Review of Pilot Saloon 43

Basic specs.

The Pilot Saloon 43 is a large sailboat designed by the French maritime architect Edward George Dubois in the late nineties. Less than 100 boats have been produced.

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Hull

The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.

Interior

The boat is equipped with 2 cabins and 4 berths.

Rig

The boat equipped with a fractional rig. A fractional rig has smaller headsails which make tacking easier, which is an advantage for cruisers and racers, of course. The downside is that having the wind from behind often requires a genaker or a spinnaker for optimal speed.

Sailing characteristics

This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Pilot Saloon 43 is 1.82, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.

Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 8.0 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Pilot Saloon 43 is about 303 kg/cm, alternatively 1701 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 303 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1701 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

Sailing statistics

This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.

Motion Comfort Ratio

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Pilot Saloon 43 is 33.9.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 62% of all similar sailboat designs. This comfort value is just above average.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Pilot Saloon 43 is 3.17.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 73% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Pilot Saloon 43 is 276 which categorizes this boat among 'medium weight cruisers'.

31% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A heavy displacement combined with smaller water plane area has lower acceleration and is more comfortable.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?

The SA/D for Pilot Saloon 43 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 16.1, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 18.9.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 21% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

Maintenance

Rig

Dimensions of sail for fractional rig.

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale

If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.

**Guiding dimensions of running rig**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Mainsail halyard	39.5 m	(129.8 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	39.5 m	(129.8 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	39.5 m	(129.8 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Jib sheet	13.3 m	(43.6 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Genoa sheet	13.3 m	(43.6 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Mainsheet	33.2 m	(109.1 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	29.3 m	(96.0 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Cunningham	5.5 m	(18.0 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Kickingstrap	11.0 m	(36.1 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Clew-outhaul	11.0 m	(36.1 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section shown boat owner's changes, improvements, etc. Here you might find inspiration for your boat.

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Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Pilot Saloon 43 it would be a great help.

If you have any comments to the review, improvement suggestions, or the like, feel free to contact us. Criticism helps us to improve.

References

[Ref 1]: ISO 8666 Small craft — Principal data.
[Ref 3]: ISO 12215-5 Small craft — Hull construction and scantlings.