Bristol 40 Review, a Ted Hood Classic Among Bristol Sailboats for Sale

Why the Bristol 40 keeps turning up among Bristol sailboats for sale

Browse Bristol sailboats for sale and the Bristol 40 is the one that stops people. It has the profile of a 1960s ocean racer, long overhangs, a sweet sheer, low freeboard and a narrow trunk cabin, and it sells for roughly the price of a new outboard on a big center console. Practical Sailor's 2026 video put it bluntly: a 40-foot Ted Hood design for around $40,000, and then asked why.

The answer is that the Bristol 40 is a 40-footer in length only. Practical Sailor wrote that going below feels like stepping onto a modern 33-foot boat, because the CCA rule of the era put about 30 percent of a boat's length into overhangs. With a 27-foot 6-inch waterline and a 10-foot 9-inch beam, its working dimensions are those of today's 35-footers.

That does not make it a bad buy. It makes it a specific one: a handsome, seakindly traditional cruiser for a couple who value looks, motion and tracking over cabin volume.

Pearson roots and a twenty-year run

Bristol Yachts was the second act of Clint Pearson, one of the cousins behind Pearson Yachts. Cruising World notes that Bristols were built after Clint and Everett Pearson sold Pearson Yachts, which is why early Bristols share so much design and construction DNA with early Pearsons. Sailboatdata.com records about 4,400 Bristol Yachts built between 1965 and 1997, when the company stopped production.

The 40 grew out of the Bristol 39, one of the company's first models, which entered production in 1966. According to Practical Sailor the boat was renamed the Bristol 40 beginning with 1972 models, with slightly fuller aft sections and a different stemhead fitting; sailboatdata.com lists 1970 as the first Bristol 40 and 58 Bristol 39s before it. The last Bristol 40 was built in 1986. About 150 were built, 149 by sailboatdata's count.

Measured carefully, Practical Sailor found the 39 and the 40 to be about 39 feet 8 inches long excluding pulpit and roller, which matches Cruising World's published LOA. Sailboatdata's 40.16-foot figure includes the stemhead.

Keel, centerboard and the stability question

Buyers choose between two underwater shapes. The fixed version has a modified full keel drawing 5 feet 4 inches, with 6,500 pounds of lead poured into a molded keel cavity rather than bolted on. The keel-centerboard version draws 4 feet with the board up and 7 feet 10 inches down, ideal for Chesapeake and Bahamas cruising. A Constellation-style rudder sits slightly above the bottom of the keel, so the boat grounds on the keel first.

Practical Sailor calls the boat fairly tippy, as you would expect of a narrow hull with modest ballast. The keel version loses positive stability at about 120 degrees, which the magazine called the absolute minimum it would consider for serious offshore work, and the only centerboard boat rated under IMS showed about 110 degrees. Ballast is 37 percent of displacement and the displacement-to-length ratio is about 376, which explains the easy motion in a seaway.

In other words, this is a capable coastal and island cruiser, and Bristol 40s have made offshore passages, but owners planning ocean crossings should treat the stability numbers seriously.

• Displacement 17,580 lb, ballast 6,500 lb lead
• LWL 27 ft 6 in, beam 10 ft 9 in
• Range of positive stability about 120 degrees (keel) and 110 degrees (centerboard, one IMS boat)
• Hull speed about 7.0 knots

How a Bristol 40 sails

Practical Sailor rates the Bristol 40 as close in speed to an original Hinckley Bermuda 40 yawl and about 30 seconds a mile slower than a Cal 40. Like most CCA boats it is a strong reaching boat without the rounding-up habit of modern wide-sterned designs, but it tends to squat and dig a hole running downwind. A full-keel Bristol 40 won the 1983 Marion-Bermuda Race, which was mostly close reaching in light to moderate wind.

The boat is sensitive to sail area, so a modern roller-furling headsail makes shorthanded sailing easier. Many were built as yawls. The mizzen helps balance the helm and carries a radar or mizzen staysail, but Practical Sailor notes that it adds windage and makes the boat tippier, a cost upwind.

Atomic 4 or diesel: the engine question

Early boats left the factory with a Universal Atomic 4 gasoline engine of about 30 hp, and parts are still available, as Cruising World points out via Moyer Marine. Later boats got a range of diesels, including Westerbeke 4-91, 4-107 and 4-108 units, the Perkins 4-108 and Volvo MD2B or MD3B engines, and many owners have repowered with modern Yanmars.

Fuel capacity is only about 30 gallons, in a tank under the cockpit sole above the engine. Early diesel boats used black-iron tanks that can rust out, while later boats had aluminum. Practical Sailor estimated about 180 miles of range under power with a Perkins 4-108. Access to the stuffing box is very tight, the engine compartment has no sound insulation, and the small propeller aperture limits prop size, so handling in reverse is poor on most boats. A feathering prop helps.

Deck, cockpit and a smaller interior than you expect

The cockpit is huge, with seats almost 7 feet long and a well narrow enough to brace your feet, but the scuppers are small and there is no bridgedeck, so Practical Sailor advises securing the bottom dropboard offshore. Exterior teak includes the toerails, eyebrows, handrails and coamings. The molded basket-weave nonskid is not very grippy.

Below, Cruising World describes the essentials of a proper offshore layout in a compact package: separate cabins, sea berths, an enclosed head and a divided galley aft. Water capacity is a generous 130 gallons in two fiberglass tanks, more than many modern 40-footers carry. Headroom, storage and elbow room, however, are those of a mid-30s boat.

Survey priorities on a boat built in the 1970s or 1980s

Construction is solid fiberglass mat and woven roving, typical of the time. Practical Sailor's owner survey found no major structural flaws, but plenty of leaks from ports, deck hardware and the hull-to-deck joint. Expect to rebed hardware, and look for water stains in lockers and rust on through-fastenings. Colored gelcoat on 1970s boats was not colorfast and faded badly, and decks can show cracks around stanchion bases and voids at sharp corners.

Original quarter chocks are screwed rather than bolted to the toerail and can tear out. Chainplates for the lower shrouds do not line up perfectly with the shroud load, which can fatigue them and cause leaks. None of this is unusual for the age, but it adds up, and it is why prices stay low.