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Review of Carter 30


Carter 30
Carter 30 anno 1980.

Basic specs.

sail specifications
The Carter 30 is a sailboat designed by the British maritime architect Richard Carter in the early seventies. A few hundred boats have been produced. The Carter 30 is built by the Polish yard Stettin.

Looking for a new boat? Find a Carter 30 or similar boat for sale

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.


Interior

The interior is like many other boats made of mahogany. Mahogany belongs to the hardwood species, known for being water-repellent and resistant to decay. It has an attractive wood grain and holds wood polish and varnish well.
The boat is equipped with 5 berths, a galley and toilet facility.


Rig
Rig
Rig of Carter 30 anno 1980.

The Carter 30 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
Keel
Keel of Carter 30 anno 1977.

The Carter 30 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 most marinas as the draft is just about 1.52 - 1.62 meter (4.99 - 5.29 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Fin keel

The Carter 30 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 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.

Carter 30 can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.52 - 1.62 meter (4.99 - 5.29 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


Engine

The Carter 30 has been equipped with different engine alternatives.

Alternative 1:

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Yanmar YS12 diesel engine at 12 hp (8 kW). Calculated max speed is about 4.6 knots

Alternative 2:

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta MD7A diesel engine at 13 hp (9 kW). Max speed is 5.0 knots.

The transmission is a saildrive.


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 Carter 30 is 2.01, 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 6.8 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 Carter 30 is about 160 kg/cm, alternatively 897 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 160 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 897 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 Carter 30 is 19.3 - 21.5.

Low High 38% 0 50 100
Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 38% of all similar sailboat designs. This comfort value is just below average.


L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Carter 30 is 2.94.

Slim Wide 66% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 66% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.


Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Carter 30 is 41%.

Low High 50% 0 50 100
This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 50% of all similar sailboat designs. This righting moment (ability to resist heeling) is spot on average!


D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Carter 30 is 208 which categorizes this boat among 'light crusers & offshore racers'.

Heavy Light 73% 0 50 100
73% 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 Carter 30 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 15.4, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 18.6.

Low High 42% 0 50 100
The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 42% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.


Over- / underrigged

Low High 76% 0 50 100
The Carter 30 has more rig than 76% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.


RSP (Relative Speed Performance)

What is Relative Speed Performance?

The Relative Speed Performance for Carter 30 is 50

Slow Fast 50% 0 50 100
The relative speed performance is 50 which means that a it is faster than 50% 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 27m2 (290 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 headsail 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 26.1 m(85.5 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard26.1 m(85.5 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker halyard26.1 m(85.5 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Jib sheet 9.1 m(29.8 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Genoa sheet9.1 m(29.8 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Mainsheet 22.7 m(74.4 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker sheet20.0 m(65.5 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Cunningham3.0 m(9.7 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Kickingstrap5.9 m(19.4 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Clew-outhaul5.9 m(19.4 feet)10 mm(3/8 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 Carter 30 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