Here’s an intriguing new aluminum voyaging boat from the builders of Pure Yachts in Kiel, Germany. Called the Pure 42, this new raised salon-design has twin rudders, a protected sail drive and a lifting keel that can reduce the boat’s draft from 10 to three feet.
This keel design will be attractive to any sailors who like to spend time in cruising grounds with shallow water such as the Bahamas, the Chesapeake and Southern New England. Another advantage of such a keel is the ability to dry the boat out as it sits on the twin rudders and keel.
If there is a downside to a T-bulb keel, which is specified here, that will be the keel’s habit of getting flotsam and jetsam caught on it. In racing boats with T-bulbs, I have snagged lobster pots and long strips of kelp. In both cases we had to stop and back the boat to clear the snags.
The 42 is being billed as a semi-production cruiser that will be built in series. The basic hull and deck will remain constant, but owners will be able to create their own living spaces within the confines of the structural bulkheads and floors.
Pure is building the interior furniture out of cored composite panels instead of plywood and solid wood joinery. This will keep the 42 light and the builders asserts that it will be the lightest 42-footer in its class.
The appeal of an aluminum hull and deck is the material’s very high strength to weight ratio and it’s durability. If you are going off the beaten track and you want to have a boat that will sail well, aluminum has a lot going for it.
The design comes from the German Berkemeyer Yacht Design and has many modern qualities. Note the full sections forward that hint at the scow-bows now popular in the singlehanded racing fleets. Also, the hull sections aft are very flat so it may well break away on a plane in the right conditions.
The cockpit is large and deep and well protected, without the need for a canvas dodger, by the raised salon structure. The cabin top extends aft over the cockpit by a couple of feet, so you have a good place to tuck into during night watches or in damp weather.
The cutter rig shown has a high cut genoa forward, a self-tacking staysail and a standard slab-reefed mainsail with a double-end German sheeting system. The long bowsprit will be the tack-down point for running sails and also houses the anchor’s bow roller. Halyards, control lines and the staysail sheet run through conduits under the deck to banks of line stoppers and the primary winches on the cockpit coaming.
The standard interior design has a raised dinette that will provide wonderful seascapes through the salon’s large glazing and the galley is across from it. Down two steps going forward the single head is quite small and does not have a shower stall. The main cabin is in the forepeak while a second double cabin has been cunningly fit in underneath the dinette.
Hull number one is in the final fitting-out stage and will have seas trials this summer. If you have been looking at aluminum boats built by the French firms Garcia and Alubat, you should take a gander at this new performance design from Pure. It’s a beauty.
