Design and Construction
The Corsair has a solid fiberglass hull. Bowman’s broader practice of building to Lloyd’s Register scantlings, using thick, mat-heavy laminates, informs the character of this generation, even where the individual survey doesn’t restate those details.
She displaces 23,500 pounds on a beam of 12.92 feet. That gives her a length-to-beam ratio of 3.56 and a displacement-length ratio of 322, placing her squarely among heavily built cruisers with a comfort-oriented motion profile. Her Motion Comfort Ratio is 33.0, while her capsize screening value is 1.81. Both figures are consistent with a stable, seakindly hull intended for distance cruising rather than speed contests.
Wetted surface is about 559 square feet. An immersion rate of roughly 1,439 pounds per inch indicates a hull that resists being pushed around by changes in load or by wave action.
Keel Options and Draft
Bowman offered the 46 Corsair with different keel alternatives, and the choice materially affects where the boat can go. The stub-and-centreboard version draws about 5.51 to 5.81 feet, depending on load, allowing her to enter most marinas without drama.
The long-keel version draws roughly 6.99 to 7.29 feet and can enter only major marinas. That’s a meaningful constraint for a buyer planning to cruise the Mediterranean or other restricted waters. Both fin- and long-keel forms appear in the lineage, but the range in draft is the single biggest operational difference between individual boats.
Rig and Sail Plan
The Corsair has a masthead rig and carries 720 square feet of mainsail-and-jib area. Her sail-area-to-displacement ratio is 14.0 using the ISO reference sail and 16.8 with a 135% genoa. That provides enough canvas to move her displacement without demanding extreme rig loads.
The standing and running rigging are scaled accordingly. The mainsail halyard is estimated at 110.5 feet long and 14 mm in diameter. The genoa sheets are 46 feet long and 5/8 inch in diameter, while the mainsheet is a 115-foot, 5/8-inch line. The estimated inventory also included a spinnaker halyard and sheets, confirming that the estimated original sail plan anticipated downwind work.
Theoretical hull speed is 7.6 knots—the expected maximum for a displacement hull of this waterline length.
Accommodations and Tankage
Below, the Yacht Database survey documents one cabin arrangement with five berths and 169 US gallons of fresh water. The source’s single-cabin description applies to the as-surveyed layout; it doesn’t establish that no owner has reconfigured a boat over the decades. It is, however, the only accommodation arrangement documented by the survey.
For a 46-foot cruiser of this displacement, the berth count and water capacity describe a boat arranged around liveaboard range rather than charter-style accommodation density.
Verdict
The Bowman 46 Corsair is a deliberately heavy, seakindly cruiser from the early-1970s collaboration between Holman & Pye and Bowman Yachts. Her strengths are structural seriousness and stable motion. Her compromises are draft-dependent access and a conservative turn of speed. On the used-boat market, keel choice is the defining variable.
Pros
- Solid fiberglass hull in the heavy Bowman tradition, with a 1.81 capsize screening value and a 33.0 Motion Comfort Ratio
- Shallow stub-and-centreboard option can enter most marinas
- Generous 169-US-gallon water capacity for extended cruising
Cons
- Long-keel version is limited to major-marina access by its roughly 7-foot draft
- Conservative theoretical maximum of 7.6 knots suits passage-making rather than racing
- Only one cabin layout is documented in the surveyed specification
