Review of Sunbeam 44

Basic specs.

The Sunbeam 44 is a large sailboat designed by the Slovenian maritime architect bureau J&J Design in the early nineties. Less than 100 boats have been produced. The Sunbeam 44 is built by the Austrian yard Schöchl Yachtbau GmbH.

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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.

Interior

The boat is equipped with 6 berths and 350.0 liter fresh water capacity.

Keel

The Sunbeam 44 has been built with different keel alternatives.

Unknown keel type

The boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.00 - 2.10 meter (6.56 - 6.86 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Fin keel

The Sunbeam 44 is equipped with a fin keel. The fin keel is the most common keel and provides splendid manoeuvrability. The downside is that it has less directional stability than a long keel.

Sunbeam 44 can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.65 - 1.75 meter (5.41 - 5.71 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Engine

The Sunbeam 44 has been equipped with different engine alternatives.

Alternative 1:

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Yanmar diesel engine

Alternative 2:

The boat may be equipped with an engine at 50 hp (37 kW). Calculated max speed is about 6.5 knots.

The fuel tank has a capacity of 220.0 liters (58 US gallons, 48 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 Sunbeam 44 is 1.79, 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 8.3 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 Sunbeam 44 is about 310 kg/cm, alternatively 1739 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 310 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1739 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 Sunbeam 44 is 31.2.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 50% of all similar sailboat designs. This is an average comfort value!

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Sunbeam 44 is 3.37.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 50% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen an average hull design.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Sunbeam 44 is 199 which categorizes this boat among 'light racers'.

69% 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)

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): 20.80

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 52m² (559 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**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Jib sheet	13.4 m	(44.0 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Genoa sheet	13.4 m	(44.0 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Mainsheet	33.5 m	(109.9 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	29.5 m	(96.7 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 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 Sunbeam 44 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

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