Review of Bavaria 960

Basic specs.

The Bavaria 960 is a sailboat designed by the German maritime architect Axel Mohnhaupt. The Bavaria 960 is built by the German yard Bavaria Yachtbau GmbH.

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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. 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 7 berths.

Rig

The boat equipped with a fractional rig. A fractional rig has smaller headsails which make tacking easier, which is an advantage for cruisers and racers, of course. The downside is that having the wind from behind often requires a genaker or a spinnaker for optimal speed.

Keel

The Bavaria 960 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 long keel.

The boat can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.68 - 1.78 meter (5.51 - 5.81 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Engine

Bavaria 960 is typically equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta diesel engine at 18.0 hp (13 kW).

The transmission is a saildrive.

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 Bavaria 960 is 1.97, 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 Bavaria 960 is about 192 kg/cm, alternatively 1080 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 192 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1080 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 Bavaria 960 is 3.20.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is slimmer than 54% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more speedy hull design.

Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Bavaria 960 is 33%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 14% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly below average.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

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

The SA/D for Bavaria 960 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 15.8, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 18.3.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 42% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

Over- / underrigged

The Bavaria 960 has more rig than 79% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.

Maintenance

Rig

Dimensions of sail for fractional rig.

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale

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**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Mainsail halyard	28.6 m	(94.0 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	28.6 m	(94.0 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	28.6 m	(94.0 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Jib sheet	9.6 m	(31.5 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Genoa sheet	9.6 m	(31.5 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Mainsheet	24.0 m	(78.7 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	21.1 m	(69.3 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Cunningham	3.5 m	(11.6 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Kickingstrap	7.1 m	(23.2 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Clew-outhaul	7.1 m	(23.2 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section shown boat owner's changes, improvements, etc. Here you might find inspiration for your boat.

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Finally

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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.