Review of First 47.7

Basic specs.

The First 47.7 aka Beneteau First 47.7 is a large sailboat designed by the maritime architect Bruce Farr in the late nineties. The First 47.7 is built by the French yard Bénéteau.

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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.

Interior

The boat is equipped with 6/8 berths.

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 only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.80 - 2.90 meter (9.19 - 9.49 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Engine

First 47.7 is typically equipped with an inboard Yanmar 4JH3-TE diesel engine at 75.0 hp (55 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 First 47.7 is 2.00, 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 First 47.7 is about 437 kg/cm, alternatively 2448 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 437 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 2448 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 First 47.7 is 3.22.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 76% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a significantly more spacy hull design.

Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for First 47.7 is 33%.

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.

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	14.5 m	(47.6 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Genoa sheet	14.5 m	(47.6 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Mainsheet	36.2 m	(118.9 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	31.9 m	(104.7 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 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 First 47.7 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.