Review of Hinckley 48 Yawl

Hinckley 48 Yawl anno 1970. Grace under sail from the bow

Basic specs.

The Hinckley 48 Yawl is a large sailboat designed by the American maritime architect William H. Tripp in the mid sixties. The Hinckley 48 Yawl is built by the American yard Henry R. Hinckley & Co..

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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

Interior of Hinckley 48 Yawl anno 1970. Main Cabin standing in the gally looking forward

Chart table of Hinckley 48 Yawl anno 1970. Standup Navigation station standing in the Gally

Rig

Rig of Hinckley 48 Yawl anno 1970. Grace on the Neuse River 2021. The sails are hand made tan bark sails.

Keel

Keel of Hinckley 48 Yawl anno 1970. Grace being hauled out. The centerboard is over 800 lbs of solid bronze on a worm gear. It swings down to 11 feet so the centerboard is 6 feet long. There is less heal and almost no rocking in a following sea.

The Hinckley 48 Yawl is equipped with a centerboard keel. A centerboard keel is a pivoting lifting keel, allowing to sail both coastal and inland waters.

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 1.58 - 1.68 meter (5.18 - 5.48 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

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 Hinckley 48 Yawl is 1.60, 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 7.8 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 Hinckley 48 Yawl is about 276 kg/cm, alternatively 1548 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 276 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1548 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 Hinckley 48 Yawl is 44.6.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 86% of all similar sailboat designs. This is a comfort value significantly above average.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Hinckley 48 Yawl is 3.71.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is slimmer than 79% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a significantly more speedy hull design.

Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Hinckley 48 Yawl is 31%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 27% 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 Hinckley 48 Yawl is 379 which categorizes this boat among 'heavy cruisers'.

5% 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.

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 59m² (635 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	14.7 m	(48.3 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Genoa sheet	14.7 m	(48.3 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Mainsheet	36.8 m	(120.7 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	32.4 m	(106.2 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.

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 Hinckley 48 Yawl 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.