Design and Construction
What gives the Downeaster 38 its substance is the way the hull was specified rather than decorated. The laminate was built to Lloyd's requirements, with a solid fiberglass hull and deck and no coring below the waterline, and every through-hull below the waterline is fitted with a seacock. A steel backbone runs through the rudder, and the nonskid deck surfaces use sand set in a polyurethane adhesive instead of the usual molded pattern. Tankage reflects the same practical bent: an aluminum fuel tank and a stainless-steel water tank.
Rig and Handling
The 38 was offered in cutter, ketch, and schooner configurations, with the ketch the version that carries the "Kth" designation. The cutter rig shows 665 square feet of sail area; the schooner could be built out considerably with a 498-square-foot gollywobbler between the masts or even a 727-square-foot balloon jib set from the main masthead. On the ketch the sail-area-to-displacement ratio comes to 15.13, a figure that leaves the boat slightly underrigged against the broader fleet, yet the long keel and 41-percent ballast-displacement ratio give a capsize screening value of 1.72 and a motion comfort ratio of about 38, making her more comfortable than 90 percent of comparable cruising designs. With a displacement-length ratio of 384 she ranks among the ultra-heavy cruisers, and her theoretical hull speed is 7.2 knots.
Accommodations
Below, the forward cabin holds a double berth. In the main cabin the starboard side carries a pilot berth outboard of a settee, while the port side could be arranged either the same way or as a settee that converts to a double with a shelf overhead. The galley sits with a double sink near the centerline, and opposite it are a fixed chart table and a quarter berth, a layout that puts navigation and food preparation on opposite sides of the companionway for a working cruising interior.
The Verdict
The Downeaster 38 Kth is a thoughtfully specified heavy cruiser rather than a performance boat. Her strength lies in a Lloyd's-spec laminate, full seacocking, and a ballast-to-displacement ratio that the numbers show delivers exceptional motion comfort for her size. The ketch rig trades outright sail area for manageable handling, and the interior is a practical cruising arrangement with genuine double-berth options fore and aft. She is, by the ratios, slow to accelerate and under-canvased against lighter contemporaries, but that is the trade a 19,500-pound long-keel cruiser makes by design.
Pros
- Lloyd's-requirement laminate with seacocks on all below-waterline through-hulls construction to Lloyd's requirements
- Encapsulated lead ballast at 41 percent displacement for a comfort ratio beating 90 percent of similar designs
- Practical split galley and chart table opposite a quarter berth
- Emergency hand-start provision and twin independent batteries as standard
Cons
- Slightly underrigged for her displacement (SA/D 15.13)
- Ultra-heavy displacement-length ratio limits acceleration and top speed
