pegasus 50 yacht review

Interesting Sailboats

Sunday, march 1, 2020, a true bluewater cruiser: pegasus 50.

Above Pegasus 50, below HR 50

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A cleverly designed offshore cruiser that has an interior layout for all kinds of sailing

The Pegasus 50 is built in Slovenia and designed by Marine Designs. This is not a new yard. It has produced many yachts and has recently started to build in carbon fiber. I can’t find any mention in the material about whether this design will be built in carbon, but I will say that I have seen few promotional packets more complete and better organized than this one. I don’t have hull lines and I don’t have structural specs but I sure have just about everything else. It’s a pleasure to review a boat when I have this much accurate material to work with.

This is a production cruising boat project with enough options to keep just about everyone happy. I admire the company’s unique approach to the styling and details.

Let’s start with the hull. This is a light boat. If I use the operational displacement of 29,480 pounds, I get a D/L of 132. There are figures for a dry displacement and a loaded displacement. The L/B is 3.09 but the beam is not carried aft to the degree we see in so many new boats today. There are twin rudders. Overhangs are minimal but there is some rake to the bow.

The keel is interesting. This is called a “tandem keel,” (thank you Alan Andrews) and was first seen in the early 1990s and had been tried on a Kiwi America’s Cup boat without success. The challenge with this configuration is to determine just how much slot between the fins you need compared to the aspect ratio of the fins. Think of it like one boat trying to sail directly behind another boat. The aft fin can be gasping for clean flow in the turbulence of the forward fin. In this case the slot is relatively small compared to the planform of the fins. But I trust the designers have done their homework on this. The benefit of this type of keel is that it spreads the keel out over a long section of the hull to aid in absorbing grounding loads. Again we see the bulb protruding forward of the fin making a very effective kelp grabber. Standard draft is 7 feet 6 inches.

The builder has provided drawings for five interior layouts: Family, Friends, Guest, Crew and Business. They all share the same raised saloon and galley geometry. They share the same forward double heads. But forward of the raised saloon you can have a variety of combinations of single berths and double berths. For the Business layout one stateroom becomes an office. For the Crew layout the fo’c’sle becomes a V-berth cabin. All the layouts work very well. I love the big galley in the raised saloon. The dinette to starboard is large as is the raised nav station. The cockpit with its hard top cover will work like an extension of the saloon due to the unique angled companionway.

Some clever thinking went into this design. The windshield and hard top are very artfully designed. There is a dinghy garage aft and a fold-down boarding platform. The cockpit features berth sized settees port and starboard. Solar panels are mounted on the hard top. I’m not sure but it looks to me like the big windows in the front of the dodger can be opened. Below the cockpit are “technical rooms” for machinery and electrical components.

The rig is a two swept-spreader type with an inner forestay for a staysail in heavy air. Both working genoa and staysail are on furling gear. Genoa furling is below deck. The mainsail sheets to the “Targa” bar on the hardtop and then goes forward and then back aft with other lines from the mast. Genoa tracks are on the toerail and the staysail tracks are just outboard of the mast. The side decks are clear.

It’s fun to get a design to review that shows some original thinking. I look forward to seeing hull No. 1 launched. This will be the owner’s third boat from this Slovenian yard. That tells you something.

LOA 49’ 2”; LWL 46’4”; Beam 15’10”; Draft 7’6”; Displ. 29,500 lb.; Ballast 10,748 lb.; Sail area 1,453 square feet; L/B 3.09; D/L 132; Fuel 119 gal.; Water 138 gal.; Auxiliary 75-hp.

Pegasus Yachts

Celovska 280, 1000 Ljubijana,

386-41-370-107

www.pegasus-yachts.com