Sun Odyssey 42 i, where “i” stands for resin infusion

The Sun Odyssey 42 i is built using resin infusion, an engineering process that makes a strong laminate with optimum glass:resin ratios and few voids while reducing factory emissions. Jeanneau uses the method to make decks, laying the cloth inside a female mold as usual, then covering it before drawing resin through the dry laminate with a vacuum pump. The hull of the Sun Odyssey 42 i is hand-laid in the conventional manner. The standard cast-iron keel on the boat I sailed carries an external bulb and a draft of 7 feet. The optional performance keel is 7 inches deeper, while the optional shoal-draft version draws just 5 feet, 3 inches. I found good access to the keelbolts and seacocks through the gasketed cabin sole. Everything in hidden areas of the Sun Odyssey 42 i, including the plumbing and untinned wiring, appears to be installed to a good standard. It’s also easy to reach the engine and shaft for maintenance. 

DECK AND COCKPIT
The Sun Odyssey 42 i’s deck has a low, sleek profile. It’s a wide, nearly-flat space, so walking onto the cabintop is easy, as is moving forward or athwartships. However, the cabintop teak grabrails are too low to be useful. Going below feels much more secure, thanks to the perfectly angled steps and low companionway sill. The cockpit seats are comfortable and it’s easy to step over them. The sturdy table in the wide cockpit makes an excellent footrest under way and sports a strong grabrail, too. Look up and you’ll see an in-mast furler (an option widely chosen by Americans) and swept-back double spreaders. Look down and you find a single, undivided anchor locker with a windlass and a dual bow roller. The dock-line chocks and cleats are large and strong. A midboom traveler spans the cabintop of the Sun Odyssey 42 i, with all the sail-control lines running through stoppers next to it. Our test boat carried an optional electric halyard winch to port.

ACCOMMODATIONS
It’s bright down below the Sun Odyssey 42 i, and you can see a bit of the outside, thanks to the fixed ports below the sheerline. The dinette will seat six easily and the settee is comfortable. Overhead grabrails in the cabin are sizable and easy to reach.

SAIL MAGAZINE SEA TRIAL
Our test boat was the charter version, with two aft cabins. The owner’s version, with a single aft cabin, has a separate shower compartment and extra stowage space in the port sail locker.

UNDER SAIL
In 10 to 12 knots of wind and carrying 6 to 7 knots of boatspeed, the helm felt just fine, with easy resistance and a neutral response. The boat tacked smoothly through less than 90 degrees, and heel angles were reasonable. Although the mainsheet traveler is on the cabintop and the jibsheets are near the helm, the dual wheels make it easy for a singlehander to stroll forward and handle both sets of lines.

UNDER POWER
I felt a little resistance in the steering wheels under power, probably because of the propwash flowing over the rudder, as this disappeared under sail. A 2,800 RPM engine setting yielded 8.5 knots, and I measured an 82-dBA sound level in the saloon, which is a bit high. A fixed three-blade prop is standard, but many sailors will prefer the optional feathering prop to improve performance. All the usual close-quarters maneuvering went without a hitch.

CRUISING WORLD SEA TRIAL
Close reaching in 9 knots of wind off Miami’s South Beach, my Garmin Gekko GPS had us sailing 5.8 knots over the ground. And even more impressive was the fact that had I not taken a hold of the wheel and put us on a port tack, the boat in all likelihood would have kept right on sailing by herself until we could step ashore on the beach. With its shoal-draft keel (deep keel is standard), spade hung rudder, and balanced sails, the 42i tracked straight as an arrow when left to herself, a good trait for a cruising sailboat.

And that’s what the Sun Odyssey 42i is-a comfortable, performance-oriented coastal cruiser that helps fill out a model line that also includes the SO 36i and SO 39i. All these boats feature injection-molded decks (hence the “i” in their name), which look neat and clean, and which, according to the builder, mean less weight, a lower center of gravity and better structural properties since resin is more evenly distributed.

The 42i we sailed after Strictly Sail Miami last February had the optional Seldén in-mast furling rig, rather than the standard full-batten main, and a 122-percent genoa. If I were buying the boat, I probably would go with the raise-able sail or else would pony up for vertical battens so as not to have to look at the hollow roach cut, but that’s my preference. I’d probably also look into a good off-the-wind sail and go for the bow sprit Jeanneau pictures in its brochures for better down-wind performance.