Beruta - Hallberg-Rassy 31 Monson
The dream comes true
After spending two and a half years building Bruce Roberts steel Voyager 388, Arcadia (for all details see http://sailboat.creatica.org/) I had to sell the almost finished hull due to the divorce and the division of a matrimonial property. Well, it was sad, wasn't it? But the world did not end at that time. A few months later I recovered and start looking for purchasing a used fiberglass sailboat.
After reading multiple reviews (Sailnet, BoatUS) on blue water cruisers, studying the specs of the famous Mahina list's boats, I concentrated on two models, both of the same make, Swedish reputable boatbuilder, Hallberg Rassy, 35-foot Rasmus and 31-foot Monsun.
They both have solid fiberglass hull and polyvinyl cellular plastic cored deck, a long keel with a cut forefoot and a keel-attached rudder. Rasmus comes with two sail plans: a ketch and a sloop. Monsun is just a sloop. Both were manufactured in 1970s under Lloyd's supervision for "hull molding certificate". Both are known as excellent offshore passagemakers/circumnavigators. Monsun was a bestseller. There have been almost a thousand boats produced from 1974 till 1982.
There is a short story of "Golden Lady", the first Monsun owned by Kurt Bjorklund, who circumnavigated the globe three and a half times on Hallberg-Rassy's web site. The boat is now in Raa Museum in Sweden.
Planning to be a single handed sailor, I decided on a smaller boat. My short list of Monsuns offered by various online brokers ranged from 1974 to 1979. The asking prices were from $25,000 to $50,000. The boats were all over the world: Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, Turkey, Sweden, Scotland, Italy, Canada and US. I negotiated with the most dealers and ended up buying the simplest cheapest and oldest boat in the USA near Boston, named Moonwind. I called her Beruta.
Beruta is Hallberg Rassy 31 Monsun, designed by Olle Enderlein and built in 1974 in Sweden. The hull number 66. Here is her spec:
- L.O.H.
- 9.36m (30' 9")
- L.W.L.
- 7.50m (24' 8")
- Beam
- 2.87m (9' 5")
- Draft
- 1.40m (4' 7")
- Displacement
- 4.2 ton (9,250 lb)
- Keel weight
- 1.9 ton (4,200 lb)
- Sail area with jib
- 39 sq. m. (430 sq. ft.)
- Engine
- Volvo Penta MD 11 C (17 kW / 23 h.p.)
- Diesel Tank
- 120 litres (32 US gallons)
- Water Tank
- 160 litres (43 US gallons)
- Transport height without windscreen
- 3.17 m (10' 5")
- Transport height with windscreen
- 3.54 m (11' 7")
Rigging Dimensions:
- P (main sail luff length)
- 10.00 m (from HR sailplan and sailboatdata.com)
- E (mail sail foot length)
- 3.50 m (from HR sailplan) / 3.51 m (from sailboatdata.com)
- I (mast height)
- 11.24 m (actual) / 11.52 m (from the deck according to sailboatdata.com)
- I2 (inner forestay height)
- 10.43 m (actual)
- J (the distance from the forestay pin to the forward end of the mast)
- 3.66 m (from HR sailplan) / 3.63 m (from sailboatdata.com)