Review of Portsmouth 48
Basic specs.
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The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.
The boat is equipped with 1192.0 liter fresh water capacity.
The Portsmouth 48 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.
Full keel
The Portsmouth 48 is equipped with a long keel. A full keel provide a better directional stability than a similar boat with a fin keel; on the other hand, better directional stability means also that the boat is more difficult to handle in a harbour with less space.
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 enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.78 - 1.88 meter (5.84 - 6.14 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
Portsmouth 48 may be equipped with an inboard Yanmar diesel engine at 315 hp (234 kW). Calculated max speed is about 14.7 knots
The fuel tank has a capacity of 2157.0 liters (569 US gallons, 474 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 Portsmouth 48 is 1.84, 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 8.8 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.
The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level.
The immersion rate for Portsmouth 48 is about 405 kg/cm, alternatively 2268 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 405 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 2268 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 Portsmouth 48 is 32.4.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Portsmouth 48 is 3.23.
The ballast ratio for Portsmouth 48 is 29%.
What is Displacement Length Ratio?
The DL-ratio for Portsmouth 48 is 190 which categorizes this boat among 'light racers'.
What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?
The SA/D for Portsmouth 48 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 15.8, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 18.8.
Maintenance
When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy.
The surface of the wet bottom is about 63m2 (678 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 masthead 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 | 40.0 m | (131.2 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Jib/genoa halyard | 40.0 m | (131.2 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Spinnaker halyard | 40.0 m | (131.2 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Jib sheet | 14.8 m | (48.4 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 14.8 m | (48.4 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 36.9 m | (121.1 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 32.5 m | (106.5 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Cunningham | 5.8 m | (19.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Kickingstrap | 11.6 m | (38.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Clew-outhaul | 11.6 m | (38.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
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