The Kelt 7.6 (or Kelt 7.60) is a French trailerable

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

, that was designed by Jean Berret and first built in 1980.Henkel, Steve: ''The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats'', page 351.

International Marine S&P Global Inc. (prior to April 2016 McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013 The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financ ...

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, 2010. The design was developed by

Vandestadt and McGruer Limited Vandestadt and McGruer Limited (sometimes styled as Vandestadt & McGruer) was a Canadian boat builder based in Owen Sound, Ontario. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of fibreglass sailboats. The company was founded by Frase ...

into the Sirius 26 in 1987.

Production

The boat was built by Kelt Marine in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and also in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

between 1980 and 1984, with a total of 489 examples completed, but it is now out of production.

Design

The Kelt 7.6 is a small recreational

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...

, built predominantly of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

. It has a

masthead sloop A masthead rig on a sailing vessel consists of a forestay and backstay both attached at the top of the mast. The Bermuda rig can be split into two groups: the masthead rig and the fractional rig. The masthead rig has larger and more headsails, ...

rig, a transom-hung

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

and a fixed fin

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

. It displaces and carries of ballast. The design has a draft of with the standard keel fitted. The boat is normally fitted with a small

outboard motor An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorised method ...

for docking and maneuvering. The design has sleeping accommodation for four people, with a double

"V"-berth A berth is a bed or sleeping accommodation on vehicles. Space accommodations have contributed to certain common design elements of berths. Beds in boats or ships While beds on large ships are little different from those on shore, the lack ...

in the bow cabin and two straight settee berths in the main cabin. The galley is located on the port side just forward of the

companionway In the architecture of a ship, a companion or companionway is a raised and windowed hatchway in the ship's deck, with a ladder leading below and the hooded entrance-hatch to the main cabins. A companionway may be secured by doors or, commonly in ...

ladder and is equipped with a two-burner stove,

icebox An icebox (also called a cold closet) is a compact non-mechanical refrigerator which was a common early-twentieth-century kitchen appliance before the development of safely powered refrigeration devices. Before the development of electric refrige ...

and a sink. A navigation station is opposite the galley, on the starboard side. The head is located just aft of the navigation station on the starboard side. Cabin headroom is . The boat has a

PHRF Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) is a handicapping system used for yacht racing in North America. It allows dissimilar classes of sailboats to be raced against each other. The aim is to cancel out the inherent advantages and disadvantages ...

racing average handicap of 216 with a high of 210 and low of 222. It has a

hull speed Hull speed or displacement speed is the speed at which the wavelength of a vessel's bow wave is equal to the waterline length of the vessel. As boat speed increases from rest, the wavelength of the bow wave increases, and usually its crest-to-t ...

of .

Operational history

In a review Michael McGoldrick wrote, "The Kelt 7.6 ... won the very prestigious "boat of the year" award at the 1980 Paris Boat Show. The Kelt successfully squeezed a lot of living space, including an aft head and a real chart table, in seaworthy and modern looking 25 footer. Because these boats were built in the mid-1980s, the Kelt is one of the newer 25 footer that can be found on the Canadian used market." In a 2010 review Steve Henkel wrote, "best features: The Kelt wins the Space Index sweepstakes among her comp titor, bolstered by a combination of widest beam and relatively good headroom. Her small mainsail relative to her foretriangle, along with her low masthead, should make her easy to handle in heavy air despite her low D/L ratio. Worst features: None noted."

References

External links

* {{Trailer sailers and Trailer yachts worldwide Keelboats 1980s sailboat type designs Sailing yachts Sailboat type designs by Jean Berret Sailboat types built by Kelt Marine

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References

External links