Review of Helmsman 31

Helmsman 31 anno 1989.

Basic specs.

The Helmsman 31 is a sailboat designed by the Swedish maritime architect Håkan Södergren.

Looking for a new boat? Find a Helmsman 31 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.

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.

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 Helmsman 31 is 2.04, indicating that this boat would not be accepted to participate in ocean races.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Helmsman 31 is about 188 kg/cm, alternatively 1053 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 188 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1053 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 Helmsman 31 is 3.08.

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.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

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

The SA/D for Helmsman 31 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 16.1, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 19.4.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 50% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

RSP (Relative Speed Performance)

What is Relative Speed Performance?

The Relative Speed Performance for Helmsman 31 is 50

The relative speed performance is 50 which means that a it is faster than 50% of all similar sailboat designs.

Maintenance

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	27.6 m	(90.4 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	27.6 m	(90.4 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	27.6 m	(90.4 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Jib sheet	9.3 m	(30.5 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Genoa sheet	9.3 m	(30.5 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Mainsheet	23.2 m	(76.3 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	20.5 m	(67.1 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Cunningham	2.8 m	(9.0 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Kickingstrap	5.5 m	(18.0 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)
Clew-outhaul	5.5 m	(18.0 feet)	10 mm	(3/8 inch)

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 Helmsman 31 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.