Design and Construction
Across her production run the Hood 38 appeared in two versions, Mk I and Mk II, but the hull itself never changed between them — the carène remained the same, and only the interior accommodations were altered. The builder characterizes her as a robust and very comfortable boat, and the solid fiberglass hull with lead ballast of roughly 11,000 pounds against a 23,000-pound displacement gives the numbers behind that claim. As the only ballasted centerboarder the chantier ever built, she occupies a distinct niche: a 38-foot monohull with a draft that reduces from over ten feet to under five when the board is raised.
Rig and Handling
At the helm, seated behind a steering wheel with 11.60 meters of deck ahead, the owner finds a boat that the builder credits with great pleasure at the helm thanks to Hood's vast experience. She sails upwind at less than 30 degrees to apparent wind, and with the centerboard lifted on downwind legs she posts amazing averages — a combination that explains the flat assertion that she is fast. The 882-square-foot sail plan on a 30-foot waterline supports a sail-area-to-displacement ratio near 17, and the 47 percent ballast ratio speaks to the stiffness a cruising sailor feels when the breeze builds.
Accommodations
The builder rates her interior space as possibly the most generous of any vessel in this class, and the extensive use of teak lends the accommodations a refined luxury. Only those accommodations separated the Mk I from the Mk II, so a buyer choosing between versions is really choosing between two interior arrangements rather than two boats. The lifting centerboard is cited by the builder as the key to happy cruising from cove to cove, and the 106-gallon water capacity against 37 gallons of diesel frames the kind of extended coastal and passage-making the layout supports.
Known Issues
The single documented anomaly comes from a refit account of one Hood 38 named Sojourner, whose Garmin autopilot initially blew a fuse when overpowered, mostly off the wind in big seas; the owner resolved it by raising the amperage on the in-line fuse at the drive unit per the manual, after which it ceased. That same boat's thru-hulls were thoroughly inspected though not replaced during the refit.
Refits and Ownership
The Sojourner refit illustrates the ownership profile: a boat meant as the owner's parents' retirement home, later logging several ocean passages to and from the Caribbean. The autopilot setup there was deliberately simple — heading-based only, with no wind instruments networked — yet it covered some 8,000 miles offshore and more inshore without further fault after the fuse correction. For an owner, the lesson is that the platform accepts modest, well-executed systems and rewards careful inspection of through-hulls over blanket replacement.
The Verdict
The Wauquiez Hood 38 is a distinctive Ted Hood cruiser: a genuinely fast centerboarder with a shallow-draft trick and a voluminous, teak-rich interior that the builder ranks among the roomiest of its kind. She asks the buyer to choose an interior generation rather than a different boat, and she rewards simple, robust outfitting over gadget density.
Pros
- Only ballasted centerboarder the Wauquiez yard ever built, with draft from 1.20 to 3.30 meters
- Hull unchanged across Mk I and Mk II; 179 built between 1978 and 1989
- Sails upwind under 30 degrees apparent and posts strong downwind averages with board up
- Interior volume described as perhaps the largest of any boat of this type, with refined teak finish
Cons
- Documented autopilot overpower fuse issue on at least one heavily used example
- Thru-hull inspection rather than replacement noted in one refit — buyer diligence required
