Review of Contessa 38

Basic specs.

The Contessa 38 is a sailboat designed by the maritime architect David Alan-Williams in the early eighties. Less than 100 boats have been produced. The Contessa 38 is built by the British yard Jeremy Rogers Ltd. (01134163).

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Hull

Both the hull and the deck is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.

Both the hull and the deck is a sandwich construction which improves the indoor climate. Especially when the water is colder than the air in the cabin, then the double hull insulates against cold water and reduce the condense water in the cabin. The core material in the sandwich construction is balsa.

Interior

The interior is like most other boats made of teak. Teak has the advantage of being naturally very oily and therefore water-repellent, which is suitable on boats.
The boat is equipped with a galley, 265.0 liter fresh water capacity and toilet facility.

Rig

The Contessa 38 is built with a masthead rig. 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.

Engine

The fuel tank has a capacity of 76.0 liters (20 US gallons, 16 imperial gallons).

The boat may be equipped with a Watermota Sea Panther diesel engine at 30 hp (22 kW). Calculated max speed is about 5.6 knots.

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.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Contessa 38 is 1.80, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.

Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 7.3 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.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Contessa 38 is about 211 kg/cm, alternatively 1185 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 211 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1185 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.

Motion Comfort Ratio

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Contessa 38 is 29.6.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 54% of all similar sailboat designs. This comfort value is just above average.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Contessa 38 is 3.38.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is slimmer than 62% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more speedy hull design.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Contessa 38 is 261 which categorizes this boat among 'light crusers & offshore racers'.

46% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A heavy displacement combined with smaller water plane area has lower acceleration and is more comfortable.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?

The SA/D for Contessa 38 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 15.9, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 19.4.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 34% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

Maintenance

Hull / Deck

As balsa wood is used as sandwich core material special care must be taken in relation to work that require penetration of the sandwich construction in order to to prevent water to get in contact with the balsa wood. Otherwise the balsa wood will eventually rotten and be expensive/impossible to repair.

Rig

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.

**Guiding dimensions of running rig**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Mainsail halyard	32.5 m	(106.8 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	32.5 m	(106.8 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	32.5 m	(106.8 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Jib sheet	11.7 m	(38.3 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Genoa sheet	11.7 m	(38.3 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Mainsheet	29.2 m	(95.7 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	25.7 m	(84.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Cunningham	3.5 m	(11.5 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Kickingstrap	7.0 m	(23.0 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)
Clew-outhaul	7.0 m	(23.0 feet)	12 mm	(1/2 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section is reserved boat owner's modifications, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

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Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Contessa 38 (Alan-Williams) it would be a great help.

If you have any comments to the review, improvement suggestions, or the like, feel free to contact us. Criticism helps us to improve.

References

[Ref 1]: ISO 8666 Small craft — Principal data.
[Ref 3]: ISO 12215-5 Small craft — Hull construction and scantlings.