Review of Northwest 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 Northwest 38 is equipped 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.
Fin keel
The Northwest 38 is equipped with 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 boat can only enter major marinas as the draft is about 1.83 - 1.93 meter (6.00 - 6.30 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.
The boat may be equipped with an inboard Volvo Penta 2003 diesel engine at 28 hp (20 kW). Calculated max speed is about 6.2 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.
What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?
The capsize screening value for Northwest 38 is 1.70, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.
What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?
The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 7.6 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.
The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level.
The immersion rate for Northwest 38 is about 200 kg/cm, alternatively 1124 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 200 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm.
Alternatively, if you load 1124 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 Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?
The Motion Comfort Ratio for Northwest 38 is 27.3.
What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?
The l/b ratio for Northwest 38 is 3.80.
The ballast ratio for Northwest 38 is 25%.
What is Displacement Length Ratio?
The DL-ratio for Northwest 38 is 173 which categorizes this boat among 'light racers'.
Maintenance
When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy.
The surface of the wet bottom is about 36m2 (387 ft2).
Based on this, your favourite maritime shop can tell you the quantity you need.
Note: If you use a paint roller you will need more paint than if you use a paintbrush.
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 | ||
| 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) |
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