Last known position:
Lomma, Sweden
N 55 °40,55
E 13 ° 03,40'
Hallberg-Rassy Monsun 31
Purchase of a Hallberg-Rassy 31' Monsun namned "Windwalker" is now closed on. It is a very nice boat and the former owners Terry and Marcha have been taking real good care of her.
We were told by the former owner that "This is the best boat you can ever buy". And we can not argue against him. One of the most important aspects is to feel safe in your boat when going out on open water. And even in gale winds in the mittel of the Atlantic ocean with over 5 meter waves we feelt completly safe. The boat was taking on the high sea perfectly well! See pictures on our Windwalker in out photo album Monsun 31
Watch how the Hallberg-Rassy Monsun 31 is doing in gale winds on the Atlantic Ocean.
Info about monsun from Hallberg-Rassy site www.hallberg-rassy.se
A total of 904 hulls of the Monsun was built during 1974 - 1982. The Monsun is the best seller of all time by Hallberg-Rassy with no less than 904 yachts delivered to all over the world. Scandinavia and Germany were the most frequent markets. She is a no-nonsense sturdy long distance sailor that has never been modern and will never be unmodern. It is in fact not very surprising that the first GRP boat in a museum was a Hallberg-Rassy Monsun 31.
Designer Olle Enderlein
Hull length 9.36 m / 30' 9"
Length water line 7.50 m / 24' 8"
Beam 2.87 m / 9' 5"
Draft 1.40 m / 4' 7"
Displacement 4 200 kg / 9 250 lbs
Keel weight 1 900 kg / 4 200 lbs
Sail area with jib 39 m² / 430 sq ft
Engine Volvo Penta MD 11 C kW / HP 17 / 23
Diesel tank 120 litres / 32 US gallon
Water tank 160 litres / 43 US gallon
Our engine was a Volvo Penta MD 11, the original engine. This is a rock solid engine and it never let us down.
Once back in Sweden we did a very huge lookover of the complete engine.
Cabin space, storage and night sleep in a Monsun 31
During our stay in the Bahamas, when we stayed in a harbor or dropped an anchor during nights, we had "fixed beds". We were between 3-5 people onboard and sometimes all beds were used. We stored food and supplies in the bed under the cockpit in big plastic boxes to make it easier to move around. Because we sailed between islands with a max distance of a 15 hour trip, we did not need to store loads of food during the stay in Bahamas. We stored food for approximately one week a head.
Most of the time we were 4 people onboard and we found it rather confortable in the Monsun's fairly big (for being a 70th sailboat) and dry cockpit. Obviously we spnt most of out time outside and that helped a lot from getting to crowded in the cabin.
Atlantic crossing in a Monsun 31
For longer journeys such as an Atlantic crossing in a Monsun 31 crew of three is to recommend. To bring a 4th person onboard during such a long journey would be a challenge of it«s own on top of the crossing itself. This mostly because lack of place to store food and personal belongings. We stored food wherever we could and we also bought a hanging net to store fruit and vegetables in. We also needed a lot of safety equipment and spare parts and this took some space as well.
Diesel and extra water (no water maker) can be stored in 20 liters juggets on deck and in juggets under deck as well. Fixed beds were no option during the crossing simply because it was impossible to sleep at all in the front while the boat was moving. We had to sleep were we at leased could fall asleep for a while. Best place was on the floor between the two beds in the main cabin. When we were sailing on starboard tack we also used the port side bed (we had no starboard bed because of the icebox). With one man constant on the watch for other boats, keeping track on the chart and checking the engine if needed there were only need for two beds the whole time.
During the Atlantic crossing our Monsun performed very well. We never felt scared and had full trust to our boat because of it«s stable rig and solid hull. The key to a great trip is to find the right boat and the right crew.
"Think, if you like, of the distance we have come, but never let your mind run forward faster than your vessel."
- Captain Bligh 1746. Late of HMS Bounty. Spoken to his 17 fellow castaways in a twenty foot open boat on a 3,000 mile voyage of survival across the South Pacific Ocean.