Review of Nordship 9000

Nordship 9000 anno 1988.

Basic specs.

The Nordship 9000 is a sailboat designed by the Danish maritime architect Jan Kjærulff in the early eighties. The Nordship 9000 is built by the Danish yard Nordship.

Looking for a new boat? Find a Nordship 9000 or similar boat for sale

Hull

Deck plan of Nordship 9000.

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. 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

Floor plan of Nordship 9000.

The boat is equipped with 135.0 liter fresh water capacity and toilet facility.

Cockpit

Cockpit of Nordship 9000 anno 1988.

Rig

The Nordship 9000 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 of Nordship 9000.

Fin keel

The Nordship 9000 is equipped 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 boat can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.50 - 1.60 meter (4.92 - 5.22 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Engine

The Nordship 9000 has been equipped with different engine alternatives.

Alternative 1:

Nordship 9000 may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta 2003 diesel engine at 28 hp (20 kW). Calculated max speed is about 6.2 knots

The transmission is a saildrive.

Alternative 2:

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta 2002 diesel engine at 18 hp (13 kW). Calculated max speed is about 4.9 knots

The transmission is a saildrive.

The fuel tank has a capacity of 135.0 liters (35 US gallons, 29 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 Nordship 9000 is 1.84, 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 6.5 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 Nordship 9000 is about 141 kg/cm, alternatively 791 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 141 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 791 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 Nordship 9000 is 28.2.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 85% of all similar sailboat designs. This is a comfort value significantly above average.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Nordship 9000 is 2.92.

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 Nordship 9000 is 35%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 21% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly below average.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Nordship 9000 is 334 which categorizes this boat among 'heavy cruisers'.

15% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A heavy displacement combined with smaller water plane area has lower acceleration and is more comfortable.

RSP (Relative Speed Performance)

What is Relative Speed Performance?

The Relative Speed Performance for Nordship 9000 is 27

The relative speed performance is 27 which means that a it is faster than 27% 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 24m² (258 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

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**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Jib sheet	8.7 m	(28.5 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Genoa sheet	8.7 m	(28.5 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Mainsheet	21.7 m	(71.2 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	19.1 m	(62.7 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 Nordship 9000 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

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