Roberts Spray 40 Yawl
Description
The Bruce Roberts Spray 40 is a classic bluewater cruising sailboat design, first drawn in 1968 by renowned Australian yacht designer Bruce Roberts. It's part of the "Spray" series, directly inspired by Joshua Slocum's legendary 37-foot gaff-rigged yawl Spray, which completed the first solo circumnavigation in 1895–1898. The Spray 40 scales up the original's seaworthy, full-keeled proportions for greater comfort and capability in offshore passages, long-distance cruising, or liveaboard use. Known for its heavy displacement, low center of gravity, and forgiving handling, it's ideal for small crews or single handing in heavy weather. Over 1,000 examples have been built worldwide, with many completing circumnavigations or Antarctic voyages. The yawl rig is a popular option for the Spray 40 (alongside sloop, cutter, ketch, gaff, or even junk/schooner variants), offering balanced sail handling, easier reefing, and a smaller mainsail for stability in gusts. The mizzen mast is positioned aft of the rudder post, providing better steering control under mizzen alone and reducing weather helm.
Construction Details
| Designer | Bruce Roberts-Goodson |
|---|---|
| Length | 40.000 ft |
| LWL | 16.570 ft |
| Beam | 7.083 ft |
| Max Draft | 3.600 ft |
| Min Draft | 0.803 ft |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | 40 ft |
|---|---|
| j | 25 ft |
| p | 35.75 ft |
| e | 15.50 ft |
| p2 | 20 ft |
| e2 | 18 ft |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 ft | 25 ft | 35.75 ft | 15.50 ft | 20 ft | 18 ft | - | - |
Documents
Sails
Roberts Spray 40 Yawl - MAINSAIL
| Luff | * 35.75 ft - (10897 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | * 15.5 ft - (4724 mm) |
| Leech | * 38.19 ft - (11640 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 88 ° |
| Diagonal | * 38.47 ft - (11726 mm) |
| Head (inches) | * 6 in - (152 mm) |
| Area | * 284.84 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator | |
Roberts Spray 40 Yawl - JIBSAIL
| Luff | * 37.74 ft - (11503 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | * 39.97 ft - (12183 mm) |
| Leech | * 30.43 ft - (9275 mm) |
| Percentage LP | * 115 % |
| Length Perpendicular | * 28.75 ft - (8763 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 12 ° |
| Area | * 542.51 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator | |
Roberts Spray 40 Yawl - GENOA
| Luff | * 44.81 ft - (13658 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | * 46.36 ft - (14131 mm) |
| Leech | * 41.4 ft - (12619 mm) |
| Percentage LP | * 150 % |
| Length Perpendicular | * 37.5 ft - (11430 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 4.01 ° |
| Area | * 840.12 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator | |
Roberts Spray 40 Yawl - ASYMMETRICAL
| Luff | * 44.81 ft - (13658 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | * 41.25 ft - (12573 mm) |
| Leech | * 41.23 ft - (12567 mm) |
| Perc LP | * 165 % |
| Area | * 1386 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator | |
Roberts Spray 40 Yawl - MIZZEN
| Luff | * 20 ft - (6096 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | * 18 ft - (5486 mm) |
| Leech-AftHdBd | * 26.44 ft - (8059 mm) |
| Tack Ang | * 88 ° |
| Diag (clew/head) | * 26.44 ft - (8059 mm) |
| Head (inches) | * 5 in - (127 mm) |
| Area (no Roach) | * 184.296 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator | |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.