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Review of Great Dane 37


Great Dane 37
Great Dane 37 anno 1971. I bought her in July 2022 and have been doing some restoration work on her. Beginning to look good. I love this boat.

Basic specs.

sail specifications
The Great Dane 37 is a motorsailer designed by the Danish maritime architect Knud Olsen together with Svend Sandersen also from Denmark in the late sixties.

Looking for a new boat? Find a Great Dane 37 or similar boat for sale

Hull

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.


Interior

The interior is like most other boats made of teak. Teak has the advantage of being naturally very oily and therefore water-repellent, which is suitable on boats.
The boat is equipped with 3 cabins, 6-7 berths, a galley, 400.0 liter fresh water capacity and toilet facility.

Note: the boat has also been sold to be self-made/-interiored, which means that the quality of each boat may vary.


Rig

The Great Dane 37 is equipped with a ketch rig. A ketch rig is generally considered easier to handle, because the sails are smaller, and because it can sail on most points to the wind with one sail completely taken down for repair or while reefing. The sail configuration of a ketch allows for better comfort and stability when sailing downwind or on a broad reach.


Keel

Full keel

The Great Dane 37 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 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.

Great Dane 37 can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.67 - 1.77 meter (5.48 - 5.78 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


Engine

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Perkins diesel engine at 72 hp (53 kW). The speed is 8.0 knots.

The transmission is a shaft drive. A shaft drive will in the long run require less maintenance than other types of drive e.g. a sail drive.

The fuel tank, which is made of steel, has a capacity of 800.0 liters (211 US gallons, 175 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 Great Dane 37 is 1.61, 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 7.0 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 Great Dane 37 is about 184 kg/cm, alternatively 1033 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 184 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1033 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 Great Dane 37 is 42.0.

Low High 98% 0 50 100
Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 98% 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 Great Dane 37 is 3.38.

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


Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Great Dane 37 is 44%.

Low High 73% 0 50 100
This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 73% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just above average.


D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Great Dane 37 is 438 which categorizes this boat among 'heavy cruisers'.

Heavy Light 2% 0 50 100
2% 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.


SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

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): 13.16


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

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
Jib sheet 11.2 m(36.8 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Genoa sheet11.2 m(36.8 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Mainsheet 28.0 m(91.9 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker sheet24.7 m(80.9 feet)14 mm(0.55 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 Great Dane 37 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