Design and Construction
The hull and deck are fibreglass and built as a sandwich construction which improves the indoor climate. Both surfaces are solid fibreglass rather than cored in the high-stress zones, and the keel itself is lead. Buyers could specify either a fin keel with a draft of about 2.09–2.19 meters (6.86–7.16 ft) dependent on load, which limits the boat to major marinas, or a wing keel drawing just 1.65–1.75 meters (5.41–5.71 ft) that admits most marinas. The interior is mahogany, consistent with many production cruisers of the period. The 42% ballast ratio and 248 displacement/length ratio place her among moderate racers, while a length/beam ratio of 2.99 and Motion Comfort Ratio of 25.4 describe a hull tuned for settled coastal motion rather than ultralight surge.
Rig and Handling
The Sweden Yachts 36 is built with a masthead rig and a saildrive transmission, achieving 7.0 knots under power against a theoretical maximal hull speed of 7.3 knots. The SA/D with the ISO 8666 reference sail is 17.7, rising to 21.2 with a 135% genoa, and the Relative Speed Performance is 73. She is a moderate displacement cruiser with very stable, stiff handling and excellent righting capability if capsized, the latter borne out by a capsize screening value of 1.98. The wet bottom surface is about 39 m². Recommended running rigging runs to a 34.3 m mainsail halyard at 12 mm, 11.0 m genoa sheets at 14 mm, and a 27.5 m mainsheet at 14 mm. Sail-plan geometry includes a 49.80 ft I dimension, 14.70 ft J, 43.30 ft P, and 13.10 ft E, with a 292.84 ft² mainsail, a 351.2 ft² jib, and a 543.9 ft² 150% genoa available.
Accommodations
The interior is like many other boats made of mahogany, a straightforward period finish rather than a bespoke one. The documented facts stop at the material and the coastal-cruiser intent; no specific berth count, head layout, or galley plan survives in the available record, so the cabin must be read as a mahogany-trimmed coastal interior rather than a quantified arrangement.
Known Issues
The documented sources record no structural defects, osmotic cases, rig failures, or flooding paths for the Sweden Yachts 36. The only documented limitation is draft-dependent: the fin-keel variant cannot enter minor marinas, while the wing-keel variant can. No safety-relevant known issue is documented.
Refits and Ownership
The Sweden Yachts 36 was designed by Peter Norlin together with Jens Östmann in the mid eighties, per the yachtdatabase review. With only 74 built, the model is a comparatively scarce coastal cruiser. The saildrive transmission and the sandwich hull are the two construction facts a prospective owner should confirm in person, since no defect survey is recorded.
The Verdict
The Sweden Yachts 36 is a compact, stiff, and righting-capable coastal cruiser with a documented Norlin–Östman pedigree and a sandwich fibreglass hull. She is best read as a weekend platform rather than a long-range voyager, and the wing-keel option broadens her marina access.
Pros
- Very stable, stiff handling with excellent capsize righting (capsize screening 1.98)
- Lead ballast, 42% ratio, moderate-racer DL of 248
- Wing-keel option reduces draft to 1.65–1.75 m for most marinas
- Mahogany interior; sandwich construction improves indoor climate
Cons
- Fin-keel draft of 2.09–2.19 m limits access to major marinas only
- Only 74 built (1984–1992), so sparse on the used market
- No documented berth/galley layout in the available record
