Hanse 575

2012 September 4

Performance cruiser

Now we can have some fun and look at the Hanse 575 and compare it to the Gunfleet 58. I think we can safely assume that both boats are targeting similar markets. The main difference as I see it is that the Hanse is not a deck-saloon style boat but features a long and low wedgelike cabintrunk. The design is by Judel/Vrolijk with the interior design being done in house at Hanse. Basic hull features have been pretty much standardized today on most cruising boats to include short ends combined with high freeboard and lots of beam at the transom. It's hard to find a boat in production today that this description doesn't fit.

The Hanse hull has a L/B of 3.3 and a D/L of 163 so this hull is a little beamier and a bit lighter than the Gunfleet. The Hanse has one rudder and comes with a shoal-draft option of 7 feet 4 inches. The standard draft is 9 feet 4 inches. So if shoal draft is high on your list the Gunfleet has the advantage. If performance is a priority I think the Hanse has the advantage. The standard keel is a moderately low-aspect-ratio T-bulb. Note the hull fairing around the prop shaft. I think this was done to reduce drag.

I hardly know where to start discussing the interior layout. There are six layout options. The difference is primarily in how many cabins or staterooms you need. One layout has five "staterooms" and a crew cabin forward. Another has three staterooms with the double-berth cabin forward and mirror image staterooms aft with single berths shown on the rendering.

All versions have a "double bed in saloon" option. I suspect the dinette converts to a double berth. One version has four heads but most have three heads. If you get the crew cabin in the bow you give up the nice big fo'c'sle.

The galley runs down one side of the salon with a centerline bench seat for the dinette to port. Behind the bench seat is a tall cabinet that holds the pop-up television. Aft of the galley I think I am seeing a stack of drawer-type refrigeration units. There is a nav table just aft of the dinette. The salon and the twin staterooms aft are common to all the layouts. Hard to imagine one of these layouts won't work for you. I'd go for the one with the fewest heads to clean.

In terms of layout the advantage the Gunfleet has is that it provides a really luxurious owner's cabin aft in that wide part of the boat whereas the Hanse puts the owner's stateroom up in the pointy end. Layout wise they are very different boats and I think the Hanse is design more aimed towards capturing the charter market.

If I use the areas given for the mainsail and the 105% genoa I get a SA/D of 21.79 so the Hanse with its lower displacement is the more high powered of the two designs. The rig is a three spreader, fractional rig with the mainsheet pushed so far forward it's just aft of the vang point on the boom. There is no traveler. Chainplates are outboard on the hull. There is a track for a self-tacking jib.

This is a very interesting deck. Lines exit the mast base and then disappear under the deck to emerge aft at the winches adjacent to the helm stations through a bank of line clutches. All deck hatches are flush hatches and the result of both of these features is a very clean deck. No winches flank the companionway hatch. This allows for large, flush skylights into the aft cabins. Six flush hatches over the saloon should provide exceptional light and ventilation. The large cockpit is open to the transom where there is a big door to access the toy storage compartment. There is a large fixed table in the cockpit. The Hanse with its low cabintrunk and all flush hatches will be an easier boat to walk around than the Gunfleet.

I like the aggressive styling of this design.