Review of Hallberg-Rassy 312

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.
Unfortunately, the hull is not a double hull which affects the indoor climate. Especially if the water is considerable colder than the cabin, then one might expect condense water in the cabin.

The interior is like most other boats made of teak.
The boat is equipped with 3 cabins, 4-7 berths, a galley and toilet facility.

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.

The Hallberg-Rassy 312 is equipped with a fin keel. The fin keel is the most common keel and provides splendid manoeuvrability. The downside is that it has less directional stability than a long 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. As the surface of a fin type keel is just a fraction of the total wet surface, the difference between an iron keel and a lead keel can in reality be ignored for cruising yachts.

The boat can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.62 - 1.72 meter (5.31 - 5.61 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Hallberg-Rassy 312 is typically equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta MD2003 S/120 B diesel engine.

The transmission is a saildrive.

The fuel tank has a capacity of 110.0 liters (29 US gallons, 24 imperial gallons).

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Hallberg-Rassy 312 is 1.73, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 6.7 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.

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Hallberg-Rassy 312 is about 158 kg/cm, alternatively 889 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 158 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 889 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Hallberg-Rassy 312 is 33.5.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 93% of all similar sailboat designs. This is a comfort value significantly above average.

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Hallberg-Rassy 312 is 3.06.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 58% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Hallberg-Rassy 312 is 38%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 34% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just below average.

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Hallberg-Rassy 312 is 354 which categorizes this boat among 'heavy cruisers'.

12% 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.

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

The SA/D for Hallberg-Rassy 312 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 13.3, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 15.8.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 15% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.
Don't panic! It is expected that motor sailers has a low SA/D value as this is the natural consequence of the design combining sailing and motor boat characteristics.

The Hallberg-Rassy 312 has more rig than 27% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is slightly underrigged.
It is expected that motor sailers are underrigged as this is the natural consequence of combining sailing and motor characteristics.

What is Relative Speed Performance?

The Relative Speed Performance for Hallberg-Rassy 312 is 18

The relative speed performance is 18 which means that a it is faster than 18% of all similar sailboat designs. As this boat is a motor sailer, it is expected that the performance of a motor sailer for sail alone is lower than a dedicated sailboat.

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.

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.

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.

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Hallberg-Rassy 312 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.

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