Design and Construction
Valentijn shaped the forward sections as a soft V flowing into an almost flat bottom amidships, with aft sections kept flat and full on straight diagonals; the goal was increased stability and span for the keel, not a knife-edged racer's run. The keel sections themselves came from systematic testing done on America's Cup contenders keel section development, a deliberate borrowing of high-end hydrodynamic development into a cruising hull. Construction is GRP with a 3/4-inch Klegecell core, the inside and outside shells a minimum 1/4-inch solid fiberglass in the bottom and slightly less in the topsides. That core, per the builder's own description, gave a light, stiff, strong hull that kept the center of gravity low and permitted a very full interior while carrying a large rig easily. Structure is reinforced by a large steel grid glassed into the hull, with a 3/8-inch plate steel framework in the bilge heavily bonded with woven roving, and keel areas, maststep, chainplates and engine beds built with a special steel structure to increase strength and stiffness. Interior bulkheads are glassed in as part of the total structure, and the main bulkhead at the mast carries some of the rigging load. Endeavour's chief engineer noted the boat was built to last at least 12 to 15 years, while the yard doubted organic materials would survive that long — a caveat that bears on any wood-subsole boat now decades out.
Rig and Handling
The sloop rig carries 703.69 square feet of sail on a masthead plan, the aspect ratio of foretriangle and mainsail chosen for maximum performance for a given area; all spars are extruded 6061-T6 aluminum with anodized coatings, and the mast is stepped through the cabin overhead onto the steel grid's compression frame bonded and mechanically tied to the keel. Standing rigging attaches to chainplates with adjustable turnbuckles — upper and intermediate shrouds as stainless straps through-bolted to heavy bulkheads, lowers as stainless tie rods — and all halyards are pre-stretched jacketed Dacron run internally in the mast. Steering runs through a pedestal with stainless cables rotating a radial quadrant keyed to a solid stainless rudder post welded to an internal steel blade; the high-lift skeg-mounted rudder provides hands-off tracking and ease of steering. Two keel options document the design intent: a shallow but longer 4-foot-11-inch fin stretched aft toward the prop as Valentijn's original, and a deeper narrower 5-foot-7-inch fin that would provide better windward performance keel options. The capsize screening value of 1.92 meant the boat could, by that formula alone, be accepted for ocean races, while the 27.6 Motion Comfort Ratio placed it above 46% of similar designs.
Accommodations
Below, the aft-cockpit layout builds the interior of wood over the steel grid, with a plywood sole glued and screwed atop the grid and saturated with polyester resin, finished in teak and holly. Descending into the main cabin, the galley sits to starboard with a large settee forward; opposite, a double berth tucks under the cockpit behind a drawable curtain, and the nav station just forward of it faces an L-shaped settee around the dining table. Forward of the mast bulkhead lies a large head with a separate shower stall, while opposite are hanging lockers and a vanity around a comfortable V-berth in the forepeak. Six berths, 6 feet 4 inches of headroom, 15 opening screened ports and 6 deck hatches give the volume light and air. The center-cockpit version trades some of this for 8,800 pounds of internal lead ballast and 70 gallons of water in two tanks against the aft's 7,000 pounds and 76 gallons.
Known Issues
The documented construction caveats center on the materials the yard itself distrusted. Subsole wood was saturated with polyester resin to seal grain, but Endeavour doubted organic materials would last the 12 to 15 years the chief engineer claimed for the hull — meaning any surviving example demands close inspection of sole framing and bonded steel for rot or corrosion at the interface. The steel grid and bilge framework, though heavily bonded, are long past the builder's stated design life and represent the structural heart of the boat; their condition governs everything above. No widespread systemic failure is recorded in the source material, but the explicit lifespan hedge is the only durability claim the builder stood behind.
Refits and Ownership
Electrical architecture is unusually detailed for the era: DC is two-wire color-coded red and yellow from two parallel 12-volt batteries, AC is three-wire 115-volt 60-cycle from a 30-amp shore service, and all metallic fittings below the waterline are bonded with green-coated 8-gauge copper to a common ground. Wiring is 10-gauge stranded copper with crimp connectors throughout. The base aft-cockpit auxiliary was a Yanmar 3-HMF diesel at 30 horsepower, optionally a 3-JHE at 40; the center-cockpit base was a Yanmar 4-JHE at 44. Fuel lives in aluminum tanks — 30 gallons aft, 34 center — with a 12-gallon two-tank holding system. An owner renewing systems can follow the original color and gauge scheme exactly.
The Verdict
The Endeavour 38 is a Valentijn cruiser with a genuinely engineered structure: cored GRP over a bonded steel grid, America's-Cup-derived keel sections, and a rig sized large for its displacement. It rewards a buyer who reads the steel-and-wood interface as the boat's true age marker rather than the model year.
Pros
- Documented structural grid and bulkheads glassed into a cored hull for stiffness and low center of gravity
- Two keel options separating original shoal fin from deeper windward-performance fin
- Detailed, standardized electrical and bonding scheme eases modern refit
- Accommodation plan with private berths, separate shower, and generous port/hatch count
Cons
- Builder explicitly doubted organic subsole materials would reach its own 12–15 year design life
- Steel grid and bilge framework now well beyond stated service horizon require expert survey
- Flat aft sections and moderate SA/D favor stability over light-air speed
