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Review of Drabant 33


Drabant 33
Drabant 33 anno 1979. Pinta i Østersøen


Basic specs.

sail specifications
The Drabant 33 is a sailboat designed by the Danish maritime architect Gert Gerlach in the mid seventies. Less than 100 boats have been produced. The Drabant 33 is built by the Danish yard A/S Nilling's Bådeværft.

Looking for a new boat? Find a Drabant 33 or similar boat for sale

Hull

Both the hull and the deck is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season. And outside the sailing season, just bottom cleaning and perhaps anti-fouling painting once a year - a few hours of work, that's all.


Interior

The interior is like many other boats made of mahogany. Mahogany belongs to the hardwood species, known for being water-repellent and resistant to decay. It has an attractive wood grain and holds wood polish and varnish well.
The boat is equipped with 2 cabins, 5-6 berths, a galley, 100.0 liter fresh water capacity and toilet facility.

Note: the boat has also been sold to be self-made/-interiored, which means that the quality of each boat may vary.


Rig

The Drabant 33 is equipped with a masthead rig. The advantage of a masthead rig is its simplicity and the fact that a given sail area - compared with a fractional rig - can be carried lower and thus with less heeling moment.


Keel

Fin keel

The Drabant 33 is equipped with a fin keel. A boat with a fin keel is more manoeuvrable but has less directional stability than a similar boat with a full keel.

The keel is made of lead. Compared with iron, lead has the advantage of being 44% heavier, which allows a smaller keel and hence less water resistance and higher speed.

Drabant 33 can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.72 - 1.82 meter (5.64 - 5.94 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


Engine

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Bukh diesel engine at 20 hp (14 kW). Max speed is 6.0 knots.

The transmission is a shaft drive. A shaft drive will in the long run require less maintenance than other types of drive e.g. a sail drive.

The fuel tank has a capacity of 35.0 liters (9 US gallons, 7 imperial gallons).


Sailing characteristics

This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Drabant 33 is 1.85, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.


Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 6.9 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.


Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Drabant 33 is about 173 kg/cm, alternatively 974 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 173 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 974 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.


Sailing statistics

This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.

Motion Comfort Ratio

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Drabant 33 is 25.6 - 27.1.

Low High 66% 0 50 100
Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 66% of all similar sailboat designs. This comfort value is just above average.


L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Drabant 33 is 3.15.

Slim Wide 54% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 54% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.


Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Drabant 33 is 47%.

Low High 79% 0 50 100
This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 79% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly above average.


D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Drabant 33 is 256 which categorizes this boat among 'light crusers & offshore racers'.

Heavy Light 46% 0 50 100
46% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A heavy displacement combined with smaller water plane area has lower acceleration and is more comfortable.


SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?

The SA/D for Drabant 33 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 14.8, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 17.8.

Low High 24% 0 50 100
The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 24% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.


Over- / underrigged

Low High 27% 0 50 100
The Drabant 33 has more rig than 27% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is slightly underrigged.


RSP (Relative Speed Performance)

What is Relative Speed Performance?

The Relative Speed Performance for Drabant 33 is 50

Slow Fast 50% 0 50 100
The relative speed performance is 50 which means that a it is faster than 50% of all similar sailboat designs.


Maintenance

Bottom Paint

When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy. The surface of the wet bottom is about 30m2 (322 ft2).
Based on this, your favourite maritime shop can tell you the quantity you need.

Note: If you use a paint roller you will need more paint than if you use a paintbrush.


Rig

Dimensions of sail for masthead rig.

mainsail specifications genoa specifications spinnaker specifications

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale



If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.



Guiding dimensions of running rig
UsageLengthDiameter
Mainsail halyard 30.7 m(100.6 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard30.7 m(100.6 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker halyard30.7 m(100.6 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Jib sheet 10.0 m(32.8 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Genoa sheet10.0 m(32.8 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Mainsheet 25.0 m(81.9 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker sheet22.0 m(72.1 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Cunningham3.1 m(10.1 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Kickingstrap6.2 m(20.2 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Clew-outhaul6.2 m(20.2 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section is reserved boat owner's modifications, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

Do you have changes/improvements you would like to share? Upload a photo and describe what you have done.



Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Drabant 33 it would be a great help.

If you have any comments to the review, improvement suggestions, or the like, feel free to contact us. Criticism helps us to improve.



References