Design and Construction
The XP 38 is 39.2 feet overall, with a 34-foot waterline and a 12.14-foot beam. Displacement is 14,936 pounds, including 6,085 pounds of lead ballast.
Earlier X-Yachts performance cruisers used a galvanized steel frame to distribute rig and keel loads. In the XP 38, a laminated carbon-fiber grid replaces that trademark structure and carries those loads into the keel.
The hull and deck use E-glass and epoxy sandwich laminates with foam cores. X-Yachts builds the hull as an epoxy-infused fiberglass sandwich cored with Divinycell, with solid glass at the keel and around the through-hulls. It is post-production cured for added strength. The deck is hand laid, foam cored, and bonded with adhesives to the inward-turning hull flange. Below deck, composite components frequently replace traditional wood.
The standard keel is a six-foot-10-inch iron keel with a lead bulb. Racers can specify a foil keel that is one foot deeper.
Rig and Handling
The sail plan is demanding and rewards a competent helm and main trimmer. The standard aluminum mast has rod rigging and a profiled forestay, with a Furlex roller furler tucked beneath the deck. The shrouds attach on the outside of the hull—a layout that eliminates the possibility of setting a larger genoa. Sail area comes from a high-aspect, full-batten mainsail and a slightly overlapping jib.
A German-style split mainsheet runs from a traveler just forward of the twin helms, forward to the mast, and then aft through blocks in channels beneath the teak deck. It leads to Harken winches that can be reached from either wheel, and the mainsheet winch is close enough for the helmsman to operate. The jib leads can be adjusted under load, while a jib barberhauler and mainsail outhaul provide further control.
On the water, the XP 38 behaves like a dinghy and can be steered in response to wind pressure. In a mid-teen breeze, she stands up in the puffs and takes off like a shot, with the plumb bow slicing through chop.
Under a 130-square-meter gennaker, boat speed stays in the double digits and reaches 12 knots in puffs. Close to the breeze, she makes just over seven knots at a true wind angle of 35 degrees. In 20 knots of breeze, the first reef becomes prudent.
Cockpit and Equipment
The cockpit was designed for active sailing with crew. Its workstations are positioned for efficient operation, with plenty of room for a competitive crew to trim around the buoys. The benches are shorter than those on an all-out cruiser, but they provide comfortable off-watch seating in the shade of a retractable dodger.
The hardware is top quality, with generously sized winches. A race package with a Southern Spars carbon stick costs extra, and a good set of sails adds further expense. A Southern Spars carbon mast and boom is also available as an option.
Auxiliary power comes from a 29-horsepower Yanmar with saildrive.
Accommodations
The three-cabin arrangement is standard, with no other layouts offered. Buyers cannot choose a two-cabin version with a larger lazarette or a larger head with a separate shower.
Below, the interior is bright and welcoming. Teak woodwork contrasts with attractive, low-maintenance white laminate paneling. The saloon has a symmetrical arrangement, with a full-length settee to port of a centerline drop-leaf table. To starboard, the sliding nav station converts between a seatback and a forward-facing desk.
The forward cabin is cozy but comfortable, with a berth for two and two side closets. Its V-berth also provides plenty of elbow room and storage. Each of the two aft cabins has a double bunk and a good-sized hanging locker. Space is somewhat tight for a couple, however: berth shoulder width is only 1.4 meters, and the closet doors are difficult to open.
The head includes a stall shower that doubles as a wet locker. Unlike the XP 44, the XP 38 does not have a second forward lavatory.
The Verdict
The XP 38 is a focused performance cruiser-racer: light on her feet, quick in modest air, and built around a carbon grid that replaces the old steel frame to provide stiffness without the weight. The cockpit and rig are unapologetically race-minded, while the clean three-cabin interior provides cruising accommodations, albeit with compact aft cabins.
She isn’t a broad-beamed condo cruiser. Cruising World’s Boat of the Year judges also questioned whether the saildrive Yanmar might be light for the hull.
Pros
- Carbon-fiber floor structure replaces the steel grid that carried rig and keel loads
- Epoxy-infused, foam-cored hull has solid glass at the keel and through-hulls and is post-cured
- Double-digit speeds under gennaker and dinghy-like steering response
- German-style split mainsheet with a winch within reach of the helmsman
- Standard three-cabin layout with a bright, low-maintenance interior
Cons
- Demanding sail plan requires a competent helm and mainsail trimmer
- Aft cabins are tight for couples, with only 1.4 meters of berth width at shoulder level
- No alternative accommodation layouts or second forward head
- Cruising World’s Boat of the Year judges considered the 29-horsepower Yanmar possibly light for the hull
- Outboard shrouds rule out a larger genoa
