Review of Siren 17

Basic specs.

The Siren 17 is a small sailboat designed by the maritime architect Hubert Van de Stadt in the mid seventies. Several thousand boats have been produced. The Siren 17 is built by the Canadian yard Vandestadt & McGruer Ltd..

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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. And outside the sailing season, just bottom cleaning and perhaps anti-fouling painting once a year - a few hours of work, that's all.

Rig

The boat equipped with a fractional rig. A fractional rig has smaller headsails which make tacking easier, which is an advantage for cruisers and racers, of course. The downside is that having the wind from behind often requires a genaker or a spinnaker for optimal speed.

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 sail close to the beach as the draft is just 0.20 - 0.30 meter (0.66 - 0.96 ft) dependent of the load. See immersion rate below.

Trailer

Siren 17 on trailer.

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 Siren 17 is 2.93, indicating that this boat would not 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 5.2 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 Siren 17 is about 62 kg/cm, alternatively 348 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 62 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 348 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 Siren 17 is 5.9.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 14% of all similar sailboat designs. This is a comfort value significantly below average.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Siren 17 is 2.58.

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 Siren 17 is 17%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 4% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly below average.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Siren 17 is 99 which categorizes this boat among 'ultra light racers'.

85% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A light displacement requires less sailarea and has higher accellerations.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

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

The SA/D for Siren 17 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 27.0, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 30.4.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 100% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

Over- / underrigged

The Siren 17 has more rig than 100% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.

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 11m² (118 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 fractional 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	18.1 m	(59.3 feet)	6 mm	(1/4 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	18.1 m	(59.3 feet)	6 mm	(1/4 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	18.1 m	(59.3 feet)	6 mm	(1/4 inch)
Jib sheet	5.2 m	(17.2 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Genoa sheet	5.2 m	(17.2 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Mainsheet	13.1 m	(42.9 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	11.5 m	(37.7 feet)	8 mm	(5/16 inch)
Cunningham	2.4 m	(8.0 feet)	6 mm	(1/4 inch)
Kickingstrap	4.9 m	(16.0 feet)	6 mm	(1/4 inch)
Clew-outhaul	4.9 m	(16.0 feet)	6 mm	(1/4 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

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.

Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Siren 17 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.