CONSTELLATION SAILING
Our boat

Our boat

Constellation, the 1991 Freedom 45 Center Cockpit sailboat is ploughing through waves on a sunny day. The main sail is up, and a colorful spinnaker is full.

S/V Constellation

1991 Freedom 45 Center Cockpit

LOA: 45 ft

LWL: 34.4 ft

Beam: 13.5 ft

Draft: 7 ft

Displacement: 22,992 lb

More specs


Exterior

SAILS AND RIG Notice anything missing? Like other Freedom 45 sailboats, Constellation is a free-standing rig, meaning we have no shrouds or spreaders supporting our 62′ carbon fiber mast. This made us both nervous at first, but now that we’ve experienced sailing her in all kinds of weather we wouldn’t have it any other way. No backstays means we can have a main sail with an extra large roach. We also have a genoa headsail (on a roller furler), an asymmetrical spinnaker, and a set of storm sails.

GROUND TACKLE Our anchor is a 55 lb Delta, which is a bit oversized for our boat size. With our anchor we carry 250′ of 3/8″ chain, then 250′ of rode. We also have a small stern anchor with another 250′ of rode.

STORAGE The one thing we wish we had more of is outside storage space, but the tradeoff is a spacious interior! We have an anchor locker at the bow, two lazarettes near the stern, and an aftermarket line locker just behind the cockpit. An additional deep sail locker would be a welcome addition, but no big loss there.

RENEWABLE ENERGY We installed four 100 watt solar panels and a 400 watt wind generator. We mounted the rigid panels to the lifelines near the stern, and the flexible panels are installed on the top of our dodger using heavy duty magnets.

RADAR MAST The tall stainless steel mast at the starboard hip holds a number of necessary electronics. We mounted a Furuno wireless radar, iridium antenna, cell booster antenna, WiFi booster, AIS GPS, and AIS antenna.

DINGHY Our main mode of transportation when at anchor is a Zodiac Zoom 10.5′ inflatable dinghy with a 9.8HP Nissan marine outboard. This bad boy is the perfect size for 2-3 people and some gear.

LIFE RAFT Mounted in front of the dodger is a six-person life raft in a hard case, which of course we hope to never have to use.


Interior

Knowing this boat would be our home, it was crucial to us to have a comfortable interior space that was also functional both at anchor and under sail. Interior comfort is a big one on our list for what makes good bluewater boats. Plus, we instantly fell in love with a few luxuries:

HEADROOM This was a big one – some of the boats we looked at while shopping around just wouldn’t cut it since Chris is on the tall side. Having a boat where he could walk without crouching (at least in most places) is key to long-term comfort.

U-SHAPED GALLEY OK, maybe this one isn’t so much of a luxury, but it is a big deal for being able to safely cook while sailing. And I love to cook!

LOTS OF STORAGE Storage on storage on storage! We still have some dead space here and there, but the amount of storage this boat has is a big part of being able to provision for many weeks in one go, keep multiple seasons of clothes on board, and store the spare boat parts we always need.

SEPARATE SHOWER STALL Having a separate shower stall is a game changer so we don’t have to wipe down the entire head each time we shower. Wouldn’t have it any other way!

CENTERLINE QUEEN BED Crawling over the other person every night or sleeping in a coffin-style berth? No thanks! This is one luxury made possible by our center-cockpit layout, a benefit the Freedom 45 CC has over the aft cockpit version of this boat.

Interior photos coming soon!