Review of Hallberg-Rassy 54

Basic specs.

The Hallberg-Rassy 54 or HR 54 is a large sailboat designed by the Argentine maritime architect Germán Frers in the mid 2000. Less than 100 boats have been produced.

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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.

Interior

The boat is equipped with 6+2 berths.

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 Hallberg-Rassy 54 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 boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.30 - 2.40 meter (7.55 - 7.85 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.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Hallberg-Rassy 54 is 1.59, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.

EU classification

Hallberg-Rassy 54 holds one CE certification:

The boat is by European Union certified as Class A. OCEAN:

Designed for extended voyages where conditions may exceed wind force 8 (Beaufort scale) and significant wave heights of 4 m and above but excluding abnormal conditions, and vessels largely self-sufficient.

Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 9.2 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 Hallberg-Rassy 54 is about 450 kg/cm, alternatively 2521 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 450 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 2521 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 Hallberg-Rassy 54 is 3.56.

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 Hallberg-Rassy 54 is 37%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 54% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just above average.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Hallberg-Rassy 54 is 250 which categorizes this boat among 'light crusers & offshore racers'.

34% 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.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

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

The SA/D for Hallberg-Rassy 54 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 16.3, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 19.1.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 27% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

Over- / underrigged

Maintenance

Bottom Paint

When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy. The surface of the wet bottom is about 75m² (807 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.

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	51.9 m	(170.4 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	51.9 m	(170.4 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	51.9 m	(170.4 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Jib sheet	16.7 m	(54.9 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Genoa sheet	16.7 m	(54.9 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Mainsheet	41.8 m	(137.3 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	36.8 m	(120.8 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Cunningham	7.1 m	(23.3 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Kickingstrap	14.2 m	(46.6 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Clew-outhaul	14.2 m	(46.6 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 Hallberg-Rassy 54 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.