift, but effortless tacking through 75° or so with little loss of momentum.
Under power, the standard 40hp Yanmar diesel provides plenty of oomph for quiet, economical cruising, while spinning so deftly about her keel that manoeuvring into tight marina berths without a bow thruster is a cinch. Fuel capacity of 140 litres is a bit limiting, however.