Review of Rival 34

Basic specs.

The Rival 34 is a sailboat designed by the maritime architect Peter Brett in the early seventies.

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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.

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 Rival 34 is equipped with a fin keel. A boat with a fin keel is more manoeuvrable but has less directional stability than a similar boat with a long keel.

The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.42 - 1.52 meter (4.66 - 4.96 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Engine

The boat is typically equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta diesel engine at 25.0 hp (18 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 Rival 34 is 1.69, 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 Rival 34 is about 204 kg/cm, alternatively 1144 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 204 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1144 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 Rival 34 is 3.53.

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.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

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

The SA/D for Rival 34 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 13.9, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 16.4.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 15% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

Maintenance

Rig

Dimensions of sail for masthead rig.

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**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Mainsail halyard	30.1 m	(98.7 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	30.1 m	(98.7 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	30.1 m	(98.7 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Jib sheet	10.4 m	(34.1 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Genoa sheet	10.4 m	(34.1 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Mainsheet	26.0 m	(85.1 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	22.8 m	(74.9 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Cunningham	3.4 m	(11.3 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Kickingstrap	6.9 m	(22.5 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Clew-outhaul	6.9 m	(22.5 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 Rival 34 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.