YachtDatabase.com

Review of F 18


Basic specs.

sail specifications
The F 18 aka IW 23 is a small sailboat designed by the Swedish maritime architect Ivar Waldemar Åkesson in the mid sixties. The F 18 is built by the Swedish yard IW-Varvet.

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Hull

The hull 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.
The hull is a double hull 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.


Interior

The boat is equipped with 4 berths.


Rig

The F 18 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 F 18 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 keel is made of iron. Many people prefer lead keel in favour of iron. The main argument is that lead is much heavier than iron and a lead keel can therefore be made smaller which again result in less wet surface, i.e. less drag. In fact iron is quite heavy, just 30% less heavy than lead, so the advantage of a lead keel is often overstated. As the surface of a fin type keel is just a fraction of the total wet surface, the difference between an iron keel and a lead keel can in reality be ignored for cruising yachts.

The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.10 - 1.20 meter (3.61 - 3.91 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


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 F 18 is 2.03, indicating that this boat would not 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 5.9 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 F 18 is about 90 kg/cm, alternatively 506 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 90 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 506 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 F 18 is 16.1.

Low High 62% 0 50 100
Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 62% 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 F 18 is 3.02.

Wide Slim 69% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is slimmer than 69% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more speedy hull design.


Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for F 18 is 46%.

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 F 18 is 180 which categorizes this boat among 'light racers'.

Heavy Light 58% 0 50 100
58% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A light displacement requires less sailarea and has higher accellerations.


SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

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

The SA/D for F 18 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 14.0, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 16.2.

Low High 21% 0 50 100
The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 21% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.


Over- / underrigged

Low High 38% 0 50 100
The F 18 has more rig than 38% 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 F 18 is 27

Slow Fast 27% 0 50 100
The relative speed performance is 27 which means that a it is faster than 27% 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 15m2 (161 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 19.6 m(64.1 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard19.6 m(64.1 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Spinnaker halyard19.6 m(64.1 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Jib sheet 6.8 m(22.3 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Genoa sheet6.8 m(22.3 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Mainsheet 17.0 m(55.8 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet15.0 m(49.1 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Cunningham2.7 m(8.9 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Kickingstrap5.4 m(17.7 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Clew-outhaul5.4 m(17.7 feet)8 mm(5/16 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 F 18 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