Review of Express 37 Mk II

Basic specs.

The Express 37 Mk II is a sailboat designed by the American maritime architect Carl Schumacher in the late eighties. Only a few boats have been produced. The Express 37 Mk II is built by the American yard Alsberg Brothers Boatworks.

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Hull

The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.

The hull is a sandwich construction which improves the indoor climate. Especially when the water is colder than the air in the cabin, then the double hull insulates against cold water and reduce the condense water in the cabin. The core material in the sandwich construction is balsa.

Rig

The Express 37 Mk II 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

Fin keel

The Express 37 Mk II 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 only enter major marinas as the draft is about 1.98 - 2.08 meter (6.50 - 6.80 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Engine

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Yanmar diesel engine at 18 hp (13 kW). Calculated max speed is about 5.4 knots

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 Express 37 Mk II is 2.10, indicating that this boat would not 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 7.4 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.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Express 37 Mk II is about 221 kg/cm, alternatively 1237 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 221 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1237 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 Express 37 Mk II is 19.0.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 12% of all similar sailboat designs. This is a comfort value significantly below average.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Express 37 Mk II is 3.22.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 54% 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 Express 37 Mk II is 43%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 69% 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 Express 37 Mk II is 159 which categorizes this boat among 'light racers'.

86% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A light displacement requires less sailarea and has higher accellerations.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?

The SA/D for Express 37 Mk II with ISO 8666 reference sail is 22.5, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 26.7.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 96% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

Over- / underrigged

The Express 37 Mk II has more rig than 88% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.

Maintenance

Hull / Deck

As balsa wood is used as sandwich core material special care must be taken in relation to work that require penetration of the sandwich construction in order to to prevent water to get in contact with the balsa wood. Otherwise the balsa wood will eventually rotten and be expensive/impossible to repair.

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 39m² (419 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

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.

**Guiding dimensions of running rig**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Mainsail halyard	34.7 m	(113.8 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	34.7 m	(113.8 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	34.7 m	(113.8 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Jib sheet	11.3 m	(37.1 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Genoa sheet	11.3 m	(37.1 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Mainsheet	28.2 m	(92.7 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	24.9 m	(81.6 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Cunningham	4.4 m	(14.3 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Kickingstrap	8.7 m	(28.6 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Clew-outhaul	8.7 m	(28.6 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 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

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References

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