Design and Construction
The 45.5 is a recreational keelboat and a monohull built predominantly of fiberglass with wood trim, its hull laid up in solid fiberglass and its deck in end-grain balsa core for stiffness and insulation, with hull and deck joined by a through-bolted, caulked flange. Exterior styling marks it as a deliberate departure from Bristol's earlier full-keel work: the boat carries a raked stem, a raised counter reverse transom, and a skeg-mounted rudder controlled by an Edson wheel. Beneath the waterline the fixed fin keel carries a retractable centerboard, giving a shoal 4.9 ft draft with the board up and a deep 11.0 ft with it extended — a configuration that lets the same hull serve both thin coastal passages and offshore reaching legs. Displacing 34,660 lb and carrying 15,000 lb of lead ballast, the design shows a ballast-to-displacement ratio of 43.28 percent per recorded specifications, a number consistent with a vessel meant to stand up to sail yet still cruise with reserve.
Rig and Handling
The standard rig is a Bermuda masthead sloop with aluminum spars, though an optional ketch rig was offered; the masthead sloop sailplan carries a mainsail of 445 sq ft and a 150% genoa of 792 sq ft for a total sail area of 988.5 sq ft, with an air draft of 63.5 ft. The I foretriangle rises 56.00 ft on an 18.50 ft base, and the mainsail luff runs 50.00 ft. On the race course the design carries a PHRF average handicap of 111, a figure that confirms the racer-cruiser brief was more than marketing: the hull is quick enough to rate inside many heavier cruising contemporaries while retaining the centerboard versatility and 13.17 ft beam that make it a stable platform at anchor. The skeg-mounted rudder and Eds 37.25 ft waterline to give the 45.5 a documented helm configuration rather than a speculative one.
Accommodations
The available material documents the 45.5 as a recreational keelboat of 45.25 ft overall with wood trim over a fiberglass shell, but the recorded records stop short of interior arrangement specifics beyond that framing. What can be said with confidence is that the raised counter reverse transom and 13.17 ft beam define a voluminous hull form typical of the Bristol cruisers, and that the same molds later underpinned the 47.7 with a longer stern and traditional transom — meaning the 45.5's interior volume was judged sufficient by the builder to carry forward largely unchanged into the successor's midbody.
Known Issues
No documented structural defects, systemic rigging failures, or recurring hull problems are recorded in the available authority material for the 45.5. The centerboard trunk and retractable mechanism are the only complex through-hull-adjacent systems implied by the design, and prospective owners should recognize that the board's pivot and seal sit within the fin keel structure; beyond that, the sources are silent on fault modes, and silence here should not be read as a clean bill on any individual used boat.
Refits and Ownership
Because the 45.5 was built only through 1989 and in limited company-wide numbers alongside the 47.7, surviving examples are necessarily period vessels whose systems reflect their build era. The builder's documented method — solid hand-laid hull laminate, balsa-cored deck, through-bolted flange — describes a structure that ages on its own terms rather than through a known weak joint, and the Edson wheel steering is a long-lived component. Ownership of a 45.5 means accepting a racer-cruiser whose competitive rating and centerboard draft remain useful, but whose original electronics and running rigging are past any reasonable service life.
The Verdict
The Bristol 45.5 is a thoughtfully executed Bristol: a Ted Hood and Dieter Empacher racer-cruiser with a centerboard fin, a reverse transom, and a PHRF rating that proves the performance intent. Its limited production and shared molds with the 47.7 make it a distinctive, low-volume choice rather than a commodity cruiser.
Pros
- Racer-cruiser design by Hood and Empacher with a 111 PHRF average handicap
- Retractable centerboard gives 4.9 ft shoal draft and 11.0 ft deep draft
- Solid fiberglass hull with balsa-cored deck and through-bolted flange construction
- Skeg-mounted rudder with Edson wheel steering
Cons
- Limited production (75 units combined with 47.7) means sparse supportLayouts familiarity
- No documented interior layout detail or known-issues baseline in source records
- Period systems and rigging well beyond original service life on any survivor
