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Review of Compass 34


Compass 34
Compass 34 anno 1979. sv MYLADY cruising the South Pacific Ocean south of 40S

Basic specs.

sail specifications
The Compass 34 is a sailboat designed by the Danish maritime architect Bjørn Olsen in the late seventies. Only a few boats have been produced. The Compass 34 is built by the Danish yard Sønderborg Yachtværft ApS.

Looking for a new boat? Find a Compass 34 or similar boat for sale

Hull

Both the hull and the deck is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season. And outside the sailing season, just bottom cleaning and perhaps anti-fouling painting once a year - a few hours of work, that's all.


Interior

The boat is equipped with 2 cabins, 7 berths, a galley and toilet facility.

Note: the boat has also been sold to be self-made/-interiored, which means that the quality of each boat may vary.


Rig

The Compass 34 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
Keel
Keel of Compass 34 anno 1979.

Fin keel

The Compass 34 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.

Compass 34 can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.70 - 1.80 meter (5.58 - 5.88 ft) dependent on the load.


Engine

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta diesel engine at 23 hp (17 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.


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 Compass 34 is 1.95, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.


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 Compass 34 is 3.22.

Slim Wide 50% 0 50 100
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.


Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Compass 34 is 51%.

Low High 92% 0 50 100
This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 92% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly above average.


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): 17.90


Maintenance

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 10.3 m(33.8 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Genoa sheet10.3 m(33.8 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Mainsheet 25.8 m(84.6 feet)12 mm(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker sheet22.7 m(74.4 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 Compass 34 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