I had already posted about the Solaris 50:
http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2014/10/solaris-50.html and I had said only nice things about it but now I have seen the boat in Dusseldorf and I was greatly impressed. This is not only a very beautiful boat but also the kind of boat that I would have if I won the lottery.And for the quality I ended up not finding it extravagantly expensive at 570000 euros, VAT included, lot less then what would cost an Halberg Rassy 48 with a similar built quality.
On the link above you can check out what I had said about the boat dimensions but I will add that with a beam of 4.55m is significantly narrower then most production main market boats (Sense 50-4.86m; Hanse 505-4.75m; Sun Odyssey 509-4.69m; Bavaria cruiser 51-4.67m), has a bigger B/D ratio, a more efficient keel and a considerably bigger draft (or in option a smaller draft and an even bigger B/D ratio). This extra keel efficiency and superior B/D ratio will give not only a more powerful boat but also one with a better reserve stability.
The 14 200kg of weight are very similar to the one of the above main market cruisers even considering that this weight, contrary to the others is not an empty weight but but the one of a boat in sailing condition with half tankage. So it is not a particularly light boat but consider that contrary to the others this is a vacuum infused cored boat (Airex) using vynilester-epoxy resins with carbon reinforcements and one that can have carbon spars.
Knowing that they have 40 years of experience building boats that means that this boat is overbuilt and all that extra weight is aimed to increase boat strength. They not only use bulkheads laminated to the deck and hull as they use composite cored laminates on the two main bulkheads to diminish dilatation problems between two different materials. The idea is to built a kind of monoblock boat increasing overall stiffness.
If someone wants to know more here there is a detailed specification:
http://www.messink.nl/pdf/Specs%20SOLARIS_50_EN_SS_0714.pdf
Many looking at this boat would say: Another pretty fragile boat designed for med sailing. Well, fragile it is not and a boat doesn't have to be ugly to be very seaworthy and strong and Solaris is a paradigma regarding that. Besides the winch position, the self tacking jib and mainsheet system (that can have a traveler or not) everything is designed taking into account solo or short crew sailing.
A word regarding handholds that were almost absent on the 50ft at Dusseldorf: They are mounted to the owner request. You can see that on the Solaris 58 that is side by side with the 50. There are handrails on the deck while the 50 has none. Those steel handrails can also be mounted on the interior ceiling also.
The sprayhood is very interesting: it can be stowed and completely covered on a space provided for that on the cabin or deployed and... surprise surprise, it is an huge one that forms a completely covered enclosure. I would like to have seen that, as well as how it fits on the storage space and how much time it takes to deploy but they did not have it at Dusseldorf.
Finally in what regards storage this boat is one of the few 50ft that offers a garage with enough space for a small dinghy and a forward sail locker/storage space with considerable dimensions. On long range cruising, while crossing oceans the dinghy can be deflated and the extra garage space can be used for extra storage.
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