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Review of Spirit 29


Spirit 29
Spirit 29 anno 1986.

Basic specs.

sail specifications
The Spirit 29 is a sailboat designed by the Dutch maritime architect Jacobus de Ridder in the early eighties. Less than 100 boats have been produced. The Spirit 29 is built by the Belgian yard Bootbouwerij A. J. Van Heygen BVBA.

Looking for a new boat? Find a Spirit 29 or similar boat for sale

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.

Interior
The boat is equipped with 6 berths.

Keel

The Spirit 29 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.

The boat can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.65 - 1.75 meter (5.41 - 5.71 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


Engine

Spirit 29 is typically equipped with an inboard diesel engine at 18.0 hp (13 kW), which gives a max speed about 5.7 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.


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 Spirit 29 is 2.07, 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 6.5 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 Spirit 29 is about 143 kg/cm, alternatively 801 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 143 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 801 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 Spirit 29 is 20.5.

Low High 38% 0 50 100
Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 38% of all similar sailboat designs. This comfort value is just below average.


L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Spirit 29 is 2.91.

Slim Wide 69% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 69% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.


D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Spirit 29 is 252 which categorizes this boat among 'light crusers & offshore racers'.

Heavy Light 50% 0 50 100
50% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. This boat has a precise average ratio between displacement and length!


SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)
Indicates how fast the boat is in light wind:
- Cruising Boats have ratios 10-15
- Cruiser-Racers have ratios 16-20
- Racers have ratios above 20
- High-Performance Racers have ratios above 24
Sail-area/displacement ratio (SA/D ratio): 21.54


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 25m2 (269 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

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
UsageLengthDiameter
Jib sheet 8.8 m(28.9 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Genoa sheet8.8 m(28.9 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Mainsheet 22.0 m(72.2 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet19.4 m(63.5 feet)10 mm(3/8 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 Spirit 29 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