Design and Construction
The 396 DI’s hull sections are essentially flat from stem to stern to minimize underbody depth. The bottom carries a full inch of solid fiberglass to withstand the boat’s weight when it’s on land.
The hull is built of solid fiberglass, using chopped strand mat and woven roving in a polyester resin matrix. The deck is cored with end-grain balsa, while glassed-in longitudinal stringers and athwartship frames add rigidity.
On the lifting-keel version, a cast-iron belly pan sits externally in a recess in the underbody, fair with the bottom, and provides 6,860 pounds of ballast. The fiberglass lifting foil weighs less than 300 pounds and pivots around a heavy-duty stainless steel pin through bushings. Structural skegs flank the centerboard trunk and propeller to protect those areas.
Instead of one deep, high-aspect spade rudder, the 396 DI has two shallower elliptical rudders canted to port and starboard. Each is engineered to support the weight of the entire boat when it’s on the hard.
Kirie also offered a fixed 5-foot-11-inch ballasted fin keel. This version has a conventionally bolted 5,400-pound cast-iron foil and a lighter displacement of 15,470 pounds.
Rig and Handling
The mast is deck-stepped, with halyards and controls led aft through organizers and stoppers to cabin-mounted self-tailers. This arrangement supports short-handed operation from the cockpit.
The twin canted rudders connect to the wheel through a Whitlock rack-and-pinion system and provide excellent response at the helm. In light air and flat water, the boat moved along effortlessly, tracked well, and dug to weather nicely with the board down.
The 100 percent sail area is 654 square feet, and the mast rises 54 feet above the water. The lifting-keel version has a sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 15.4, compared with 16.9 for the fin-keel model. Those figures describe a moderately powered cruiser rather than a racer.
Cockpit and Deck
The cockpit is relatively small and compromised by a wide bridge deck intended for fair-weather lounging. Going below requires climbing out of the cockpit, a maneuver that leaves a crewmember exposed in rough offshore conditions.
Forward, the boat has double anchor rollers and a generous chain locker with a mechanical windlass. At the stern, the removable helmsman’s seat opens onto a swim platform. A deck shower is fitted in the cockpit.
Accommodations
Buyers could choose between two interior layouts. The two-stateroom plan has a double cabin forward and a full-width double aft. The three-stateroom version divides the stern into separate port and starboard cabins.
Both arrangements include two heads with showers, one forward and one aft. Each head has its own dedicated stainless steel holding tank.
In the saloon, L-shaped settees run along both sides. A central dinette folds out to join them. Elm woodwork gives the interior a light, airy appearance, and cabin headroom is 7 feet.
The galley is to port, just abaft the companionway, and includes double stainless steel sinks and a microwave. To starboard are the aft head, a forward-facing navigation station, and the electrical center. Three hanging lockers are distributed throughout the boat.
Equipment and Systems
A 40-horsepower Yanmar diesel sits below the companionway and can be reached through convertible front and side inspection hatches.
The battery bank is under the cabin sole in a custom fiberglass casing. It consists of one starting battery and two deep-cycle house batteries. At the navigation station, the electrical panel organizes 16 12-volt breakers and six 220-volt breakers.
Pressurized hot and cold water serves the galley and both heads, as well as the cockpit shower.
Known Issues
Period reviewers questioned whether cast iron was suitable as belly ballast for the shallow-draft lifting version because of its vulnerability to rust and corrosion in the marine environment. Kirie addressed the concern by keeping the metal external and increasing the hull laminate where the ballast attaches.
The cockpit layout presents another compromise. Its small size and wide bridge deck make access below awkward, particularly in rough water, when a crewmember must climb out of the cockpit to reach the companionway.
The Verdict
The Feeling 396 DI is an unusual cruiser: a 38-footer engineered from the hull up to beach like a catamaran. Its flat, solid-fiberglass underbody, external cast-iron ballast, and twin canted rudders allow the boat to settle onto land, with the rudders doubling as ground supports.
The lifting centerboard changes the boat from a 7-foot-4-inch-draft keelboat into a beachable cruiser drawing 2 feet 11 inches, without sacrificing its ability to work to weather in light air. The trade-offs are real—a compromised cockpit and a corrosion-prone belly pan—but the construction addresses the obvious risks, and the interior provides a thoughtful, roomy cruising platform.
Pros
- Purpose-designed for beaching, with a draft range of 7 feet 4 inches to 2 feet 11 inches through the lifting centerboard
- Flat, one-inch solid-fiberglass bottom
- Twin canted rudders engineered to support the boat’s weight on the hard
- Excellent helm response from dual rudders and Whitlock rack-and-pinion steering
- Choice of two- or three-stateroom layouts
- Two heads and good stowage
Cons
- Cast-iron belly ballast is vulnerable to corrosion and needs external inspection
- Small cockpit with a high bridge deck
- Access below becomes an exposed climb in rough water
- The fixed-keel alternative loses the boat’s signature beaching capability
