Review of California 5.20

Basic specs.

The California 5.20 is a small motorboat designed by the French maritime architect André Bénéteau in the early eighties.

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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.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for California 5.20 is about 78 kg/cm, alternatively 437 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 78 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 437 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 California 5.20 is 2.41.

Compared with other similar motor boats it is more spacy than 69% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.

Curiosities

Powerboat?

In Denmark, you are required to have achieved a 'powerboat driving license' in order to sail a powerboat.
In this context a boat is considered a powerboat if:

Danish definition of a powerboat

According to this definition this boat is not categorized as a Powerboat.
Though, if you install a motor of 31 kW (41 hp), then the boat will become a powerboat, and you will need a Danish 'powerboat driving license'

Maintenance

Boat owner's ideas

This section is reserved boat owner's changes, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

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Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for California 5.20 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.