Comparing the H260 to similar sailboats
A powerboat take you to a destination,
a sailboat will take you on a journey.

There is an international design standard for recreational sailboats. Boats are divided into categories based on certain parameters in respect to stability, buoyancy, and other relevant handling characteristics. These categories are:  

Category A  - Ocean; Extended voyages with wind force in excess of Beaufort force 8, and significant wave height of 4 meters or above.

Category B – Offshore; Off shore voyages in possible wind force of Beaufort force 8 and significant wave heights of up to 4 meters.

Category C – Inshore Voyages on coastal waters, large lakes, bays estuaries, or rivers, where wind force of up to force 6 on the Beaufort scale and significant wave heights of up to 2 meters may be experienced.

Category D – Sheltered waters. Designed for voyages on sheltered inland waterways, including lakes, rivers and canals, where wind force 4 and significant wave height of 0.5 meters may be experienced.

The H260 is a stable and safe Category "C" boat. Although the heaviest of the “Clorox Bottles” at 5,000 lbs displacement,  it is not suitable for offshore sailing. I'm not interested in offshore sailing and I don't know of any Cat B boats that can realistically be pulled by a medium size pickup. See this link for more on towing.

People have rowed across the Atlantic in category "D" boats but these exceptions needed extensive preparation and precautions and a seriously demented owner with a death wish. A reasonable definition of an offshore sailboat is one that is at least 8,000 displacement, solid keel with low center of gravity, capsize ratio below 2.00 and vanishing stability over 140 degrees. This is hard to achieve in a trailerable boat which is why the H260 and its cousins are Cat C boats. There are a few small "trailerable" boats that meet the Cat “B” criteria. Most notable is the Pacific Seacraft Dana which runs well over $100,000 new. There are bound to be others but I don’t know them. If you are aware of any let me know.   

One of the things that makes the H26/H260 unique is that it is a water ballast boat. There is some bias against water ballast boats in the sailing community. However, water ballast is used in large as well as small boats and has been proven to provide an excellent design alternative for trailerable boats. Go to this link for more on water as ballast for sailboats. 

Although some people are swayed by the color of the cushions and how many heads there are, chart chart below provides a starting point for comparing some of the factors involved in sailboat design.

Data obtained from:
  http://www.cruising.sailingcourse.com/
http://www.image-ination.com/sailcalc.html
http://www.johnsboatstuff.com/Articles/estimati.htm

Note: Use these numbers with caution - Do your own calculations using the above links. Data on some of these boats is hard to come by. This summary is only presented to give a general idea of how to go about comparing the relative differences between boats. Some comparisons are more significant or valid than others --  especially when dealing with small boats.  For example, it is fairly easy to compare the SA/D between boats to determine performance in light wind, but comparing the capsize ratios is questionable. I've put the Dana 24 and the Colgate 26 in this mix to give an idea of how conventional keel boats compare to water ballast.

	Water Ballast			Conventional Ballast Sloops
	Hunter 260	Catalina 250	McGregor 26	Seward 26 RK	Hunter 26.5	Hunter 25	Colgate 26	Dana 24
LOA	26.2	26.92	25.83	28.33	26.58	24.5	25.5	27.25
LWL	23.2	21.5	23.17	24.67	22.5	22.08	20.00	21.42
Beam	8.75	8.59	7.75	8.33	9.00	8.46	8.42	8.58
Displacement	5000	4200	4000	3800	4400	3700	2600	8000
Ballast	2000	1050	1450	1150	1800	1309	1050	3200
Sail Area	320	300	300	280	303	239	283	358
x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Hull Speed Knots +	6.5	6.2	6.5	6.7	6.6	6.3	6.0	6.2
Disp/Length +	179	151	143	113	172	153	145	363
SA/D +	17.5	19.32	19.05	18.4	18.05	15.99	23.95	14.32
Capsize Ratio -	2.05	2.11	1.95	2.14	2.20	2.19	2.45	1.72
Comfort Ratio +	18.72	16.24	16.75	13.45	15.25	14.49	10.79	30.26
Ballast ratio	40.0	30.8	36.3	30.3	40.9	35.4	40.4	40.0
Velocity Ratio	1.12	1.05	1.10	1.07	1.06	1.02	1.07	1.16
L/Beam Ratio	2.99	3.17	3.33	3.40	2.95	2.90	3.03	3.18
Roll period (T)	2.11	1.99	2.08	1.73	1.84	1.75	1.36	3.41
Roll acceleration	0.14	0.15	0.12	0.19	0.19	0.19	0.31	0.05
Stability Index	0.79	0.77	0.88	0.68	0.67	0.68	0.53	1.30

Note: There are two flavors of the Hunter water ballast 26 foot sailboat; the original H26 and its successor the H260. If you want to see some differences between these two models go to this link.

Hull Speed - The longer the waterline length, the faster a boat can go. Hulls are usually designed so that waterline length increases as the boat heels increasing the maximum speed and that in some circumstances (e.g. surfing down large waves) the boat ceases to be a true displacement hull and can exceed the theoretical maximum. 

Displacement/Waterline Length - This is probably the most used and best understood boat evaluation factor. Boats with low numbers are probably uncomfortable and difficult to sail. This factor indicates whether a boat is "heavy" (e.g. a cruising design) or "light" (e.g. a racing design) for its length. This ratio can be used to compare boats regardless of their length. Low numbers (resulting from lightweight and long waterlines) are associated with high performance and quick response. A medium value would be 200 (cruising boats begin around 200), 300 would be high (heavy cruising boat), and 100 would be low (ultra light displacement). Many racing boats are below 100. Boats with a lower ratio accelerate faster, but they may have an unacceptable motion in a seaway. Boats with low numbers are probably uncomfortable and difficult to sail. A light boat will have more violent motion in storms which requires constant attention to steering and sail trim, resulting in crew fatigue. A minimum value of 230 gives a boat with a nice blend of weight (for good load carrying capability and seaworthiness) and reasonable performance.

