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Review of Baltic 55 DP


Basic specs.

sail specifications
The Baltic 55 DP is a large sailboat designed by the American maritime architect Douglas Blair Peterson in the early eighties. The Baltic 55 DP is built by the Finnish yard Baltic Yachts Ltd..

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Hull

Both the hull and the deck is made of hand laid fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of hand laid fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.
The hull is a double hull 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 deck is a double deck which improves the indoor climate.


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 0 cabins, 8-10 berths, a galley, 750.0 liter fresh water capacity and toilet facility.


Rig

The Baltic 55 DP 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 Baltic 55 DP 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.

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 2.42 - 2.52 meter (7.94 - 8.24 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


Engine

The Baltic 55 DP has been equipped with different engine alternatives.

Alternative 1:

Baltic 55 DP may be equipped with an inboard Yanmar 4JH3-DTE diesel engine at 125 hp (93 kW). Calculated max speed is about 9.2 knots

Alternative 2:

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta TMD 30 diesel engine at 86 hp (64 kW). The speed is 9.5 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.

The fuel tank, which is made of stainless steel, has a capacity of 330.0 liters (87 US gallons, 72 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 Baltic 55 DP is 1.91, 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 9.2 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 Baltic 55 DP is about 476 kg/cm, alternatively 2665 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 476 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 2665 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 Baltic 55 DP is 3.39.

Slim Wide 76% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 76% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a significantly more spacy hull design.


Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Baltic 55 DP is 42%.

Low High 79% 0 50 100
This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 79% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly above average.


D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Baltic 55 DP is 161 which categorizes this boat among 'light racers'.

Heavy Light 76% 0 50 100
76% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A light displacement requires less sailarea and has higher accellerations.


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 79m2 (850 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
UsageLengthDiameter
Jib sheet 16.7 m(54.8 feet)16 mm(5/8 inch)
Genoa sheet16.7 m(54.8 feet)16 mm(5/8 inch)
Mainsheet 41.8 m(137.0 feet)16 mm(5/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet36.7 m(120.5 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 Baltic 55 DP 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