HANSE 341 MANUAL

Many thanks,

John

The main reason why I had a good look at a second hand 341 at a boat show was because I had seen a really good review of a 342, but it did say it was  "based on the 341, but substantially modified at the ends."  However, I reckoned that the difference would not be too significant for normal sailing.

The specifications give the waterline length of a 341 as 8.90m, and for the 342 as 9.20m.  i.e. for us Brits over a foot difference.  Our 341 was basically berthed next door to a 342 and you could see that the stem of the 342 was significantly more vertical and so there would be more buoyancy there up front.  A visiting 342 came in to our Marina and they even had the corner of the stem-keel out of the water!    I reckon that J&V felt a change was needed when they found out that us cruising types actually have an anchor and chain on board and even dare to put some water in the tank and so some more buoyancy was needed at the front.  I can certainly tell how much water I have in the tank, just by looking at the bow immersion.

I think the changes underwater at the stern are very small, if any.  The main difference was the walk through transom, as this had become more common on boats that moored stern to in the Mediterranean.  

I have never sailed against a 342, so do not know how significant the changes were.