Passport 40 Sailboat Specs, Price and Ownership Guide

Why a Passport 40 sails better than it looks

At first glance the Passport 40 looks like every other teak-heavy Taiwan cruiser of the early 1980s: traditional sheer, wooden toerails, a doghouse and acres of varnish. Underneath, it is something else. Robert Perry, who had already rewritten the rules with the Valiant 40, gave developer Wendell Renken a modified fin keel and a skeg-hung rudder rather than a full keel, and that one decision explains why owners keep using words like nimble and swift.

The Passport 40 launched in 1980 and stayed in production until 1991, with 148 hulls built. Sailing Magazine traces its basic underwater shape to the Valiant 40, and Perry paired that modified fin and skeg with a traditional deck and the goal that the boat could be sailed under main alone and singlehanded. It is a cruising yacht first, but one designed by a man who hated slow boats.

If you are shopping Passport 40 sailboats for sale today, you are buying a boat at least 35 years old. That is not a criticism. It is a reminder that the hull design is the constant and everything else, from tanks to teak decks to rigging, is a variable you must check.

Passport 40 sailboat data and what the ratios say

Published sailboat data lists the Passport 40 at 39 feet 5 inches overall, a 33 foot 5 inch waterline, a 12 foot 8 inch beam and about 22,771 pounds of displacement with 8,500 pounds of ballast. Standard draft is about 5 feet 9 inches, and the shoal keel takes 6 inches off that, to about 5 feet 3 inches. Sail area for the masthead sloop rig is listed near 762 square feet, and Sailing Magazine gives total working sail area as 771.

Run those numbers and you get a displacement to length ratio of roughly 272 and a sail area to displacement ratio near 15. That places the boat squarely in moderate-heavy cruising territory: not a light-air flyer, but comfortable, stiff and able to carry a cruising payload without sinking to its boot stripe. Theoretical hull speed is about 7.7 knots.

Note that some sources list the boat at 40 feet, 21,000 pounds and 10,000 pounds of ballast. Spec sheets for Taiwan-built yachts were never consistent. We use the figures repeated most often in the sailboat data references and recommend weighing any boat you plan to sail offshore.

• Displacement to length ratio about 272
• Sail area to displacement ratio about 15
• Ballast ratio near 37 percent on the most common figures
• Hull speed about 7.7 knots

On the helm, upwind and in a blow

Owners consistently describe the Passport 40 as predictable, sea-kindly and quicker than expected. The fin keel lets it tack crisply and point well for a cruiser of this weight, while the skeg protects the rudder and helps it track on long passages. It makes way in light going but really thrives when the wind perks up, and most owners reef the main at around 20 knots. A loaded cruising Passport still benefits from a large genoa or a code zero in the lightest air.

Almost all boats now carry an inner forestay, usually removable, turning the sloop into a working cutter with a staysail for heavy weather. That is the configuration we prefer for offshore work, because it gives a balanced, low-centered sail plan when the breeze passes 25 knots. Under power, the Perkins 4-108 pushes the boat at roughly 5 to 6 knots at 1,800 to 2,000 rpm, according to owners, and most boats have since swapped the original fixed three-blade prop for a feathering one.

Pullman berth forward or classic V-berth

Passport built the 40 in two principal interiors, split roughly half and half. One moves the head forward and fits an offset Pullman double, which is the better sleeping cabin for a couple living aboard. The other keeps a traditional V-berth forward with a separate shower compartment, which suits families with children or crew who want two distinct sleeping areas.

Both layouts share a saloon with a U-shaped or L-shaped settee, a double quarter cabin aft, a galley with two stainless sinks and a top-loading icebox, and a proper navigation station. The joinery is the main event: hand-fitted teak throughout, with the kind of detailing that would cost a fortune to replicate today. The downside is maintenance. Varnish everywhere, inside and out, takes real hours each season, and some buyers paint the exterior brightwork or remove teak trim to cut the workload.

The three big Passport 40 refit items

First, fuel tanks. Early Passport 40s used black iron tanks encapsulated in fiberglass, with total capacity given by Sailing Magazine as 105 gallons, although sailboatdata.com lists 70; later boats had aluminum tanks. Those tanks rust from the outside when bilge water sits against them, and failure often goes unnoticed until diesel appears in the bilge. Replacement with aluminum or polyethylene is a big but well understood job. A boat that has already had it done is worth noticeably more.

Second, decks. Five-eighths inch teak side decks were standard, fastened with thousands of screws into a cored deck. Early boats used marine plywood as the core material, later boats Airex foam. Every screw is a potential leak, and wet plywood core is expensive to fix, although Sailing Magazine noted the decks were laid in plenty of Thiokol and old Passport 40s rarely turn up with delaminated subdecks. Look for soft spots, black staining around bungs and evidence of past repairs.

Third, chainplates and standing rigging. Stainless chainplates that pass through the deck can develop crevice corrosion invisible from outside. Pull at least one for inspection before any ocean passage and replace the standing rigging if its age is unknown.

Hull layup, ballast and blister history

Sailing Magazine describes the hull as solid fiberglass laid up with 24-ounce woven roving and 1.5-ounce mat in polyester resin. That is heavy, simple and repairable construction, and owners report the boats have been more blister resistant than many of their Taiwan contemporaries.

Sailing Magazine's detailed review says the ballast is iron encapsulated in the keel cavity, as on most Taiwan boats of the period, although some listings describe lead. Encapsulated ballast avoids keel bolt issues entirely, but iron can swell and crack the encapsulation if water reaches it. Ask the seller, check the build documentation if any exists, and have the surveyor sound the keel stub and look for weeping or cracks at the bottom of the keel.

Ownership costs and how the market treats the Passport 40

Annual costs for a Passport 40 typically run $9,000 to $20,000, before major refits, covering a 40-foot slip outside premium harbors, insurance, haul-out, bottom paint and engine service. The variable is brightwork. Paying a yard to varnish the exterior can add several thousand dollars a year on its own.

On the market, Passport 40s hold value well because the supply is small, the reputation is strong and the boats have a cult following among liveaboard cruisers. Recent asking prices run from the high $70,000s for an East Coast boat needing work to around $150,000 for refitted examples in Maryland, Washington and California. They rarely appear as true bargains, and the good ones sell through word of mouth among owners.