Review of Sun Fast 52

Basic specs.

The Sun Fast 52 is a large sailboat designed by the French maritime architect Philippe Briand. The Sun Fast 52 is built by the French yard Jeanneau.

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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 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 only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.45 - 2.55 meter (8.04 - 8.34 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.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Sun Fast 52 is about 462 kg/cm, alternatively 2591 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 462 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 2591 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 Sun Fast 52 is 3.49.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 54% 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 Sun Fast 52 is 38%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 62% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just above average.

Over- / underrigged

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	44.5 m	(146.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	44.5 m	(146.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	44.5 m	(146.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Jib sheet	15.5 m	(50.9 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Genoa sheet	15.5 m	(50.9 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Mainsheet	38.8 m	(127.3 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	34.1 m	(112.0 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Cunningham	6.5 m	(21.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Kickingstrap	12.9 m	(42.3 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Clew-outhaul	12.9 m	(42.3 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 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 Sun Fast 52 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.