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Review of Contessa 28




Basic specs.

sail specifications
The Contessa 28 is a sailboat designed by the American maritime architect Douglas Blair Peterson in the late seventies. The Contessa 28 is built by the British yard Jeremy Rogers.

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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 2 cabins, 6 berths, a galley and toilet facility.

Rig
The boat 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

The Contessa 28 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 enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.52 - 1.62 meter (4.99 - 5.29 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


Engine

Contessa 28 is typically equipped with a Lister Petter ACW2 diesel engine at 12.0 hp (8 kW), which gives a max speed about 4.5 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.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Contessa 28 is 1.98, 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 6.3 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 Contessa 28 is about 131 kg/cm, alternatively 736 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 131 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 736 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.

Motion Comfort Ratio

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Contessa 28 is 23.3.

Low High 66% 0 50 100
Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 66% of all similar sailboat designs. This comfort value is just above average.


L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Contessa 28 is 2.87.

Slim Wide 73% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 73% 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 Contessa 28 is 38%.

Low High 38% 0 50 100
This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 38% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just below average.


D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Contessa 28 is 307 which categorizes this boat among 'medium weight cruisers'.

Heavy Light 24% 0 50 100
24% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A heavy displacement combined with smaller water plane area has lower acceleration and is more comfortable.


SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

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

The SA/D for Contessa 28 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 14.1, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 16.9.

Low High 27% 0 50 100
The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 27% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.


Over- / underrigged

Low High 46% 0 50 100
The Contessa 28 has more rig than 46% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is slightly underrigged.


RSP (Relative Speed Performance)

What is Relative Speed Performance?

The Relative Speed Performance for Contessa 28 is 58

Slow Fast 58% 0 50 100
The relative speed performance is 58 which means that a it is faster than 58% of all similar sailboat designs.


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 22m2 (236 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

Dimensions of sail for masthead rig.

mainsail specifications genoa specifications spinnaker specifications

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
UsageLengthDiameter
Mainsail halyard 24.2 m(79.3 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard24.2 m(79.3 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Spinnaker halyard24.2 m(79.3 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Jib sheet 8.4 m(27.6 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Genoa sheet8.4 m(27.6 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Mainsheet 21.0 m(68.9 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet18.5 m(60.6 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Cunningham2.9 m(9.5 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Kickingstrap5.8 m(19.0 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Clew-outhaul5.8 m(19.0 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

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

Do you have changes/improvements you would like to share? Upload a photo and describe what to look for.



Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Contessa 28 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