Hazen’s boat is a purpose-built cruiser offered with either an aft or center cockpit. It combines traditional overhangs and sheer with a modern interior plan built around aft-cabin accommodation.
Design and Construction
The Dickerson 37 is a recreational keelboat built predominantly of fiberglass over an Airex core, with teak wood trim throughout. All the exterior woodwork is teak, including the handrails, cap rails, bow platform, and cockpit coamings. It gives the boat the visual warmth typical of its period, but it also commits the owner to ongoing teak maintenance.
The hull has a spooned, raked stem and a raised counter transom. A wheel controls the skeg-mounted rudder, while the fixed fin keel draws 4.50 feet. Richard Sherwood noted that the overhangs and sheer were deliberately shaped to give the boat a traditional appearance, while the center cockpit and aft cabin were modern conceits.
The design displaces 15,950 pounds. The aft-cockpit version carries 6,000 pounds of ballast, while the center-cockpit configuration is listed with 5,850 pounds. The boat was conceived as a cruiser for two or three couples.
Rig and Handling
The Dickerson 37 was available with a masthead sloop, cutter, or ketch rig, all with aluminum spars. On the ketch, the mizzen mast has its own sail-sheet traveler, and only the mainsail has a boom vang. Both the main and mizzen have jiffy reefing.
The genoa sheets run through tracks to two cockpit winches, or four on cutter-rigged boats, and the boat has three halyard winches. The standard ketch sail plan lists 555.82 square feet of total sail area: a 251.88-square-foot mainsail and a 303.94-square-foot jib/genoa. The foretriangle measures 43.42 feet in hoist and 14.00 feet at the base.
With a 28.83-foot waterline and an 11.50-foot beam, the Dickerson 37 is a moderate-displacement cruiser intended for loaded passage-making rather than racing.
Cockpit and Interior Layouts
Buyers could choose between an aft cockpit and an optional center cockpit. The center-cockpit boat came in “standard” and “athwartships aft berth” arrangements.
The standard layout provides:
- A forward V-berth
- An L-shaped dinette berth
- A main-cabin settee berth
- An aft cabin with two single fore-and-aft berths
The athwartships version replaces those two aft berths with a starboard-facing double. In either arrangement, the aft cabin can be reached through its own companionway from the cockpit or by a passage from the main cabin.
Aft-cockpit boats left the factory in “traditional,” “tri-cabin,” and “short handed” layouts. The traditional arrangement has a V-berth in the bow with the head aft, a starboard aft double berth with the chart table forward, and an L-shaped dinette to port. The tri-cabin layout moves the aft berth to port and adds an enclosed navigation station. The short-handed version omits the aft berth in favor of more navigation space and aft storage, with the galley to starboard.
Every layout includes a galley with a three-burner alcohol stove and pressurized water. Interior details include a teak-and-holly cabin sole, while the main and bow hatches and opening ports provide ventilation.
Machinery and Deck Equipment
A bow anchor locker is provided. The wheel-steered, skeg-mounted rudder gives predictable control in close quarters, while the 51-horsepower Perkins 4-108 diesel handles docking and maneuvering. Tankage consists of 45 gallons of fuel and 90 gallons of fresh water.
Two period choices have a direct bearing on ownership. The extensive exterior teak needs regular oiling, while sourcing safe fuel for the alcohol galley stove is now a challenge.
The Verdict
The Dickerson 37 is a thoughtfully arranged cruiser that combines traditional looks with a genuinely modern aft-cabin cruising plan. Its multiple factory layouts allow buyers to choose accommodation suited to either couple or group cruising. The ketch rig and its jiffy reefing also make for a forgiving offshore package.
The main ownership caveats are the teak-heavy deck and the three-burner alcohol galley stove.
Pros
- Choice of aft or center cockpit, with several distinct factory interior plans
- Ketch or cutter rig with aluminum spars; the ketch has jiffy reefing on the main and mizzen
- Generous 90-gallon water and 45-gallon fuel capacities for extended cruising
- Traditional sheer and overhangs paired with a modern aft-cabin hull
Cons
- Extensive exterior teak demands consistent maintenance
- Three-burner alcohol galley stove is dated, with limited fuel availability by modern standards
- Often confused with the unrelated 1983 Farr racing design also marketed as the Dickerson 37
