Design and Construction
The hull and deck are hand-laid fiberglass built in-house, with the hull fully laminated in one piece and up to 40 mm thick at its deepest section. Bulkheads are laminated from all sides to the outer skin, and hull and deck are bonded as a single unit by laminate rather than mechanical fastening alone. The deck is partly balsa-cored sandwich, while the hull remains solid glass. Below the waterline the finish is epoxy primer and antifouling, with customer-chosen topside paint and streak. The keel is antimon-hardened lead in either 2.75 or 2.90 tonne form, screwed with six 20 mm and two 24 mm stainless bolts through stainless panels. Steering runs through a prebalanced shaft with half skeg to a 78 mm aluminium shaft in roll bearings, pushed by a pushbar to a stainless wheel. A solid 10 mm teak deck is glued in polyurethane, partly screwed, and caulked with Sikaflex 290 DC on companionway, upper deck, coaming, and cockpit. YACHT credited her market position to the very careful finishing evident in such details anchor.
Rig and Handling
Her two-spreader aluminium rig carries forestay, backstay, two upper and four lower shrouds plus two triatic shrouds, with main and jib halyards and an extra at the mast. The mainboom has a two-line in-boom single-line reefing system and kicking strap; halyards, reefing lines, and tackle lead back to the cockpit. Self-tailing 18 winches handle halyards via stoppers, while 46 self-tailers serve the genoa sheets, and a traveller with stops manages the main. The standard sail set is a 30 m² mainsail with two reefing lines and a 27 m² genoa III, with a self-tacking jib also listed. Under power she uses a Volvo D2 40 four-cylinder 29 kW diesel with double cooling, saildrive, and folding propeller; YACHT found she sails well and can be sailed safely under engine power anchor.
Accommodations
Below deck the 38 DS offers a well-thought-out living space with many attractive details. The galley holds a two-flame half-gimballed gas stove with oven, an 80 litre refrigerator with icebox, stainless double sink, pressurized water, and roughly 1800 litres of bottom-shelf stowage plus drawers and cupboards. The heads includes a separate shower cabin, manual sea toilet, large washbasin, and mirrored and bottom cupboards. Cushions are 10 cm ergonomic foam. The cockpit itself contributes about 3000 litres of sealed locker storage across three seats plus a gas box. Five skylights and a Plexiglas sliding hatch light the saloon, with an opening side window over galley and saloon; all deck hatches use safety glass in double aluminium frames, and windows carry worldwide-cruise registration and are washtight deadlight-free.
Systems and Equipment
The stainless steel diesel tank starts at 150 litres with display; water is pressurized from a stainless tank from 235 litres with control; waste water starts at 70 litres with overboard discharge and deck vacuum. The electrical centre sits in the navigation corner with main switches and fuses. A 14 V 115 Ah generator, compass at the pedestal, and the battery setup uses one 66 Ah starting cell with two 100 Ah house batteries on independent circuits complete the core. Deck gear includes bow and stern pulpits, eight V4A stanchions with two guardwires, wooden rubbing strakes, anchor roller with 15 kg Bruce and 25 m of 8 mm chain in a windlass-equipped locker with closeable ventilator, and a telescopic bathing ladder.
Refits and Ownership
Sirius-Werft's own leadership commissioned a long-distance version of the 38 DS, with shipyard boss Peter Schmidt realizing a 38 DS in that configuration as a personal dream. The builder reserves the right to change construction and standard equipment through continuous development, so individual hulls may vary from the base specification described here.
The Verdict
The Sirius 38 DS is a seriously built deck-saloon cruiser with structural unity rare in her size: a one-piece 40 mm hull, fully bonded deck, and laminated bulkheads speak to a yacht meant for ocean Category A service. Her cockpit-led sail handling and voluminous below-deck stowage make her a plausible long-voyage home rather than a coastal weekender.
Pros
- One-piece up-to-40 mm hull with all bulkheads laminated to outer skin
- CE Category A ocean certification as standard
- Cockpit-led halyards, reefing, and self-tailing winches for short-handed control
- Approximately 3000 l cockpit and 1800 l galley stowage for extended cruising
- Worldwide-cruise-registered washtight windows and safety-glass hatches
Cons
- Teak deck requires polyurethane/seam maintenance over time
- Saildrive exposes leg to diaphragm and anode service demands
- Builder may have altered spec per continuous-development clause, complicating survey baselines
