Design and Construction
The hull is built from vacuum-infused foam sandwich, with vinylester resin laid against the first layer of glass and again in highly stressed areas that are reinforced with woven rovings or unidirectional fibres. The deck is a balsa sandwich, and a carbon-reinforced inner hull structure is said to be 25 percent stiffer than standard arrangements, engineered to absorb the loads generated in a grounding. Above the waterline the wedge-shaped deck carries a shallow indent just aft of the mast; that detail lets halyards and control lines exit the mast at deck level and vanish into the structure flanking the hatches, cleaning up the foredeck. A tall fractional rig steps onto a 9/10ths keel-stepped aluminium mast with two pairs of spreaders, and the standard Elvström FCL tri-radial sails draw 1,000 square feet in the standard variant.
Rig and Handling
Judel/Vrolijk gave the hull a high righting moment from form stability and a choice of low-center-of-gravity keels, so the boat stays upright and driveable when the wind builds. Three draft options were offered — 7 feet 1 inch standard, 7 feet 11 inches race, and 6 feet 6 inches shoal — each paired with one of two rudder options. The competition model trades almost two-thirds of a tonne of displacement for a deeper 2.4-meter T-bulb and a rig roughly six percent larger than the standard boat, lifting sail area to 1,071 square feet. Writing in the design review, the designers called the new 42 a great club racer and a very nice cruising boat, and boats.com described her as intended to offer vice-free fast sailing alongside comfortable accommodation. An optional composite bowsprit incorporates an anchor roller and supports asymmetrical chutes flown from the hounds or the masthead.
Accommodations
Dehler's in-house interior team produced a versatile layout program built around a spacious saloon shared by every variant, lit by overhead hatches, coachroof windows, and hull ports, with distinctive roll-top lockers along each side and grab handles molded into the coachroof sides. Buyers could choose two or three staterooms, each available with one or two head compartments; the two-cabin version gains a huge walk-in storage space aft of the main heads. The forecabin can be arranged with a semi-peninsula berth and generous hanging lockers, or with a conventional double V-berth and an en-suite heads. A patented uni-door divides the saloon from the main bathroom and doubles as a lockable shower and toilet door. The port-side cabin converts between a sail locker and a third double, and the galley carries twin sinks, a two-burner stove with oven, and a large top-and-front-loading fridge.
The Verdict
The Dehler 42 is a thoroughly modern performance cruiser that refuses to compromise accommodation for speed. The vacuum-infused foam hull, carbon-reinforced inner structure, and low-center-of-gravity keel options produce a stiff, vice-free platform, while the configurable three-stateroom or two-stateroom interiors — complete with the clever uni-door and walk-in storage — make her as plausible for a family cruise as for a regatta circuit. She is a boat built to be sailed hard and lived in comfortably.
Pros
- High righting moment from form stability and low-CG keels
- Carbon-reinforced inner hull 25 percent stiffer than standard
- Configurable two- or three-cabin layouts with shared spacious saloon
- Competition variant sheds two-thirds of a tonne for club racing
Cons
- Shoal and race draft variants limit one-design class consistency
- Multiple keel and rig variants require careful specification matching
