“Windancer” was built in 2004 by Chantiers Wauquiez in France, designed to be a cruising yacht for families, couples or to be sailed short-handed. Wauquiez are built in low volume and designed to very high standards, whichever way you look at the Pilot Saloon 40, this is not a typical production yacht. The 1st owner bought her in Italy and cruised for 10 years including a half-circumnavigation. The 2nd owners bought her in 2014, living on board and sailing extensively in the region. They have also taken several trophies in local regattas, much to the surprise of the more focused racing yachts!
The Pilot Saloon design addresses a number of areas to make sailing and living on board easier: The elevated saloon with large portholes all around give excellent visibility and 1.9m headroom below decks. Bilges, lockers and lazarettes are deeper giving more storage than you would ever need. Perhaps most importantly it also allows the cockpit to be higher up which in turn means there is space for an owner’s full-beam aft cabin which sleeps 2, with ensuite head and a separate full height shower. This is a feature very rarely seen on a 40ft aft-cockpit yacht.
The forward cabin is a traditional v-berth sleeps another 2, again with ample headroom and easy access to the forward head (manual Jabsco head and shower). Both cabins have standing lockers, more storage under seats and large storage under the berths themselves. Under the forward berth is the bow thruster and its separate battery.
The U-shaped settee on starboard side of the saloon can sleep another person, giving Windancer a comfortable capacity of 5 berths. More storage to starboard including a wet locker draining to the bilge for foul weather gear when necessary.
Port of the saloon is the linear galley with countertops, twin stainless steel sinks, Eno stove/oven and 2 fridge-freezers.
Aft of the galley on the port side is the navigation station. A good sized chart table with large Raymarine A-Series Multifunction Display with touch screen. This has integrated radar, tri-data and a second sonar which is always connected, making anchoring extremely easy. Under the seat is access to the solar controller, battery charger and another removable panel to access the neatly installed Raymarine hardware and network.
Below deck, tankage is as you would expect for a cruising yacht: 2 x 220L fuel tanks, 2 x 220L fresh water tanks, an Eco watermaker, 2 x 220AH AGM house batteries, a new AGM start battery, 2 bilge pumps and well-maintained sea cocks throughout.
Moving aft, the beautifully engineers companionway steps lift up for access to the front of the Volvo Penta D2-55 engine (2004, only c.4,200 hours from new). More access available from the port side and again the back of the engine is reached from a removable panel in the aft-cabin. From here you can easily check and service the Racor filters.
Above deck, the aft cockpit feels huge for a single-helm 40ft monohull. The helm station has a Raymarine A-series repeater, bowthruster control and Maxwell windlass control (complimented by the wireless remote windlass & chain counter). All lines lead back to the cockpit making easy work for short-handed sailing, especially with the in-mast furling main, 2 x Andersen 46 and 2 x Andersen 42 (1 being electric) winches.
The cockpit is covered by an extra-high bimini, designed to take all rain away to the sides rather than drip down in front (or on!) you. This high bimini gives such good visibility that it’s easy to sail with the bimini and dodger up, very nice feature for sailing in the tropics!
A stainless steel arch contains 560W (4x140W) solar panels as well as davits for lifting the 3.1m tender and 8hp Yanmar 2-stroke outboard. Step aft from the cockpit down onto the lifting swim platform. The current owner has improved the boarding ladder design by moving it port of the swim platform for better stability.
The hull is solid GRP with polyester & vynilester resins and built in structural ribs/stringers. The interior bulkheads are glassed to the hull and deck and the rudder post is composite.
The deck is a balsa sandwich, bonded to the hull with polyurethane adhesive and with mechanical fastening moulded ceiling liners with padded slats for a better insulation and easy maintenance.
Looking at the teak decks you can again see the high quality build standards. Windancer is 18 years old and the teak side decks, cockpit floor and seats still look over 10mm thick – this is certainly not the very thin teak veneer you find on production yachts.
Designed to cruise anywhere, the Pilot Saloon 40 is very well ventilated: two dorade boxes, three opening portholes, two fixed hull portholes, two opening portholes in cockpit for aft cabin cross ventilation, six opening deck hatches, sun screens and a 3,500 BTU Marine Air Con. The current owners (living on board in Singapore and cruising the regional waters of Southeast Asia) have added a 9,000 BTU window Air Con but it is used only in the home marina.
Last hauled out in October 2020, old antifoul removed, new GleShield & 2 coats of Micron Extra applied as well as new dripless shaft seal installed. Last engine service was in 2021.
Windancer is in excellent condition. Viewings to be arranged at Raffles Marina, Singapore or virtual video call viewings at your convenience. She is ready to go, looking for the new owner to cast off her lines and set sail again.
