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Review of J/27


Basic specs.

sail specifications
The J/27 is a sailboat designed by the maritime architect Johnstone in the mid eighties.

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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.


Rig

The J/27 is equipped with a fractional rig. A fractional rig has smaller headsails which make tacking easier, which is an advantage for cruisers and racers, of course. The downside is that having the wind from behind often requires a gennaker or a spinnaker for optimal speed.


Keel

Fin keel

The J/27 is equipped with a fin keel. A boat with a fin keel is more manoeuvrable but has less directional stability than a similar boat with a full 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.


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.

Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 6.4 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 J/27 is about 121 kg/cm, alternatively 681 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 121 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 681 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.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for J/27 is 3.24.

Wide Slim 73% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is slimmer than 73% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more speedy hull design.


Over- / underrigged

Low High 100% 0 50 100
The J/27 has more rig than 100% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.


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 21m2 (226 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 fractional rig.

mainsail specifications headsail 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 24.9 m(81.8 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard24.9 m(81.8 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Spinnaker halyard24.9 m(81.8 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Jib sheet 8.4 m(27.5 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Genoa sheet8.4 m(27.5 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Mainsheet 21.0 m(68.7 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet18.4 m(60.5 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Cunningham3.5 m(11.5 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Kickingstrap7.0 m(23.0 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Clew-outhaul7.0 m(23.0 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 J/27 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