Review of Grand Soleil 50
Basic specs.
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The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.
The boat is equipped with 6/9 berths, a galley, 460.0 liter fresh water capacity and toilet facility.
The boat has more than one rig.
One option is 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.
The Grand Soleil 50 has been built with different keel alternatives.
Unknown keel type
Grand Soleil 50 can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.80 - 2.90 meter (9.19 - 9.49 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
Fin keel
The Grand Soleil 50 is equipped with a fin keel. The fin keel is the most common keel and provides splendid manoeuvrability. The downside is that it has less directional stability than a long keel.
The boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.30 - 2.40 meter (7.55 - 7.85 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
The boat may be equipped with an engine at 55 hp (40 kW). Calculated max speed is about 6.8 knots.
The fuel tank has a capacity of 290.0 liters (76 US gallons, 63 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.
What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?
The capsize screening value for Grand Soleil 50 is 1.96, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.
What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?
The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 8.8 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.
The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level.
The immersion rate for Grand Soleil 50 is about 403 kg/cm, alternatively 2258 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 403 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 2258 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.
What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?
The Motion Comfort Ratio for Grand Soleil 50 is 26.6.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Grand Soleil 50 is 3.27.
The ballast ratio for Grand Soleil 50 is 33%.
What is Displacement Length Ratio?
The DL-ratio for Grand Soleil 50 is 157 which categorizes this boat among 'light racers'.
SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)
Indicates how fast the boat is in light wind:
- Cruising Boats have ratios 10-15
- Cruiser-Racers have ratios 16-20
- Racers have ratios above 20
- High-Performance Racers have ratios above 24
Sail-area/displacement ratio (SA/D ratio): 24.83
Maintenance
When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy.
The surface of the wet bottom is about 73m2 (785 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.
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.
| Masthead rig | ||||
| Usage | Length | Diameter | ||
| Jib sheet | 14.9 m | (48.9 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 14.9 m | (48.9 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 37.2 m | (122.2 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 32.8 m | (107.5 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Masthead rig | ||||
| Usage | Length | Diameter | ||
| Mainsail halyard | 42.3 m | (138.8 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Jib/genoa halyard | 42.3 m | (138.8 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Spinnaker halyard | 42.3 m | (138.8 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Jib sheet | 14.9 m | (48.9 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 14.9 m | (48.9 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 37.2 m | (122.2 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 32.8 m | (107.5 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Cunningham | 6.1 m | (20.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Kickingstrap | 12.2 m | (40.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Clew-outhaul | 12.2 m | (40.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
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