Review of Poca 26

Both the hull and the deck is made of fibreglass. A hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.

The boat is equipped with one cabin, 2+3 berths, a galley and toilet facility.

Note: the boat has also been sold to be home-completed, which means that the quality of each boat may vary.

The Poca 26 is built with a masthead rig. The sail area for the mailsail + jib is 28.8 m² (310.0 ft²). 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 Poca 26 is built with a long keel. A long 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.

Poca 26 can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.12 - 1.22 meter (3.67 - 3.97 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Bukh DV20 diesel engine at 20 hp (14 kW). Calculated max speed is about 5.9 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.

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Poca 26 is 1.87, 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 6.4 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 Poca 26 is about 127 kg/cm, alternatively 716 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 127 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 716 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Poca 26 is 25.0.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 82% of all similar sailboat designs. This is a comfort value significantly above average.

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Poca 26 is 2.88.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 69% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Poca 26 is 36%.

This ballast ratio is higher than 34% of all similar sailboat designs. Since the ballast ratio and the righting moment (i.e. better ability to resist heeling) is strongly correlated, a ballast ratio just below average indicates an ability to resist heeling below average.

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Poca 26 is 277 which categorizes this boat among 'medium weight cruisers'.

31% 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.

When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy. The surface of the wet bottom is about 20m² (215 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.

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.

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Poca 26 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.

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