Review of Bowman 680

Basic specs.

The Bowman 680 is a small sailboat designed by the maritime architect John B. Sharp in the mid seventies.

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Interior

The interior is like most other boats made of teak.
The boat is equipped with 2 cabins, 4 berths, a galley and toilet facility.

Keel

The boat can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.62 - 1.72 meter (5.31 - 5.61 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Engine

Bowman 680 is typically equipped with an inboard Vire 7 engine at 7.0 hp (5 kW).

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 Bowman 680 is 2.14, indicating that this boat would not 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 Bowman 680 is about 121 kg/cm, alternatively 679 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 121 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 679 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 Bowman 680 is 2.90.

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

Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Bowman 680 is 17%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 1% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly below 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): 13.06

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**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Jib sheet	7.2 m	(23.8 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Genoa sheet	7.2 m	(23.8 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Mainsheet	18.1 m	(59.4 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	15.9 m	(52.3 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

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Bowman 680 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.