Review of Nor'Sea 26 Pilot House

Both the hull and the deck 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 one cabin, 2+2 berths, a galley, 182.0 liter fresh water capacity, toilet facility and 91.0 liter waste water capacity.

The Nor'Sea 26 Pilot House is built 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.

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Yanmar QM15 diesel engine at 15 hp (11 kW). Calculated max speed is about 6.0 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.

The fuel tank has a capacity of 136.0 liters (35 US gallons, 29 imperial gallons).

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Nor'Sea 26 Pilot House is 1.82, 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 6.5 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 Nor'Sea 26 Pilot House is about 117 kg/cm, alternatively 655 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 117 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 655 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Nor'Sea 26 Pilot House is 21.3.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 50% of all similar sailboat designs. This is an average comfort value!

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Nor'Sea 26 Pilot House is 3.45.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is slimmer than 90% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a significantly more speedy hull design. This type of design is also referred to as 'needle'.

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Nor'Sea 26 Pilot House is 189 which categorizes this boat among 'light racers'.

76% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A light displacement requires less sailarea and has higher accellerations.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)
Indicates how fast the boat is in light wind:
- Cruising Boats have ratios 10-15
- Cruiser-Racers have ratios 16-20
- Racers have ratios above 20
- High-Performance Racers have ratios above 24
Sail-area/displacement ratio (SA/D ratio): 15.73

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

Do you have changes/improvements you would like to share? Upload a photo and describe what you have done.

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Nor'Sea 26 Pilot House 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.