Review of Bavaria 960
Basic specs.
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Both the hull and the deck is made of fibreglass. 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.
The boat is equipped with 3 cabins, 7 berths, a galley and 114 liters (30 US gallons, 25 imperial gallons) fresh water capacity.
The interior is like many other boats made of mahogany. Mahogany belongs to the hardwood species, known for being water-repellent and resistant to decay. It has an attractive wood grain and holds wood polish and varnish well.
The Bavaria 960 is built 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 gennaker or a spinnaker for optimal speed.
The Bavaria 960 has been built with different keel alternatives.
Fin keel
One option is 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 boat can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.68 - 1.78 meter (5.51 - 5.81 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
Wing keel
But be aware that even though a Wing Keel keel is very good for speed racing, a fishing nets and the like in the water can easily make you into a troublesome situation.
Bavaria 960 can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.30 - 1.40 meter (4.27 - 4.57 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
The fuel tank, which is made of plastic, has a capacity of 76 liters (20 US gallons, 16 imperial gallons).
The boat may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta 2002 diesel engine at 18 hp (13 kW). Calculated max speed is about 5.7 knots
The transmission is a shaft drive. A shaft drive will in the long run require less maintenance 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 Bavaria 960 is 1.97, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.
What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?
The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 6.9 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.
The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level.
The immersion rate for Bavaria 960 is about 160 kg/cm, alternatively 898 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 160 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 898 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 Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?
The Motion Comfort Ratio for Bavaria 960 is 20.9.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Bavaria 960 is 3.20.
The ballast ratio for Bavaria 960 is 33%.
What is Displacement Length Ratio?
The DL-ratio for Bavaria 960 is 197 which categorizes this boat among 'light racers'.
What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?
The SA/D for Bavaria 960 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 15.8, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 18.3.
Maintenance
When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy.
The surface of the wet bottom is about 28m2 (301 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.
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.
| Usage | Length | Diameter | ||
| Mainsail halyard | 28.6 m | (94.0 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Jib/genoa halyard | 28.6 m | (94.0 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Spinnaker halyard | 28.6 m | (94.0 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Jib sheet | 9.6 m | (31.5 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 9.6 m | (31.5 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 24.0 m | (78.7 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 21.1 m | (69.3 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Cunningham | 3.5 m | (11.6 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Kickingstrap | 7.1 m | (23.2 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
| Clew-outhaul | 7.1 m | (23.2 feet) | 10 mm | (3/8 inch) |
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