The Travels of Spellbinder

Spellbinder underwent a minor refit in Autumn 2025 and will be sailing locally in April and May. The plan for summer 2026 is to head to London and East Anglia before sailing to the Arctic Circle and northern Norway.

Technical details

Spellbinder is a Hallberg Rassy 40, designed by Argentinian German Frers. She is hull number 66, and was built in 2005 and commissioned in 2006.

Layout. She has a centre cockpit layout and has 3 cabins – the main saloon, an aft cabin with a single and double berth, and a traditional forepeak with two singles which can me made into a double – in theory sleeping 7. She has a heads to port at the base of the companionway ladder, and to starboard a linear galley.

Stats:

Length Over All (LOA): 12.4m / 40’8 »
Waterline length 10.6m / 34’9 »
Draft (unladen): 1.99m / 6’6 »
Beam: 3.82m / 12’6 »
Displacement 10.00 tonnes
Gross tonnage 14.79
Fuel capacity 445l
Water capacity 460l

Engine and Drivetrain. She is equipped with a Yanmar 4JH 4E 54HP engine, which has an additional 120A alternator for fast battery charging. She has a 3 blade Gori folding prop.

Bluewater fit-out. Spellbinder was upgraded by her first owner to make her bluewater (extended offshore sailing) capable, and I have since added various bits and pieces. She has a Spectra Newport 400 12v water maker and satellite communications (Iridium, Sat C and Icom 802 SSB linked to a Pactor 4 modem) as well as a number of other modifications appropriate to offshore passage making. These include fresh and salt water manual foot pumps, LED lights throughout, 6 12v Hella fans for ventilation, 5 x solar panels totalling 310W, and a water towed generator (Aqua4gen). She has a WiFi booster and MailaSail Red Box system. She has two diesel tanks which give her some 900nm of range, and two water tanks, and addition to her normal fridge she has a separate fridge / freezer.

Rig and Sails: She has a Selden rig with 3 spreaders and a removal forestay for a storm gib. All reefing is done at the mast, which has ‘granny bars’ for support. She has a double bow roller, to support a removal bowsprit for a furling gennaker (116m²) with furling mechanism and a Kobra 2 anchor with 60m of 8mm chain on an electric windlass. She also has a Breeze kedge anchor on chain and rope. Other sails are a 125m² Parasailor, a fully battened slab reefed main (49.1m²) by Jeckells with 3 reefs enclosed in a stack pack, a genoa (51.6m²), a working jib (38.9m²) and storm gib (13.1m²) which hanks on to a removable forestay. She has a spinnaker boom stowed on the mast (Selden MDS batten system), adjustable genoa cars, running back stays, a backstay tensioner and Selden Rodstay vang.

Navigation. She has a Furuno Black Box system 14 » TFT Chartplotter, interlinked to AIS and Weatherfax. She also has Raymarine AIS B linked to an Axiom 7 Multifunction Display at the helm, which is linked to an AIS transponder and a Raymarine Quantum radar. There is a Raymarine ST7001G+ quadrant-mounted autopilot with giro rate processor Type II, along with Raymarine ST60 wind, speed and depth gauges. She has a Hydrovane self steering system which also acts as an emergency rudder.

Electrical. She is powered by 6 x Rolls FS250 domestic 6v batteries giving a total of 720 aH, and a single separate 12v engine start battery. There is a galvanic isolator, Mastervolt MASS 12v/60A 230v charge controller and a Mastervolt battery manager. The modifications outlined above allow her batteries to be charged by engine, solar, or towed generator. The solar and towed generators are each linked to separate charging mechanisms, giving redundancy.

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