Review of Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter

Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter anno 1980. Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter at Royal Quays Marina, River Tyne

Basic specs.

The Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter or HR 94 is a motorsailer designed by the Swedish maritime architect Olle Enderlein together with Christoph Rassy also from Sweden in the early eighties. A few hundred boats have been produced. The Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter is built by the Swedish yard Hallberg-Rassy Varvs AB.

Looking for a new boat? Find a Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter or similar boat for sale

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 interior is like many other boats made of mahogany.
The boat is equipped with 4 berths.
The headroom is above average

Keel

The Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter is equipped with a long keel. A long 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 keel is made of iron. Many people prefer lead keel in favour of iron. The main argument is that lead is much heavier than iron and a lead keel can therefore be made smaller which again result in less wet surface, i.e. less drag. In fact iron is quite heavy, just 30% less heavy than lead, so the advantage of a lead keel is often overstated.

The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.15 - 1.25 meter (3.77 - 4.07 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Engine

Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter is typically equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta MD17 diesel engine at 36.0 hp (26 kW), which gives a max speed about 6.9 knots.

The transmission is a shaft drive. A shaft drive will in the long run require less maintenence than other types of drive e.g. a sail drive.

The fuel tank has a capacity of 150.0 liters (39 US gallons, 32 imperial gallons).

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 Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter is 1.89, 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 7.0 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 Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter is about 179 kg/cm, alternatively 1005 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 179 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1005 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 Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter is 26.7.

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 Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter is 2.89.

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 Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter is 35%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 21% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly below average.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter is 258 which categorizes this boat among 'light crusers & offshore racers'.

50% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. This boat has a precise average ratio between displacement and length!

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 27m² (290 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

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	9.4 m	(30.8 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Genoa sheet	9.4 m	(30.8 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Mainsheet	23.5 m	(77.1 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	20.7 m	(67.8 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 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 Hallberg-Rassy 94 Kutter 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.