The 38-foot-2 hull has only three inches of total overhang, all of it aft, and carries its beam well aft. It is deliberately broad, with a length-to-beam ratio of 3 that led one reviewer to call it a "fat boat". That volume aft benefits both the broad cockpit and the aft-cabin arrangements rather than pursuing a slender entry.
Design and Construction
Under Hanseyachts ownership, the Dehler 38 line moved away from the older laminated monocoque hull-to-deck joint in favor of a glued and bolted junction. The SQ is built by vacuum injection with a sandwich laminate using a balsa core and vinyl ester resin. Laminated bulkheads, a GRP floor assembly, and a bonded deck-hull complete the structure.
One tester considered the deck plan somewhat oriented toward racing efficiency, but the yard’s design group laid out an interior that remains recognizably that of a cruiser. Larger hull windows, two additional Perspex wedges in the superstructure, and revised surfaces make the saloon noticeably lighter than in earlier iterations. The main bulkhead and wet-cell partition are finished in Skai with thin transverse seams in the upholstery.
Rig and Handling
The SQ’s defining feature is its squaretop, or fathead, mainsail. A diagonal headboard batten adds roughly five square metres of sail area. According to ORC measurements reported by YACHT, the sail produces an average gain of 28 seconds per nautical mile over the conventional pinhead rig.
To carry the broad head without overloading the rig, the yard increased the spreader angle from 23 to 27 degrees and moved the jibs 25 centimetres aft. This reduces the backstay system, so the stern stays serve only as trim aids rather than structural supports.
The fathead version requires double flying backstays on 1:2 tackles at the transom. Their forerunners use lever clamps and flip-flop blocks, allowing them to be worked from either the mainsheet or genoa winches. The standard fractional sloop has a SA/D of 20.85, while the square-head option raises that figure to 23.23.
A single deep blade rudder and twin wheels provide a direct, pleasant helm. Usable pressure builds under about 10 knots of true wind, and testers found the boat manageable even when sailed single-handed.
Cockpit and Deck Equipment
Standard equipment from the yard includes a folding prop, bowsprit, spring cleats, teak cockpit floor, anchor windlass, 160 Ah AGM batteries, and folding helmsman footrests. These roughly 70-by-40-centimetre surfaces fold out from the floor-box lids and allow the helmsman to stand at a 15-to-20 degree angle with little fatigue.
The swim ladder, cockpit stowage, and ventilation were all revised for the SQ.
Accommodations
Buyers can choose either a single quarter cabin to starboard or paired aft cabins to port and starboard. With the two-cabin arrangement, the port stateroom is reached through the head.
Forward, there’s a double berth. The sleeping area is positioned slightly aft to make room for service batteries beneath it. The bathroom door can close off the entire wet cell.
The standard layout omits a nav table in favor of two cabins and a large port-side locker. A fixed or sliding table can be added to create a small dinette. Alternatively, an aft-facing nav station can be fitted to port, using the settee as its seat, or the station can be deleted to provide an extra-long settee.
Wood choices include teak, oak, or mahogany, paired with acacia, walnut, or striped floors.
Known Issues
On the fathead rig, the backstay forerunners and gennaker gear compete for the same deck space. YACHT found that the clamp lever collides with the block used to deflect the loaded gennaker sheet, and the builder was working to address the conflict.
The aft winches on the port side are also shown wound counterclockwise, opposite the starboard convention. That detail is worth checking against the actual deck when assessing the boat’s handling systems.
Ownership Considerations
Around half of SQ customers to date chose the fathead version. A used boat fitted with that rig should therefore be viewed as a deliberate and relatively common choice rather than an outlier.
The Verdict
The Dehler 38 SQ is a considered step beyond the 2013 Dehler 38. It gives up some cruising convention for a squaretop rig that, according to the ORC data, genuinely makes the hull faster. At the same time, it retains the broad, voluminous deck and saloon that make the platform livable.
Its construction and layout show careful attention to the helmsman, particularly in the twin wheels, forward traveler, and folding footrests. The port aft winches shown wound opposite to the starboard convention are another compromise to consider. The access to the port quarter cabin through the head and the gennaker-sheet conflict on the fathead rig are the main compromises for a buyer to weigh.
Pros
- Squaretop mainsail delivers a measured 28 sec/Nm gain over the pinhead rig
- Vacuum-infused, balsa-core vinyl-ester construction with bonded deck-hull
- Light, well-windowed saloon with flexible nav-station or settee arrangements
- Twin-wheel, deep-blade helm described as direct and manageable single-handed
Cons
- Two-quarter-cabin layout requires access to the port stateroom through the head
- Fathead backstay forerunners collide with the loaded gennaker-sheet deflection block
- Port aft winches are shown wound opposite to the starboard convention
