HANSE 505 REVIEW

The new Hanse 505 responds to buyer requests for improvements to the 495

The new Hanse 505 responds to buyer requests for improvements to the 495 and does so effectively with four different cabin layouts that should satisfy most owner and charter fleet needs. Clever sailplan design makes entertaining under sail stress-free for a host and guests, but the sailboat can be specified with the emphasis on more performance if required.

Sailors familiar with the Hanse 495 will see subtle differences between this model and the new Hanse 505 exterior. Most obvious is the change from vertical saloon hull ports to smaller-sized horizontal ones. The exterior lines are more pleasing to the eye and there’s no apparent reduction in natural light in the saloon as a result of smaller glass area.

The cockpit has a level floor surface, as far forward as the Dehler-style drop-down companionway hatch. The 495 had a step-up companionway entry that made access more difficult but complied with the seagoing dictum that you never have a flat cockpit leading to the companionway, thereby allowing a following sea to swamp the cabins.

In defence of its new flat-cockpit design, Hanse points out the fact that the hatch pulls upwards from its floor well and works effectively as a storm board.

BELOW DECKS

Below decks the Hanse 505 boasts more flexibility than the 495, although the 505’s flat cockpit floor eliminates the 495’s rear owner’s cabin option. All four 505 variants have twin aft double-berth cabins and the same large saloon layout with dayhead/shower.

Two 505 interiors have a large forward owner’s cabin with island queen bed, two large wardrobes and separate shower and toilet cubicles. Two charter layouts are also available, in which the forward owner’s cabin is split into two double berths that share the shower and head cubicles.

Interior design is changed little from the 495’s up-to-date styling but the Hanse 505 has china hand basins in place of the 495’s glass ones.

The saloon is spacious and beautifully appointed. The standard kit was enhanced on the test boat by optional American cherry woodwork, ‘classic stripes’ floorboards, courtesy lights, indirect lighting with dimmer, and hatch and port blinds. It also had an optional raising and lowering TV in the island bench.

I loved the grouped maintenance items under cabin-sole access panels: electrical items in one and through-hull fittings with filters in a deep sump compartment. Thoughtfully, there’s also cool wine storage underfloor as well as in the dinette area.

HANDLING

The test boat was set up for maximum ease of sail handling with a standard self-tacker and in-mast furling. The main had vertical battens and both halyard winches were powered.

As with all 5 Series Hanse sail boats the fore-triangle is larger than on previous-generations to improve upwind performance. The 505’s high aspect-ratio 9/10 rig sailplan is the same as the 495’s.

Some readers have asked how the Hanse self-tacking system works, so this is it in a nutshell: Replacing the usual rope-fest is a simple, curved sail track across the foredeck and car, to which the jib is sheeted.

In the case of the Hanse 505 the jib clew has a crow’s foot arrangement to spread sheet loads through the sail, maximise sail area and position the foot of the sail as close as possible to the car.

The jib sheet is spliced to the car, runs through a clew block, back to the car block and up to a sheave in the mast, just below the first spreader. The sheet runs over the mast sheave, down inside the stick, to a deck turning block and aft to a powered sheet/halyard winch.

This may seem a rather convoluted way of sheeting a self-tacker but the geometry works. The sail track is bent in the vertical plane, so that the car moves through an arc like the weight on a pendulum and the sheet acts as a pendulum beam. Sheet tension doesn’t alter as the car traverses the track and the sheet fall swings from one side of the boat to the other.

By taking the sheet well up the mast the angle into the sheave is narrow, regardless of the car position on the track, so sheet friction and sheave side loading are limited.

PERFORMANCE

The test conditions on Pittwater were ideal with a fickle breeze that oscillated between puffs of 20kts and lulls of 5kts. We got to play on and off the wind in varying conditions.

The test boat was an owner’s yacht that’s used mainly for cruising in ideal conditions, so it didn’t have the dodger that would be normal equipment for offshore sailing. As a result the shallow cockpit was somewhat windblown when the boat was on the wind in 20kts.

In-mast furling, even with vertical battens, doesn’t do much for a boat’s performance and the Hanse 505 is no exception. However, the larger fore-triangle of the 5 Series boats makes them much better upwind performers than earlier Hanses. Not disadvantaged by its flattish mainsail, the 505 managed 6.4kts upwind in the puffs, pointing at around 35°. However, on a tight reach, boat speed went up by less than expected and a roachy, horizontally battened main would, I reckon, have made a big difference.

Those who want some club racing ability can always opt for the Elvstrom EPEX and FCL performance sail packages that include Dyneema halyards, fully-battened mainsails and 105 per cent genoas.

The big boat spun through gybes and tacks without much wheel effort and the Windcraft crew looked around for something to do. I set them a tricky task, as I jumped to the chase boat, to get some wing-a-wing downwind action, because the narrow sheeting angle of the self-tacker makes that job difficult. The jib can be fitted with a reaching sheet but that’s really what an optional gennaker is for.

The test boat’s all-furling rig did have some performance compromises but it was unmatched for ease of sail handling.

However, I’m surprised that Hanse doesn’t have an alternative to in-mast furling, with its attendant risk of jamming or batten breaking. Boom furling can offer powered sail handling ease with less jamming risk and better rig balance when part-furled.

Motoring in and out of a very tight marina berth was simplified by no prop walk from the folding propeller, a rudder with good low-speed bite and a retractable bowthruster.

HIGHS

• Ease of sailing and boat handling

• Cabin and saloon design, fit and finish

• Value for money

LOWS

• Lack of waist-height deck handholds

• Mainsail shape

HANSE 505 SPECIFICATIONS

PRICE AS TESTED

$680,917

OPTIONS FITTED

White galley work top; American cherry woodwork; leather upholstery; cockpit cushions; teak cockpit floor, seats and decks; helm footrests; anchor, fenders and chain; five-battery upgrade; inverter/charger; B&G instrument and plotter package; autopilot; electric hatch ventilators; indirect and direct LED lighting; blinds and flyscreens; Fusion sound system; lifting TV; GRP steering wheels; powered winches; in-mast furling; pop-up mooring cleats; three-blade folding prop and bowthruster

PRICED FROM

$545,000

GENERAL

MATERIAL Foam-cored laminate hull and balsa-cored laminate deck, with isopthalic gelcoat and vinylester first layer

TYPE Keelboat

LENGTH 15.4m overall; 14.85m hull; 13.54m waterline

BEAM 4.75m

DRAFT 2.38m (1.98m optional)

WEIGHT 14,000kg

CAPACITIES

PEOPLE (NIGHT) 6 (four and five-cabin layouts optional)

FUEL 300lt

WATER 650lt

SAILS

MAINSAIL 67.5m²

HEADSAIL 51.5m² (self-tacking)

GENOA 61.5m²

ENGINE

MAKE/MODEL Volvo Penta D2-75 diesel

TYPE Saildrive

RATED HP 72

PROP Fixed three-blade (three-blade folding optional)

SUPPLIED BY

TEAM WINDCRAFT

Bayview Anchorage Marina,

1714 Pittwater Road,

Bayview, NSW, 2104

PHONE +61 2 9979 1709

EMAIL mary@windcraftgroup.com

WEB windcraft.com.au