Dickerson 37 AC Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

The hull is a recreational keelboat built predominantly of fiberglass over an Airex core, with teak wood trim throughout. On deck, all the woodwork is teak — handrails, cap rails, bow platform, and cockpit coamings — which gives the boat a period-correct visual warmth but also commits an owner to ongoing teak maintenance. The hull carries a spooned raked stem and a raised counter transom, with a skeg-mounted rudder controlled by a wheel and a fixed fin keel drawing 4.50 feet. Richard Sherwood noted that the overhangs and sheer were deliberately shaped for a traditional appearance while the center cockpit and aft cabin were modern conceits. Structurally, the aft-cockpit version carries 6,000 pounds of ballast and the general design displaces 15,950 pounds; the center-cockpit configuration is listed at 5,850 pounds of ballast. The boat was conceived as a cruiser for two or three couples.

Rig and Handling

The Dickerson 37 can be had with a masthead sloop, cutter, or ketch rig, all using aluminum spars. The ketch configuration places a mizzen mast equipped with its own sail sheet traveler, and only the mainsail carries a boom vang. Jiffy reefing is installed for both the main and mizzen. The genoa is sheeted through tracks to two cockpit winches, or four on cutter-rigged boats, and three halyard winches are fitted. The standard sailplan under the ketch configuration shows a total sail area of 555.82 square feet, with a 251.88-square-foot mainsail and a 303.94-square-foot jib/genoa on a foretriangle of 43.42 feet hoist by 14.00 feet base. With a 28.83-foot waterline and 11.50-foot beam, the hull is a moderate-displacement cruiser suited to loaded passage-making rather than racing.

Accommodations

Buyers could choose an aft cockpit or optional center cockpit. The center-cockpit model came in "standard" and "athwartships aft berth" arrangements: the standard provides a forward V-berth, L-shaped dinette berth, main-cabin settee berth, and an aft cabin with two single fore-and-aft berths, while the athwartships version substitutes a starboard-facing double aft. The aft cabin is reachable from its own companionway off the cockpit or via a passage from the main cabin. Aft-cockpit boats were factory-built in "traditional," "tri-cabin," and "short handed" layouts — the traditional has a bow V-berth with head aft, a starboard aft double with chart table forward, and port L-shaped dinette; the tri-cabin shifts the aft berth to port with an enclosed nav station; the short-handed drops the aft berth for more nav space and aft storage with galley to starboard. Every layout includes a galley with a three-burner alcohol stove and pressurized water, a teak-and-holly cabin sole, and ventilation from main and bow hatches plus opening ports.

Equipment and Deck Details

A bow anchor locker is provided, and the wheel-steered skeg rudder gives predictable control in close quarters. The Perkins 4-108 diesel of 51 horsepower handles docking and maneuvering, supported by a 45-gallon fuel tank and 90-gallon fresh-water capacity. The on-deck teak and the alcohol galley stove are period choices that shape ownership: the former needs regular oiling, the latter is now a sourcing challenge for safe fuel.

The Verdict

The Dickerson 37 is a thoughtfully laid-out cruiser that blends traditional looks with a genuinely modern aft-cabin cruising plan. Its multiple factory interior configurations let a buyer match the boat to couple-or-crowd cruising, and the ketch rig with jiffy reefing is a forgiving offshore package. The teak-heavy deck and alcohol galley are the main ownership caveats.

Pros