Design and Construction
The hull and deck are both solid fiberglass, laid up without cores. The boat measures 44 feet overall, with a 36.75-foot waterline and a beam of 12.75 feet. Draft ranges from 7.22 to 7.52 feet, depending on load. Below the waterline, she has a fin keel and spade rudder.
Her length-to-beam ratio is 3.45, making her slimmer than 58 percent of comparable sailboat designs. That places her toward the narrow end of the cruiser spectrum for her length.
A 40 percent ballast ratio helps offset that slender form. The keel contains 9,020 pounds of lead, a figure higher than those of 66 percent of similar designs. Displacement is 22,660 pounds, producing a displacement-to-length ratio of 204. That number puts the Finngulf 44 among moderate racers rather than heavy bluewater luggers; 69 percent of similar designs are heavier.
Stability, Motion, and Speed
The figures present a coherent picture of the Finngulf 44’s behavior at sea. Her capsize screening value is 1.80, while the Motion Comfort Ratio is 30.1. That makes her more comfortable than 42 percent of similar sailboat designs. She’s no pillow, but the deep ballast and moderate beam help keep her settled.
An immersion rate of about 1,634 pounds per inch means she takes on load with composure. Her wetted surface is roughly 548 square feet, consistent with a fin-keeled hull of these proportions.
Under power, the calculated maximum speed is 6.7 knots. Her theoretical displacement-hull speed under sail is 8.1 knots.
Rig and Sail Plan
The Finngulf 44 carries a masthead sloop rig with 925 square feet of sail area. Her sail-area-to-displacement ratio is 18.48—enough to keep her moving in modest breeze without putting a 22,660-pound hull into overcanvased territory.
The standing and running gear follow period masthead practice. Jib and genoa sheets are about 44 feet long and 5/8 inch in diameter. The mainsheet is 110 feet long and the same diameter, while the spinnaker sheet runs just under 97 feet. These are working lengths for a boat of this rig: not oversized for short-handed trimming, but within the normal range for a 44-foot masthead boat.
Accommodations and Machinery
The sourced material doesn’t describe the interior plan. The boat’s slender beam and 36.75-foot waterline suggest cabin volume intended for passage work rather than maximum square footage, but no further accommodation details are available.
Auxiliary power comes from a 50-horsepower Volvo Penta MD22 diesel with saildrive, which would have handled onboard systems and docking duties.
Known Issues and Maintenance
The saildrive transmission paired with the Volvo Penta MD22 is a known maintenance point on any such installation. Its rubber diaphragm and shaft seals require periodic inspection and replacement.
The solid-fiberglass hull and deck avoid the cored-structure water-intrusion risks that affect some contemporaries. This is a construction fact, however, rather than a documented advantage specific to the Finngulf 44.
The Verdict
The Finngulf 44 is a quietly competent Södergren design from the early 1990s: slim, well ballasted, and moderately racer-like in its displacement tuning. It was built in solid fiberglass, with a masthead rig and saildrive diesel.
Its rarity cuts both ways. Owners have few sisterships with which to compare notes, but the result is a distinctive hull that doesn’t follow the fat-beam cruiser fashion of its era.
Pros
- Slimmer than 58 percent of similar designs, with a ballast ratio higher than 66 percent of them
- Solid-fiberglass hull and deck, with no cored structure
- Moderate-racer displacement tuning and an 18.48 sail-area-to-displacement ratio
Cons
- Only a few were built, limiting fleet knowledge and spares commonality
- Saildrive transmission brings inherent seal-maintenance demands
- Interior layout and accommodation details aren’t described in the sourced material
