Review of Wasa 55
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.
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 most other boats made of teak. Teak has the advantage of being naturally very oily and therefore water-repellent, which is suitable on boats.
The boat is equipped with 7 berths, a galley and 150.0 liter fresh water capacity.
The Wasa 55 is built 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.
Fin keel
The Wasa 55 is built 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 lead. Compared with iron, lead has the advantage of being 44% heavier, which allows a smaller keel and hence less water resistance and higher speed.
The boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.00 - 2.10 meter (6.56 - 6.86 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
Wasa 55 may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta MD7A diesel engine at 13 hp (9 kW). Calculated max speed is about 4.6 knots
The transmission is a saildrive.
The fuel tank has a capacity of 40.0 liters (10 US gallons, 8 imperial gallons).
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 Wasa 55 is 1.47, 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 7.9 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.
The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level.
The immersion rate for Wasa 55 is about 184 kg/cm, alternatively 1035 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 184 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 1035 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 Wasa 55 is 28.6.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Wasa 55 is 5.23.
The ballast ratio for Wasa 55 is 49%.
What is Displacement Length Ratio?
The DL-ratio for Wasa 55 is 125 which categorizes this boat among 'ultra light racers'.
What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?
The SA/D for Wasa 55 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 17.6, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 20.3.
What is Relative Speed Performance?
The Relative Speed Performance for Wasa 55 is 14
Maintenance
When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy.
The surface of the wet bottom is about 37m2 (398 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.
Dimensions of sail for fractional 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.
| Usage | Length | Diameter | ||
| Mainsail halyard | 36.7 m | (120.3 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Jib/genoa halyard | 36.7 m | (120.3 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Spinnaker halyard | 36.7 m | (120.3 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Jib sheet | 13.5 m | (44.3 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 13.5 m | (44.3 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 33.8 m | (110.7 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 29.7 m | (97.4 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Cunningham | 4.2 m | (13.8 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Kickingstrap | 8.4 m | (27.6 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Clew-outhaul | 8.4 m | (27.6 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
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