Review of Schless 56

Basic specs.

The Schless 56 is a large motorboat designed in the late sixties. A few hundred boats have been produced. The Schless 56 is built by the German yard Schless-Werft Schiff und Bootsbau.

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Hull

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.

Interior

The interior is like many other boats made of mahogany. Mahogany belongs to the hardwood species, known for being water-repellent and resistant to decay. It has an attractive wood grain and holds wood polish and varnish well.
The boat is equipped with 3 cabins, 8 berths, a galley and 1000.0 liter fresh water capacity.

Keel

Full keel

The Schless 56 is equipped with 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 boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.14 - 1.24 meter (3.74 - 4.04 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Engine

Schless 56 may be equipped with a Daimler-Benz OM355 engine at 260 hp (193 kW). Max speed is 16.0 knots..

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.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Schless 56 is about 466 kg/cm, alternatively 2615 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 466 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 2615 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 Schless 56 is 4.15.

Compared with other similar motor boats it is slimmer than 99% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a significantly more speedy hull design. This type of design is also referred to as 'needle'.

Curiosities

Powerboat?

In Denmark, you are required to have achieved a 'powerboat driving license' in order to sail a powerboat.
In this context a boat is considered a powerboat if:

Danish definition of a powerboat

According to this definition this boat is not categorized as a Powerboat.
Though, if you install a motor of 292 kW (391 hp), then the boat will become a powerboat, and you will need a Danish 'powerboat driving license'

Maintenance

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 Schless 56 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.