Review of Dark Harbor 17 1/2
Basic specs.
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The hull is made of wood.
Fin keel
The Dark Harbor 17 1/2 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.
The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.30 - 1.40 meter (4.27 - 4.57 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
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 Dark Harbor 17 1/2 is 1.57, 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 5.6 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 Dark Harbor 17 1/2 is about 67 kg/cm, alternatively 379 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 67 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 379 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 Dark Harbor 17 1/2 is 26.8.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Dark Harbor 17 1/2 is 4.14.
The ballast ratio for Dark Harbor 17 1/2 is 37%.
What is Displacement Length Ratio?
The DL-ratio for Dark Harbor 17 1/2 is 333 which categorizes this boat among 'heavy cruisers'.
SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)
Indicates how fast the boat is in light wind:
- Cruising Boats have ratios 10-15
- Cruiser-Racers have ratios 16-20
- Racers have ratios above 20
- High-Performance Racers have ratios above 24
Sail-area/displacement ratio (SA/D ratio): 19.69
Maintenance
When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy.
The surface of the wet bottom is about 13m2 (139 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.
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 | ||
| Jib sheet | 7.9 m | (25.8 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 7.9 m | (25.8 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 19.7 m | (64.6 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 17.3 m | (56.8 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
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