With a lead-ballasted fin keel, skeg-hung rudder, and solid fiberglass hull, the Nauticat 39 sits between sheltered cruising comfort and credible offshore numbers. As one longtime owner wrote in 48° North, choosing a pilothouse never meant compromising the sailing she wanted.
Design and Construction
Nauticats are built in Finland for high-latitude cruising, and the 39 follows that lineage while retaining a traditional sailboat hull beneath its deckhouse. The hull is solid fiberglass, built using the yard’s hand-laminated, single-skin construction without foam or balsa coring below the sheerline. That gives an owner a straightforward structure to survey without concern about hidden core rot in the hull shell.
The Nauticat 39 displaces 16,900 pounds and carries 6,000 pounds of lead ballast. Its ballast-displacement ratio of 35.5 percent places it firmly in serious cruising territory. A capsize screening value of 1.64 would admit it to ocean racing under that formula.
With an 11.5-foot beam and a length-to-beam ratio of 3.32, the boat is slimmer than 58 percent of comparable designs. Its displacement-length ratio of 256 places it among “moderate racers.” Yet 54 percent of similar boats are heavier, so the Nauticat 39 can carry a load without wallowing.
Rig and Handling
The Nauticat 39 has a fractional rig and carries more sail area than the earlier pilothouse generation. Owners report that it sails well upwind and in lighter winds. One family aboard its 2003 example said they loved how stable the boat felt while crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Its theoretical hull speed of 7.6 knots is within reach for a displacement hull of this length.
The inside steering station is a standout feature. In cold, wet conditions, the crew can sail from the helm in the pilothouse without starting the engine, remaining sheltered and dry.
Wetted surface is about 39 square meters. The standard sheet specifications call for 14 mm line on the jib, genoa, mainsheet, and spinnaker leads, with respective lengths of 11.5, 11.5, 28.7, and 25.2 meters. These robust sizes suit a boat intended for offshore handling.
Accommodations and Cruising Systems
The pilothouse is the heart of the layout. It provides shelter in rainy, cold weather while bringing plenty of natural light into the cabin. The inside steering station also allows a short-handed crew to hand-steer from shelter.
Owners preparing to spend a week or more away from shore power report enough stowage for a family with two growing children, along with 110 gallons of fresh water and a battery bank sized for the same off-grid period. Taken together, the layout and capacities make this a long-range cruising arrangement rather than a weekend coastal setup.
One 2003 example, Polaris, came with a generator. Its head gasket had been replaced before purchase, but the unit still never worked properly for its owners. That experience is a reminder that auxiliary machinery on any individual boat needs its own scrutiny.
The Verdict
The Nauticat 39 is a thoughtfully resolved pilothouse cruiser. This Finnish-built, Gustafsson-designed sloop retains real sailing ability while placing the helm and cabin within high-latitude shelter.
Its numbers support owner reports of stable performance in light air: a capsize screening value that meets the formula’s ocean-race eligibility threshold, a comfort ratio in the 30.3–37.9 range, and a displacement-length ratio that places it among moderate racers. The caveats appear to be individual rather than systemic. A particular boat’s generator or owner-fitted equipment may not work properly, and the pilothouse brings more systems to maintain than a simple open-cockpit boat.
Pros
- Pilothouse and inside steering allow dry, engine-off sailing in cold, wet conditions
- Traditional hull and more sail area than the earlier pilothouse line
- Sails well upwind and in light air
- Capsize screening value of 1.64 meets the formula’s ocean-race eligibility threshold
- Moderate-racer displacement can carry cruising loads without wallowing
- Solid fiberglass hull
- 110-gallon water capacity and a substantial battery bank support more than a week off-grid
Cons
- Individual boats may have non-functioning auxiliary equipment, such as a generator, that needs an immediate rebuild
- The slim, moderate-racer profile provides less interior beam than beamier contemporary cruisers
- The pilothouse adds systems to maintain compared with a simple open-cockpit boat
