Review of Columbia 38
Basic specs.
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The hull is made of fibreglass. A hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.
The Columbia 38 is built with a masthead rig. The sail area for the mailsail + jib is 60.4 m2 (650.4 ft2). The advantage of a masthead rig is its simplicity and the fact that a given sail area - compared with a fractional rig - can be carried lower and thus with less heeling moment.
The Columbia 38 has been built with different keel alternatives.
Full keel
One option is a long keel. A long keel provide a better directional stability than a similar boat with a fin keel; on the other hand, better directional stability means also that the boat is more difficult to handle in a harbour with less space.
The boat can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.74 - 1.84 meter (5.71 - 6.01 ft) dependent on the load.
CentreBoard
Another option is a centreboard keel. A centreboard keel is a pivoting lifting keel, allowing to sail both coastal and inland waters.
The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.35 - 1.45 meter (4.43 - 4.73 ft) dependent on the load.
Fin keel
Another option is a fin keel. The fin keel is the most common keel and provides splendid manoeuvrability. The downside is that it has less directional stability than a long keel.
The keel is made of lead. Compared with iron, lead has the advantage of being 44% heavier, which allows a smaller keel and hence less water resistance and higher speed.
Columbia 38 can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.75 - 1.85 meter (5.74 - 6.04 ft) dependent on the load.
The Columbia 38 has been equipped with different engine alternatives.
Alternative 1:
The boat may be equipped with an inboard Universal Atomic 4 gasoline engine at 30 hp (22 kW). Calculated max speed is about 5.2 knots
Alternative 2:
The boat may be equipped with an inboard Universal engine
Sailing characteristics
This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.
What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?
The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 6.9 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.
Sailing statistics
This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.
What is Displacement Length Ratio?
The DL-ratio for Columbia 38 is 395 which categorizes this boat among 'heavy cruisers'.
What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?
The SA/D for Columbia 38 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 16.1, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 19.1.
Maintenance
Dimensions of sail for masthead rig.
Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale
If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.
| Usage | Length | Diameter | ||
| Mainsail halyard | 30.1 m | (98.8 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Jib/genoa halyard | 30.1 m | (98.8 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Spinnaker halyard | 30.1 m | (98.8 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Jib sheet | 11.6 m | (38.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 11.6 m | (38.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 28.9 m | (95.0 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 25.5 m | (83.6 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Cunningham | 4.9 m | (16.0 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Kickingstrap | 9.8 m | (32.0 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Clew-outhaul | 9.8 m | (32.0 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
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