Review of Bavaria 960

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.

The boat is equipped with 7 berths.

The boat equipped 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 genaker or a spinnaker for optimal speed.

The Bavaria 960 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 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.

Bavaria 960 is typically equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta diesel engine at 18.0 hp (13 kW).

The transmission is a saildrive.

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.

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Bavaria 960 is about 192 kg/cm, alternatively 1080 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 192 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1080 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Bavaria 960 is 3.20.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is slimmer than 54% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more speedy hull design.

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Bavaria 960 is 33%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 14% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) significantly below average.

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.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 42% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

The Bavaria 960 has more rig than 79% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.

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.

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.

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Bavaria 960 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.

[Ref 1]: ISO 8666 Small craft — Principal data.
[Ref 3]: ISO 12215-5 Small craft — Hull construction and scantlings.