Sail Area to Displacement: This ratio indicates how fast the boat is in light wind. The higher the number the faster the boat. The sail area is the total of the main sail and the area of the front triangle. A racing boat typically has large sail area and low displacement. A number less than 13 probably indicates that the boat is a motorsailer. High performance boats would be around 18 or higher. This ratio is also "non-dimensional" and can be used to compare boats of different sizes. Mainly it is a "power to weight" ratio so that a boat with a higher value will accelerate better and be a better light air performer. It will reach hull speed with less wind and need to reduce sail sooner if it is to avoid being over-canvassed in a blow. In general, a boat with a lower D/L will have better light air performance for a given sail area but it will be more sensitive to loading, likely to have a less comfortable ride in a sea and will likely need to shorten sail sooner. 

Capsize Ratio: A value less than 2 is considered relatively good; the boat should be relatively safe in bad conditions. The higher the number above 2 the more vulnerable the boat. This is just a rough figure of merit and controversial as to its use. This formula estimates the boat's resistance to capsizing. This calculator gives only guidance. In general, heavy boats with narrow hulls are more stable. Results less than 2 indicate stability, greater than 2 the boat is relatively vulnerable to capsizing. Note: This formula does not consider the vertical position of the center of gravity (VCG). The VCG can be lowered by a longer keel or by having more ballast (weight of the keel) at the end of the keel. A low VCG can help the boat in righting itself once it has capsized. The formula penalizes boats with a wide beam (the most important factor in inverted stability), and light weight boats because of their violent response (low roll moment of inertia) to large waves. It does not indicate anything about static stability

Motion Comfort: Range will be from 5 to 60+ with a Whitby 42 at the mid 30's.  The higher the number the more comfort in a sea. Large numbers indicate a smoother, more comfortable motion in a sea. A value of 30 to 40 would be an average cruiser. Racing designs are typically less than 30. This figure of merit was developed by the yacht designer Ted Brewer. Ted's recommendations were a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 50.

Other:

Ballast Ratio (%) - The ballast ratio shows what proportion of the total displacement is ballast and can give an indication of how "stiff" (i.e. a greater resistance to heeling) or "tender" a particular boat is. However, use this value with care. Keep in mind that one boat may have the ballast at the bottom of a deep keel and another in a shallow keel. As a result, two boats with the same ballast ratio could have very different "righting moments" which is what actually determines how "stiff" (or otherwise) it is, depending on the location of the ballast and hull shape.

Velocity: This ratio is a measure of how well an ideal cruising boat will perform under sail. A well designed boat (adequate sail area and light weight hull) will have values between 1 and 1.1. Under powered or extra heavy boats will be less than 1. An all out racing boat will be as high as 1.8. An optimal range is 1.04 to 1.08. By comparison, the Tanzer 26 has a value of 1.08.

LWL to Beam: This ratio measures the fineness of the hull. A medium value would be 2.7; 3.0 would be high, and 2.3 would be low. Fine hulls, having ratios of 3.5 - 4.0 and higher, are long and slender which promotes easy motion, high speed (due to low drag), and good balance when heeled. Many newer designs favor wider hulls which have a larger interior volume, sail flatter, and have high reaching and down wind speed potential.

Roll Period (T): The roll period is based on the moment of inertia. Simply stated, a sailboat’s roll period, in seconds, is inversely proportional to its stability. Unstable boats have long periods, stable boats have short periods. The general rule of thumb is that boats with periods less than 4 seconds are stiff and periods greater than 8 seconds are tender.

Roll Acceleration: Marchaj lists four physiological states or roll; Imperceptible, Tolerable, Threshold of Malaise, and Intolerable. Malaise starts at .1 G, Intolerable begins at .18 G. Spending much time under these levels of acceleration reduces physical effectiveness and decision making ability through sleep deprivation. G levels above .06 are considered undesirable for offshore cruising conditions. Several light weight, large beam designs have G levels above .4, definitely "intolerable" for any length of time. The roll per has dimensions of seconds. The general rule of thumb is that boats with periods less than 4 seconds are stiff and periods greater than 8 seconds are tender. 

Stability Index: This is term relating roll period and beam to stability. Values less than 1.0 are considered stiff. Values greater than 1.5 are considered tender. By comparison, the Tanzer 26 has a value of .73.

Pounds per inch: The weight required to sink the boat one inch. If the boat is in fresh water multiply the result by 0.975. If you know the beam at the waterline (BWL) multiply the result by BWL/Beam.

Screening Stability and Vanishing Stability: This is the resistance to capsize and heel. The Angle of Vanishing Stability is the heeling angle at which a boat capsizes. If a boat’s AVS is 120 degrees, it will tip over when it heels beyond that angle. One of the best predictors of ultimate stability is the "angle of vanishing stability" or the angle to which the boat can heel and still right itself. A dingy will have a stability range of about 80 degrees, an inland water boat should have a stability range of 100 degrees, and an offshore boat of at least 120 degrees. Boats which have a stability angle of less than 140 degrees may be left floating upside down once capsized. Boats with a higher angle will usually right themselves.