The Rebel 16 is a recreational sailboat, built predominantly of fiberglass with some areas with balsa or foam cores. It has a fractionalsloop rig with a rotating mast and hard-coated aluminum spars. the hull has a spooned plumb stem, a vertical transom, a kick-up, transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller and a retractable steelcenterboard. The hull has a full foredeck and full-length seats that can accommodate eight people. The class plans show the design with sheer, while the manufacturer's drawings lack the sheer. The boat displaces 700 lb (318 kg) and carries 110 lb (50 kg) of ballast, in form of the steel centerboard.[1][3]
The boat has a draft of 3.50 ft (1.07 m) with the centerboard extended and 6 in (15 cm) with it retracted, allowing beaching or ground transportation on a trailer.[1]
For safety the design is equipped with foam buoyancy flotation under the seats and in the bow. It features adjustable jib tracks. Factory options included a mast rotation bar, a boom vang, a Cunningham, a whisker pole and built-in cockpit bailers, as well as hiking straps.[3]
The design has a Portsmouth Yardstick racing average handicap of 97.2 and is normally raced with a crew of at least two sailors.[3]
This model has narrower side decks and a correspondingly wider cockpit[1]
Operational history
The design has an active class club, the Rebel Class Association.[8]
In a 1994 review Richard Sherwood wrote, the "Rebel was the first production sailboat built in fiberglass. Acceptance was fast, and there have been annual national regattas since 1951"[3]
A 2008 staff report in Sailing Magazine termed it a "tough but nimble little classic".[7]
