Review of Fisher 34

Both the hull and the deck is made of hand laid fibreglass. A hull made of hand laid fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.

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 core material in the sandwich construction is balsa.

Floor plan of Fisher 34. This is the Mark 3 interior layout available from around 1996 onwards in the UK.

The boat is equipped with 4-6 berths and 340 liters (89 US gallons, 74 imperial gallons) fresh water capacity.

Rig of Fisher 34 anno 1978.

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.

Another option is a ketch rig. A ketch rig is generally considered easier to handle, because the sails are smaller, and because it can sail on most points to the wind with one sail completely taken down for repair or while reefing. The sail configuration of a ketch allows for better comfort and stability when sailing downwind or on a broad reach.

Full keel

The Fisher 34 is built with a long keel. A long keel provide a better directional stability than a similar boat with a fin keel; on the other hand, better directional stability means also that the boat is more difficult to handle in a harbour with less space.

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.

Fisher 34 can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.44 - 1.54 meter (4.72 - 5.02 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

The fuel tank, which is made of stainless steel, has a capacity of 363 liters (95 US gallons, 79 imperial gallons).

The boat may be equipped with an inboard diesel engine at 60 hp (44 kW). Calculated max speed is about 6.7 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.

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Fisher 34 is 1.60, 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 7.3 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 Fisher 34 is about 208 kg/cm, alternatively 1167 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 208 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1167 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Fisher 34 is 43.3.

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Fisher 34 is 3.06.

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Fisher 34 is 48%.

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Fisher 34 is 369 which categorizes this boat among 'heavy cruisers'.

As balsa wood is used as sandwich core material special care must be taken in relation to work that require penetration of the sandwich construction in order to to prevent water to get in contact with the balsa wood. Otherwise the balsa wood will eventually rotten and be expensive/impossible to repair.

When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy. The surface of the wet bottom is about 33m² (355 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.

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.

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Fisher 34 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.