Ross 40 Buyer's Guide
The Ross 40 on the brokerage market is a Murray Ross design from the early eighties, a 40-foot fiberglass monohull with a fractional rig and a fin keel. She was drawn as a light racer rather than a heavy cruiser, and the documentation describes her as significantly overrigged for her class. Buyers shopping used will meet a boat whose sail-area-to-displacement ratio with a 135% genoa reaches 29.6 and whose theoretical maximum speed is 8.0 knots, figures that separate her from slower, heavier sisters without implying any single hull's condition.
Layouts on the Used Market
The authority material does not describe the Ross 40 interior, so used layouts must be verified in person. From the background specification she is a 40.67-foot boat with a 12-foot beam, a 35.5-foot waterline, and carries 10,600 lbs displacement against 4,500 lbs lead ballast. The Motion Comfort Ratio of 16.0 is recorded as more comfortable than only 4% of similar designs, which suggests the cabin is tuned for performance posture rather than couchable volume. Expect individual brokers to present varying accommodation photos; the documents give no standard plan to compare against.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
No market brief supplies prevalence tiers for this model, so equipment can only be described from the documents and background. The fractional rig is documented with exact running-gear sizes: mainsail, jib/genoa, and spinnaker halyards each 39.8 m (130.5 ft) at 12 mm, jib and genoa sheets 12.4 m (40.7 ft) at 14 mm, mainsheet 31.0 m (101.7 ft) at 14 mm, spinnaker sheet 27.3 m (89.5 ft) at 14 mm, and cunningham, kickingstrap, and clew-outhaul at 12 mm. A used boat's value will hinge on whether those lengths and diameters are intact or have been replaced with unknown line. No common upgrade path is named in the sources.
What to Inspect
The supplied documents list no structural defect, rot, or flooding path for the Ross 40, so a buyer's inspection should follow normal used-sailboat practice rather than a model-specific recall. The one recorded performance boundary is the capsize screening value of 2.19, which indicates this boat would not be accepted to participate in ocean races; that is a design limit, not a condition item, but it should frame how far a given example has been pushed. Confirm the fin keel attachment and the fiberglass hull integrity as with any 1980s racer, since the documents do not exempt her from such checks.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
No typical markets are listed for the Ross 40, so regional availability cannot be stated from the brief. The buyer's takeaway is a short checklist: verify the fractional rig's overrigged halyard and sheet dimensions are present and sound; confirm the 42% ballast ratio and lead ballast are undisturbed; accept that the capsize screening value excludes ocean-race certification; and view the cabin as a light-racers' layout rather than a comfort-led interior. A used Ross 40 rewards the sailor who wants light-wind speed and a slender hull, not the one seeking the cushioned motion of heavier similar designs.
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
3 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pogo 40 | 39.96' | $ 170,533 | 15 | 3 |
| North End 40 | 39.83' | $ 29,000 | 8 | 3 |
| Bavaria Yachts Cruiser 40 S (Farr) | 40.52' | $ 98,843 | 5 | 0 |