A persistent demand for custom interiors was the impetus for the creation of the Valiant 42, says Rich Worstell, president of Valiant Yachts in Gordonville, Texas. The V42 evolved from the venerable Valiant 40, and it's popped from the same mold. But the hull has been made stiffer and more seaworthy, it's built with isophthalic resins that resist blistering, and its taller rig and more efficient Series 90 Vacanti keel increase performance.

But even more exciting than these significant modifications to an already successful design is a new generic deck design that can be adapted to a trio of basic accommodation plans. Each of these plans is sufficiently flexible to provide an "almost unlimited choice to the customer," according to Worstell. Thus, a variation of one of these three layouts is certain to satisfy the requirements of the most demanding offshore crews.

This is called a traditional layout, because it is just that: port and starboard settees in the main cabin; V-berths forward; seagoing U-shaped galley to port, aft of which is a quarter cabin; forward-facing nav station to starboard, just aft of the settee; stowage and wet locker just aft of that, just below the companionway; head to port forward of the settee. This is the accommodation plan that has predominated on cruising boats for most of this century, and it was the standard layout for the Valiant 40, from which the 42 evolved.

the "traditional layout" is simple, utilitarian, seamanlike, and adaptable to most any type of cruising, inshore, or blue water, shorthanded or fully crewed. But what if a prospective owner has more specific needs in mind? What if one wants more stowage space, a larger main cabin, a dinette configuration, a workbench/tool area, a ketch rig (rather than cutter), or more comfortable and private cabins for two couples? These needs and more are met by variations of one of the three basic interior plans made possible by the new deck tooling.

Callie Mae out of Santa Rosa Beach, on Florida's Panhandle, is of this configuration. Built last year for Jim Perry (no relation to designer Bob) for shorthanded sailing, Callie Mae almost had to have a side-entry companionway because she was to be a ketch. "The mizzen is on the bridge-deck," says Jim Perry, "and if the boat had a center-entry, you'd step out of the companionway right into the mizzen."

Why ketch-rigged? "When I moved to the Panhandle three years ago, I didn't realize that the bridges in the Intracoastal are only 50 feet high, not 65 feet like on the east coast, and the sloop rig has a fifty-eight foot mast," says Perry. "I'd heard that Bob Perry had designed the 42 for a ketch rig conversion, which would bring the mast height down to just under forty-eight feet. Now I have the whole Gulf Coast available to me with a forty-two-foot boat."

Now that he has a year with Callie Mae under his belt, Perry can't imagine sailing with any right other than split. "The sails' are easier to handle - I can raise the main myself to within six inches of the hoist - and sailing with Genoa and mizzen when the wind gets over twenty knots is so simple and effective."

One reason why Perry chose the Pullman berth interior was because of the stowage space it opens up. "The Pullman is an elevated berth about waist high,

with a pullout step that makes it easy to climb into it," he says. "Thus, everything below and outboard of it is for stowing gear." Beneath the Pullman berth are three spacious drawers. Outboard of it, with access from beneath the berth's matters, are pullout inserts for bulk storage.

Another reason was Jim Perry's aversion to conventional V-berths. The SE Pullman does not include them. "I didn't want one," he says. "I wanted to devote that space to stowage of wet stuff, like sails, the rollup dinghy and the awning, so that I could keep the main cabin dry. I had an oversized Lewmar 70 hatch put in so that these items could go directly from the deck to their dedicated stowage area." The SE Pullman has import double berth just forward of the dinette to port, which hanging lockers opposite to starboard, which leaves ideal space for such a "sail locker."

The V42's semi-custom options are highly compatible with Jim Perry's innovative nature. Much of his pleasure in boat ownership lies in projects that make the boat more ergonomic for him and his crew. All halyards and reefing lines are, by choice, at the mast and not lead aft of the cockpit via turning blocks and jammers, He likes going to the mast, and prefers to keep the deck forward of the cockpit free of lines and hardware. His Alpha 3000 autopilot has a remote that plugs into the base of a Dorade near the mast, which allows him to steer Callie Mae while chaining sails or reefing. Similarly, he ran a remote drive from his Lighthouse 1501 Windlass back to the binnacle to enable him to raise and lower the anchor while at the helm.

If you see a pattern here, it's not confidential. "Eventually, I want to do some solo sailing," he says. "The sailing part is not the issue; the boat's rigged for single handing, so that's going to be easy. It's docking part at each end that's a concern." But Callie Mae has been rigged for a crew of two, with which he plans to set sail next November. "St. Pete to Key West, then to Cuba or the Bahamas."

Sounds like a plan!