Review of Swan 51
Basic specs.
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The Swan 51 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 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 only enter major marinas as the draft is about 2.70 - 2.80 meter (8.86 - 9.16 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
Swan 51 is typically equipped with an inboard diesel engine at 54.0 kW (72 hp).
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.
What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?
The capsize screening value for Swan 51 is 1.73, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.
The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level.
The immersion rate for Swan 51 is about 470 kg/cm, alternatively 2636 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 470 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 2636 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.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Swan 51 is 3.49.
The ballast ratio for Swan 51 is 42%.
What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?
The SA/D for Swan 51 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 18.1, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 21.6.
Maintenance
Dimensions of sail.
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.
| Usage | Length | Diameter | ||
| Mainsail halyard | 49.0 m | (160.8 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Jib/genoa halyard | 49.0 m | (160.8 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Spinnaker halyard | 49.0 m | (160.8 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Jib sheet | 15.7 m | (51.3 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 15.7 m | (51.3 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 39.1 m | (128.4 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 34.4 m | (113.0 feet) | 16 mm | (5/8 inch) |
| Cunningham | 5.8 m | (19.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Kickingstrap | 11.6 m | (38.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Clew-outhaul | 11.6 m | (38.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
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