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Review of Bristol 32


Bristol 32
Bristol 32 anno 1976. Bristol 32

Basic specs.

sail specifications
The Bristol 32 is a sailboat designed by the American maritime architect Ted Hood in the mid sixties. Several hundred boats have been produced. The Bristol 32 is built by the American yard Bristol Yachts Inc..

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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 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 one cabin, 4 berths, 342.0 liter fresh water capacity and toilet facility.


Cockpit
Cockpit
Cockpit of Bristol 32 anno 1976. Make: Bristol 32 Sailing in the Gulf of Mexico. Docked at the Field Club in Sarasota, Florida.
Keel

The Bristol 32 has been built with different keel alternatives.

Full keel

One option is 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 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 1.40 - 1.50 meter (4.59 - 4.89 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

CentreBoard

Another option is a centreboard keel. A centreboard keel is a pivoting lifting keel, allowing to sail both coastal and inland waters.

Bristol 32 can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.07 - 1.17 meter (3.51 - 3.81 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


Engine

The Bristol 32 has been equipped with different engine alternatives.

Alternative 1:

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta engine at 28 hp (20 kW).

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.

Alternative 2:

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Universal Atomic 4 gasoline engine at 30 hp (22 kW).

The fuel tank has a capacity of 95.0 liters (25 US gallons, 20 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 Bristol 32 is 1.56, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.


Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Bristol 32 is about 220 kg/cm, alternatively 1232 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 220 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1232 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.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Bristol 32 is 3.42.

Wide Slim 73% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is slimmer than 73% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more speedy hull design.


SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

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

The SA/D for Bristol 32 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 11.0, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 12.9.

Low High 2% 0 50 100
The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 2% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.


Maintenance

Rig

Dimensions of sail.

mainsail specifications headsail specifications

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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
Mainsail halyard 26.5 m(87.0 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard26.5 m(87.0 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker halyard26.5 m(87.0 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Jib sheet 10.6 m(34.8 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Genoa sheet10.6 m(34.8 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Mainsheet 26.5 m(86.9 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker sheet23.3 m(76.5 feet)14 mm(0.55 inch)
Cunningham4.1 m(13.5 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Kickingstrap8.2 m(27.0 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Clew-outhaul8.2 m(27.0 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

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Bristol 32 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