Review of Buchanan 34
Basic specs.
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The hull is made of aluminium. Aluminum is strong and forgiving. Where an impact on a fiberglass hull will result in major gelcoat damage and possible cracking, an aluminum hull will probably only have a scratch or a small bend. The only concern is electrolysis. Ensure that you have proper sacrificial anodes installed.
The boat is equipped with 209.0 liter fresh water capacity.
Fin keel
The Buchanan 34 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 enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.70 - 1.80 meter (5.58 - 5.88 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
Buchanan 34 may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta MD11C diesel engine at 23 hp (17 kW).
The fuel tank has a capacity of 150.0 liters (39 US gallons, 32 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.
The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level.
The immersion rate for Buchanan 34 is about 222 kg/cm, alternatively 1248 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 222 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 1248 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.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Buchanan 34 is 3.25.
Maintenance
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.
| Usage | Length | Diameter | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jib sheet | 10.4 m | (34.1 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 10.4 m | (34.1 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 26.0 m | (85.3 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 22.9 m | (75.1 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
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