Review of Pearson 27

Both the hull and the deck 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.
The deck is a double deck which improves the indoor climate.

The interior is like most other boats made of teak.
The boat is equipped with one cabin, 4 berths, a galley and toilet facility.
The headroom is above average

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 Pearson 27 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.But be aware that even though a Wing Keel keel is very good for speed racing, a fishing nets and the like in the water can easily make you into a troublesome situation.

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 even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.01 - 1.11 meter (3.31 - 3.61 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Pearson 27 is typically equipped with an inboard Universal M12-2 diesel engine at 12.0 hp (8 kW), which gives a max speed about 5.1 knots.

The transmission is a shaft drive. A shaft drive will in the long run require less maintenence than other types of drive e.g. a sail drive.

The fuel tank which is made of aluminium has a capacity of 38.0 liters (10 US gallons, 8 imperial gallons).

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Pearson 27 is 2.03, indicating that this boat would not 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 6.4 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 Pearson 27 is about 127 kg/cm, alternatively 715 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 127 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 715 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Pearson 27 is 19.7.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 46% of all similar sailboat designs. This comfort value is just below average.

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Pearson 27 is 2.95.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 62% 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 Pearson 27 is 38%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 42% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just below average.

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Pearson 27 is 227 which categorizes this boat among 'light crusers & offshore racers'.

58% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A light displacement requires less sailarea and has higher accellerations.

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

The SA/D for Pearson 27 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 16.3, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 19.4.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 54% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

The Pearson 27 has more rig than 100% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.

When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy. The surface of the wet bottom is about 19m² (204 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 Pearson 27 (Shaw) 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.