Tripp Javelin 38 Buyer's Guide
Shopping the brokerage market for a Tripp Javelin 38 means chasing one of roughly two dozen Dutch cruisers that William H. Tripp Jr. drew and G. de Vries Lentsch Jr. built between 1960 and 1966, most of them originally imported into the United States by Seafarer Yachts. She is a 37-foot-10-inch solid-fiberglass monohull with wood trim, a lead fin keel, and a masthead sloop or yawl rig — a heavy, narrow cruiser whose stability numbers and small production run make her a specialist's boat rather than a volume-market find.
Layouts on the Used Market
The Javelin 38 is a monohull cruiser with a spooned raked stem, raised counter, and plumb transom, carrying a fixed fin keel and skeg-hung rudder anchor. Sources describe her as a recreational keelboat built as a cruiser, but they do not record berth counts, cabin arrangement, or head and galley plans, so the internal layout must be read from each individual survey. What is consistent across the type is the service envelope: about 35 gallons of gasoline feeding a single 20-horsepower Universal Atomic 4, 100 gallons of water, and a 10-foot beam on a 25-foot waterline. A buyer should expect period wood-trim interiors rather than modern modular joinery, and should confirm at viewing whether the boat carries the masthead sloop or the less common yawl rig, since that changes spar and sail-handling inventory.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
On the used market, Javelin 38 boats commonly carry electric winches, hot water, a bimini, a dodger, radar, and a chartplotter. For a buyer, the meaningful clusters are power and energy — electric winches reduce crew load on the 94.6-foot mainsheet and long genoa sheets — and navigation and weather protection, where radar and chartplotter pair with bimini and dodger to make her a more usable coastal or passage cruiser than her 1960s birth suggests. Hot water is a comfort upgrade that signals a refreshed head and galley system. These are the fittings that matter for living aboard; lesser gear can be assessed on site.
What to Inspect
A buyer should still commission a full survey, but the type does not point to a known weak point that demands targeted pre-purchase inspection beyond standard half-century hull and rig checks. Confirm the engine is the period Atomic 4 gasoline unit and assess its fuel system carefully, verify the wood trim for rot at fasteners and joins, and confirm chainplate and keel-bolt integrity as you would on any lead-fin solid-glass cruiser of this age. At viewing, tap the hull for soft spots and smell the bilge for moisture that would reveal undocumented osmotic damage.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
The Javelin 38 typically appears on the used market in Canada. For a buyer, the takeaway is a small, clean-record cruiser worth chasing if the right hull surfaces.
- Survey the Atomic 4 fuel system and mounts
- Check wood trim for fastener and joinery rot
- Verify keel bolts and chainplate bedding
- Confirm sloop or yawl rig and matching spars
- Inspect hull for any documented osmosis repair
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Tripp Javelin 38. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 1 row
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 26 | 2 | $34,326 | — |
Where they're listed
Tripp Javelin 38 listings appear across 1 country. Canada has the most listings with 2.
Country view
2 listings · 1 country| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | $34,326 | 2 | 2 | 100.0% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
3 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholson 38 | 37.83' | $ 32,626 | 13 | 4 |
| Shannon 38 | 37.75' | $ 73,674 | 12 | 1 |
| Javelin Javelin 38You are here | — | $ 34,329 | 2 | 2 |