Review of Farr 38
Basic specs.
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The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.
The Farr 38 is equipped with a fractional rig. A fractional rig has smaller headsails which make tacking easier, which is an advantage for cruisers and racers, of course. The downside is that having the wind from behind often requires a gennaker or a spinnaker for optimal speed.
Fin keel
The Farr 38 is equipped with a fin keel. A boat with a fin keel is more manoeuvrable but has less directional stability than a similar boat with a full 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.
The boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 1.94 - 2.04 meter (6.36 - 6.66 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
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.
The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level.
The immersion rate for Farr 38 is about 283 kg/cm, alternatively 1586 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 283 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 1586 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.
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 L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Farr 38 is 3.21.
The ballast ratio for Farr 38 is 37%.
Maintenance
Dimensions of sail for fractional 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 | 35.5 m | (116.6 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Jib/genoa halyard | 35.5 m | (116.6 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Spinnaker halyard | 35.5 m | (116.6 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Jib sheet | 11.7 m | (38.2 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Genoa sheet | 11.7 m | (38.2 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Mainsheet | 29.1 m | (95.6 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Spinnaker sheet | 25.6 m | (84.1 feet) | 14 mm | (0.55 inch) |
| Cunningham | 5.5 m | (17.9 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Kickingstrap | 10.9 m | (35.8 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
| Clew-outhaul | 10.9 m | (35.8 feet) | 12 mm | (1/2 inch) |
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