Review of Watkins 36 AC

Basic specs.

The Watkins 36 AC aka W36AC is a sailboat designed by the American maritime architect William H. Tripp, Jr. together with Watkins from in the early eighties. The Watkins 36 AC is built by the American yard Watkins Yachts Inc..

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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.

Engine

The boat is typically equipped with an inboard Perkins engine.

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 Watkins 36 AC is 1.63, 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 7.3 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 Watkins 36 AC is about 191 kg/cm, alternatively 1073 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 191 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1073 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 Watkins 36 AC is 36.3.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 90% 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 Watkins 36 AC is 3.43.

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

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Watkins 36 AC is 300 which categorizes this boat among 'medium weight cruisers'.

31% 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

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	11.0 m	(36.0 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Genoa sheet	11.0 m	(36.0 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Mainsheet	27.4 m	(90.0 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	24.1 m	(79.2 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 Watkins 36 AC it would be a great help.

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References

[Ref 1]: ISO 8666 Small craft — Principal data.
[Ref 3]: ISO 12215-5 Small craft — Hull construction and scantlings.