I love sincere , honest sailboats; I don’t believe that a sailboat can perform well in family cruising, buoy racing, offshore racing. This was my leading concept when I choose to design Petrel 28 plans: a sturdy, reliable, safe, honest, roomy, mediterranean cruising sailboat suited for homebuilders.
| TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS | DOWNLOADS | |
| LOA: 8,84 m | Max displ: 2700 kg | |
| L hull: 8,23 m | Sail area: 38,6 m² | |
| Maximum Beam: 2,64 m | Main sail: 20,6 m² | |
| Draft: 1,59 m | Olimpic jib: 18 m² | |
| Keel ballast: 900 kg | Fractional gennaker: 36 m² | |
| Air draft: 12,00 m | Plan price: 850 € | |
| Light displ: 2090 kg | Plans can be purchased here: Nautikit order page | |
This means that for this sailboat I start to develop coherently a totally new hull, with quite symmetric lines, a decent but not excessive maximum beam, more than an eye to the seakeeping performances, and just a glance at speed performances, somehow a “classical modern hull”, developing hull lines that can be built from plywood panels with “radius chine” system .
The three sailboats launched (two by homebuilders), and the thousands miles sailed, confirmed that my goals have been reached: the Petrel performs beautifully in every conditions, from light air to rough seas, has a great amount of stability when heeled, keep a straight line without viciously pointing the bow on the wind under gusts, it’s a very enjoyable sailboat to helm with a fingertip even on strong winds, somehow more similar to classic sailboats than to modern ones.
Thanks to a good sailplan (mainsail + jib+ small gennaker) , the pace is quite good in every condition, the sailboat reaches his critical speed, around 6 knots, very easily, accelerating steadily after the tacks even in light winds, although the sailboat is not a featherweight one.
Interiors are simply huge for a 8.5 meters sailboat, height is more than 1.75 meters in the whole cabin; a family of four people have a more than a decent accommodations for a medium range cruise. Hatches makes all the cabin very bright.
The hull is built in plywood and epoxy, with radius chine solution, which is probably the smartest way to make a round hull without getting in too much troubles for a homebuilder; bulkheads, hull planking, deck and cockpit surfaces are all in marine grade okume or mahogany plywood, while keel , stem, longitudinal stringers and deck and cockpit battens are in solid mahogany wood. All is glued together by epoxy resin and glass tapes reinforcements, to form a very sturdy hull quite fast to build for a homebuilder.
In the snapshots on the gallery you can see the 2013 version of plans with a more modern line for the plywood cabin, giving more pleasing lateral line to the sailboat with a minimal loss of internal volume; plans are available both in english and in italian and in imperial units upon request.
