Review of Passat 26
Basic specs.
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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.
Both the hull and the deck is a sandwich construction which improves the indoor climate. Especially when the water is colder than the air in the cabin, then the double hull insulates against cold water and reduce the condense water in the cabin.
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 4-5 berths, a galley, 100.0 liter fresh water capacity and toilet facility.
The Passat 26 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.
Fin keel
The Passat 26 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 enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.43 - 1.53 meter (4.69 - 4.99 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
The Passat 26 has been equipped with different engine alternatives.
Alternative 1:
An outboard motor is often used on this boat. In that case Passat 26 will typically require a power of 4 - 5 hp, alternatively 97 - 117 lbs thrust if you prefer an electrical motor. Electric outboards are becoming popular for sailboat owners who want clean instant power with less noise and no exhaust fumes.
Alternative 2:
The boat may be equipped with an inboard engine
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 Passat 26 is 2.08, indicating that this boat would not 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 6.3 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 Passat 26 is about 119 kg/cm, alternatively 668 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 119 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 668 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 Passat 26 is 17.9.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Passat 26 is 2.93.
The ballast ratio for Passat 26 is 45%.
What is Displacement Length Ratio?
The DL-ratio for Passat 26 is 208 which categorizes this boat among 'light crusers & offshore racers'.
What is Relative Speed Performance?
The Relative Speed Performance for Passat 26 is 62
Maintenance
When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy.
The surface of the wet bottom is about 20m2 (215 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.
| Usage | Length | Diameter | ||
| Jib sheet | 7.8 m | (25.8 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 7.8 m | (25.8 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 19.6 m | (64.4 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 17.3 m | (56.7 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
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