Maine Cat 38 Ls-E Buyer's Guide
Shopping the used Maine Cat 38 Ls-E means looking at a 38-foot cruising catamaran built by Maine Cat Catamarans in Bremen, Maine, around Dick Vermeulen’s idea of simple, fast, short-handed sailing. These are light, narrow-hulled boats with retractable outboards and a self-tacking rig, not heavily equipped cruisers, so the brokerage examples tend to show a fairly consistent personality with a few common owner additions.
Layouts on the Used Market
The Ls-E follows the standard 38’s open bridgedeck, where cockpit and saloon share one space with large windows, and all sleeping, the galley, and the single head live down in the hulls. The port hull carries an inline galley with three burners and no oven, a narrow double berth forward, and a double berth aft; the starboard hull has the one marine head forward of amidships and a double aft, with curtain-separated spaces rather than doors. The boat was not intended to sleep more than five. The “LS” version on the used market simply trims woodwork and 600 pounds versus the standard interior, so buyers will see the lighter, simpler fit-out rather than a different footprint.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
Used boats commonly carry a code zero or screacher for off-wind work, heating, solar, lithium batteries, an inverter, a self-tacking jib, dinghy davits, radar, AIS, and autopilot as fitted equipment. Often-seen items include electric winches, hot water, a swim platform, trampoline, and a chartplotter. The test boat in period reviews carried a pair of solar panels on the pilothouse, and Harken winches with an Edson wheel at the single helm are standard references. Torqeedo electric pod drives were an available alternative to the twin 9.9hp outboards, so some boats may show that electric propulsion path.
What to Inspect
The narrow hulls that give the boat its speed lack the buoyancy to carry heavy equipment or big tankage, so check any added weight against the design’s intent and look for overload signs around the flared hulls. Period testing showed the twin 9.9hp outboards mounted in wells cavitated and made just over 3 knots motoring into 25 knots and a steep 3-foot chop at 80 percent throttle; inspect the outboard wells, tilt mechanisms, and transom structure for wear from that operating mode. The boat tacked easily with both daggerboards down but struggled under main alone, so verify daggerboard trunk condition and rig leading to the helm. The hull and deck are thermo-formed Core-Cell with vinylester infusion, and the first hull weighed 426 pounds, a useful benchmark when assessing repair or added structure.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
These boats are typically found in the United States. For a buyer, the takeaway is straightforward: confirm the LS weight trim is intact, verify outboard well and daggerboard condition, check that added gear has not exceeded the narrow hulls’ buoyancy, and expect a simply equipped, single-head, curtain-divided interior suited to no more than five.
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Maine Cat 38 Ls-E. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 5 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 25 | 2 | $ 492,000 | — |
| Aug 25 | 1 | $ 535,000 | +8.7% |
| Sep 25 | 1 | $ 295,000 | -44.9% |
| Jan 26 | 1 | $ 449,000 | +52.2% |
| Apr 26 | 1 | $ 295,000 | -34.3% |
Where they're listed
Maine Cat 38 Ls-E listings appear across 1 country. United States has the most listings with 5.
Country view
5 listings · 1 country| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $ 449,000 | 5 | 0 | 100.0% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Excess 11 | 37.17' | $ 456,575 | 124 | 42 |
| Robertson and Caine 38 | 37.5' | $ 219,000 | 45 | 14 |
| Fountaine Pajot Mahe 36 | 36.19' | $ 195,000 | 35 | 9 |
| Fountaine Pajot Athena 38 | 38.05' | $ 140,176 | 33 | 13 |
| Catana Catamarans 47 | 47' | $ 575,009 | 20 | 6 |
| Freedom 38 | 37.92' | $ 70,146 | 18 | 8 |
| Maine Cat 38 Ls-EYou are here | — | $ 449,000 | 6 | 0 |