Design and Construction
The Freedom 39 measures 39 feet overall on a 31-foot waterline, with a beam of just under 13 feet and a displacement near 18,500 pounds balanced by 5,300 pounds of lead ballast. Those proportions place her in a cruising category where a ballast-to-displacement ratio of about 29 percent and a capsize screening value of 1.94 describe a vessel built for offshore steadiness rather than all-out speed. Her hull is solid fiberglass, and the deck is likewise solid rather than cored, a construction choice that removes a common failure path found in sandwich-deck boats of the era. The related PH variant shared this hull, so the standard 39 is distinguished by the rig above it.
Rig and Handling
What separates the Freedom 39 from conventional cruisers is its cat-rigged ketch layout carrying two free-standing carbon-fiber masts with conventional carbon-fiber booms anchor. The absence of standing rigging simplifies sail handling and reduces rigging complexity on deck, while the twin-mast arrangement spreads the 818 square feet of sail area into manageable chunks. With a sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 18.71 and a hull speed near 7.5 knots, the boat is a moderate-displacement cruiser whose short-handed potential flows directly from the unstayed rig. The raked stem and slightly reverse transom give her a contemporary silhouette, and the skeg-hung rudder provides sheltered helm authority.
Accommodations
Below, the Freedom 39 sleeps six. A private double cabin sits aft under the cockpit to starboard, while the bow cabin carries a double berth and the main cabin adds two pilot berths anchor. The head is placed just aft of the bow cabin on the starboard side, keeping the forepeak sleeping space distinct from the wet room. The galley is U-shaped and set to port at the foot of the companionway steps, equipped with a three-burner stove and double sinks — a working triangle positioned where the cook can brace against motion coming down the ladder. The aft cockpit overhead means the starboard double is tucked into the stern structure rather than open to the main saloon, a layout that trades communal flow for owner-cabin privacy.
The Verdict
The Freedom 39 is a thoughtfully conceived cruiser whose free-standing carbon-fiber rig removes the maintenance and complexity of conventional standing rigging while preserving the sail-plan flexibility of a ketch. Solid fiberglass hull and deck construction avoid cored-structure vulnerabilities, and the Ron Holland-Gary Hoyt pedigree produced a moderate-displacement vessel with six-berth accommodation and a practical U-shaped galley. The related PH shares the hull, but the standard 39's cat-ketch rig defines its character.
Pros
- Twin free-standing carbon-fiber masts with conventional booms simplify rigging and sail handling
- Solid fiberglass hull and deck rather than cored sandwich construction
- Six-berth layout with a private aft double cabin and U-shaped port galley
Cons
- Cat-rigged ketch with unstayed rig limits conventional sail-plan upgrades and tuning familiar to many crews
