Moorings 51.5

The Moorings 51.5 is a French sailboat that was designed by Berret-Racoupeau as a cruiser for the yacht charter market, with Moorings Yacht Charter as the fleet customer and first built in 2005.

The boat shares the same hull design as the Beneteau Cyclades 51.5, but has a different rig and keel.

Production
The design was built by Beneteau in France, starting in 2005, but it is now out of production.

Design
The Moorings 51.5 is a recreational keelboat, built predominantly of glassfibre, with wood trim. It has a fractional sloop rig, with two sets of swept spreaders and aluminium spars with stainless steel wire standing rigging. The hull has a slightly raked stem, a reverse transom with a swimming platform, an internally mounted spade-type rudder controlled by dual wheels and a fixed fin keel with a weighted bulb. It displaces 30142 lb.

The boat has a draft of 6.58 ft with the standard keel.

The boat is fitted with a Japanese Yanmar diesel engine of 100 hp for docking and manoeuvring. The fuel tank holds 114 u.s.gal and the fresh water tank has a capacity of 246 u.s.gal.

The design has sleeping accommodation for nine people in five cabins. It has two cabins forward and two cabins aft, each equipped with a double berth, plus a single berth for crew in the bow. The main salon has a U-shaped settee and a straight settee around a table. The galley is located on the port side of the salon and is of straight configuration. The galley is equipped with a stove, a refrigerator, freezer and a double sink. A navigation station is located in the main salon, aft, on the starboard side. There are five heads, one for each cabin.

The design has a hull speed of 9.45 kn.

Operational history
In a 2007 Cruising World review, Andrew Burton wrote, "the boat sailed well in the light airs of my test sail. With the jib winches just forward of the helm on either side, it was easy to operate singlehanded. While the interior isn't optimized for long-range cruising, a buyer for the 51.5 will plan to use the boat with friends or a large family, just as charterers will enjoy the boat the rest of the time."