Review of Gib'Sea 302

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 Gib'Sea 302 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.

The Gib'Sea 302 has been built with different keel alternatives.

Unknown keel type

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 0.70 - 0.80 meter (2.30 - 2.60 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Deep keel

One option is a deep keel. A deep keel provide a better healing moment than a shallow keel.

This keel is also made of iron.

The boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 1.83 - 1.93 meter (6.00 - 6.30 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Fin keel

Another option is 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.

This keel is also made of iron.

Gib'Sea 302 can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.65 - 1.75 meter (5.41 - 5.71 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Gib'Sea 302 is about 202 kg/cm, alternatively 1136 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 202 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1136 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Gib'Sea 302 is 2.67.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 88% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a significantly more spacy hull design.

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Gib'Sea 302 is 35%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 18% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly below average.

The Gib'Sea 302 has more rig than 90% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.

Dimensions of sail for masthead rig.

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.

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 Gib'Sea 302 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.

[Ref 1]: ISO 8666 Small craft — Principal data.
[Ref 3]: ISO 12215-5 Small craft — Hull construction and scantlings.