Design and Construction
Ta Shing built the 49 in fiberglass with a solid laminate hull, carrying 13,000 pounds of iron ballast for a 40-percent ballast-displacement ratio and a total displacement near 32,500 pounds. The length-to-beam ratio of 3.34 and a waterline of just under 42 feet give the hull a relatively slender plan for its 15-foot beam, while the fin keel draws between 6.76 and 7.06 feet depending on load, a draft that confines the boat to major marinas able to accommodate her depth. Below the waterline she presents about 667 square feet of wetted surface. Taswell construction followed Lloyd's Register practice: hand-laid solid GRP reinforced with foam-filled longitudinal stringers and PVC-foam-cored transverse floors, the outer three laminate layers in vinylester to resist blistering, with a balsa-cored deck swapped to marine plywood where hardware loads concentrate and bonded to the hull flange with bedding and stainless thru-bolts.
Rig and Handling
The cutter rig carries a 1,064-square-foot sail plan and the period reference sail yields a sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 16.9, rising to 20.1 with a 135-percent genoa — enough to classify the design among moderate racers by its displacement-length ratio of 212. Standing and running rigging dimensions are generous: all three halyards run 138 feet at 14 mm, the mainsheet is 125 feet of 5/8-inch line, and jib or genoa sheets are 50 feet of 5/8-inch. Her capsize screening value of 1.89 and a motion comfort ratio of 30.6 place her within accepted offshore ranges, and the theoretical displacement hull speed works out to about 8.6 knots. An immersion rate of 2,127 pounds per inch speaks to a hull that settles deliberately under cruising load rather than skitting about.
Accommodations and Layout
Ta Shing offered the 49 in standard center-cockpit form and as an "All Season" raised-salon variant with a secondary interior helm, a configuration suited to high-latitude passagemaking without surrendering the protected outdoor steering station. The 15-foot beam and 41-foot-10-inch waterline generate volume that, in the late eighties, read as generous rather than merely adequate, while the low-profile center cockpit preserves the helmsman's forward sightline. Three-cabin owner layouts and ex-charter versions both appeared, the former more often encountered on the resale market.
The Verdict
The Taswell 49 is a thoughtfully engineered Dixon design that bridges the comfort of a heavy cruiser and the responsiveness of a lighter hull, built by Ta Shing to a disciplined Lloyd's-spec laminate schedule. Her cutter rig and moderate-racer numbers reward an owner who sails rather than merely motors, and the raised-salon option extends genuine redundancy for cold-weather voyaging. The deep fin keel and major-marina draft are the principal constraints, alongside the usual vigilance any balsa-cored deck demands.
Pros
- Solid fiberglass hull with vinylester outer layers and Lloyd's-spec reinforcement
- Cutter rig with strong sail-area-to-displacement ratios under genoa
- Offshore-acceptable capsize and comfort numbers; raised-salon helm redundancy available
Cons
- Deep draft limits anchorage and marina choice
- Balsa-cored deck requires inspection for water intrusion
- Major-marina-only access due to loaded draft
