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Review of Tartan 34 Mk II


Basic specs.

sail specifications
The Tartan 34 Mk II is a sailboat designed by the American maritime architect bureau Sparkman & Stephens in the mid eighties. A few hundred boats have been produced.

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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.


Interior

The boat is equipped with 215.0 liter fresh water capacity.


Rig

The Tartan 34 Mk II 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

The Tartan 34 Mk II has been built with different keel alternatives.

Unknown keel type

The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.36 - 1.46 meter (4.46 - 4.76 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Fin keel

The Tartan 34 Mk II 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.

Tartan 34 Mk II can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 1.91 - 2.01 meter (6.27 - 6.57 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


Engine

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Yanmar diesel engine at 27 hp (20 kW). Calculated max speed is about 6.3 knots

The fuel tank has a capacity of 87.0 liters (22 US gallons, 19 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.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Tartan 34 Mk II is 1.97, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - 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 7.2 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 Tartan 34 Mk II is about 196 kg/cm, alternatively 1101 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 196 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1101 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 Tartan 34 Mk II is 22.8.

Low High 31% 0 50 100
Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 31% 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 Tartan 34 Mk II is 3.14.

Slim Wide 58% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 58% 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 Tartan 34 Mk II is 40%.

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 Tartan 34 Mk II is 204 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 Tartan 34 Mk II with ISO 8666 reference sail is 17.4, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 20.9.

Low High 58% 0 50 100
The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 58% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.


Over- / underrigged

Low High 93% 0 50 100
The Tartan 34 Mk II has more rig than 93% 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 31m2 (333 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

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 31.2 m(102.3 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard31.2 m(102.3 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker halyard31.2 m(102.3 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Jib sheet 10.5 m(34.4 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Genoa sheet10.5 m(34.4 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Mainsheet 26.2 m(86.0 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker sheet23.1 m(75.7 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Cunningham3.6 m(11.9 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Kickingstrap7.3 m(23.8 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Clew-outhaul7.3 m(23.8 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 Tartan 34 Mk II 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