Swan 43 051 Maru Noa - introduction

Hello everyone, 

I just wanted to come on here and introduce myself and share a few photos of our boat with you guys. I'm very glad that this forum exists and we've got some great resources for maintaining these boats! 

My partner and I have recently bought Maru Noa (previously Blixt Va II, Deneb, Rage, originally Tigger Too.. she's had a few names!). Swan 43 hull 051, based on the east coast US for most of her life. 

we're currently in the process of delivering her from the U.S. to Cornwall where we'll be based, and planning the big refit that she needs after many years of delayed maintenance.

We just completed a successful transatlantic from Newport to the Azores after 6 weeks of maintenance and sea trials in the U.S, and we're blown away by the performance of the boat! She comfortably sits at 7.5kts more or less any conditions, and we regularly saw 180+ nm days on passage. Shes the most well balanced and easy to drive boat I've ever sailed, it's  incredible. 

She's had some great work done under the Merrill family who owned her for 20yrs, and the most recent owner thankfully replaced the old Perkins with a new Nanni N4.38. There is still a huge amount of work to do in order to bring her up to a good cruising boat standard. I'd love to chat about several things with other 43 owners who use the boat for long term cruising and ocean sailing! 

- do we have a reliable way to properly waterproof the foredeck sliding hatch? Ours ships a LOT of water at the moment. I think a canvas cover would be a good idea as well as improving the seal somehow. It looks like the aluminum trim pieces even have a boltrope track already. 

- has anyone got photos/designs for a strong bow roller on a 43? Id like to integrate a fitting for a sprit to tack the asym to as well possibly. This boat has never had a windlass and the bow roller is not strong enough for a serious anchoring setup. I have a Simpson Lawrence vertical windlass I plan to install and hopefully fit a large Rocna. 

- Solar panels are a difficult one! For this crossing I hung two 100w semi rigid panels off the guard wire in the cockpit, which I can move around a little for the sun, but it's not ideal and we were running the engine every couple of days to charge. I'd like to fit a small solar arch to take ~400w solar, has anyone else done this with photos I could look at for inspiration? 

- the plumbing system onboard is a bit of a mess, random lengths of flexible hose jammed onto solid copper pipes and a whole mess of different style fittings and connections. I plan to remove the tanks to clean and paint the bilges, and replace all the plumbing with PEX and sharkbite fittings. 

anyway that's enough questions for the moment. Here's some photos of our Atlantic crossing. Taken on a DJI Mavic 3 drone

Thanks for your introduction and post, and of course congratulations for your "new" 43/051 and your Atlantic crossing!
According to Rod Stephens the canvas cover is the only and better way to have the front hatch 100% waterproof, even if I have to say the sliding hatch he designed and Nautor's Swan built is already water proof.
But as far as I understand you have the anodized aluminum Goiot, is that correct?
Could you post a photo of the hatch?
Thanks and fair winds!
matteo (47/069 Vanessa)

Congrats and welcome to the Forum!

We have the original sliding hatch on Kairos (refurbished in 2021 i.e. new plexiglas, runners and surround but to original spwcificatins) and, as Matteo already mentioned, it's been pretty good in terms of tightness.

We do also have a canvass cover, though, which is bassically buttoned on around the hatch and our experience is that this makes it 100% waterproof.  Admittely, we haven't crossed the Atlantic (yet) but have lost the Dorade vent on the foredeck twice due to overcoming water, if that's anything to go by. The hatch remained tight throughout. 

Enjoy your new yacht, it will give you years of great sailing pleasure and adventures!

I will keep an eye out for you when in Cornwall next, just returned from a week in Port Gaverne this weekend, on dry land though as we'll be in the Baltic this season.

Fair winds

Stefan

SY Kairos (57/043043)