1985 Endeavour 38
Name: Bill Strauss wstrauss@frbchi.org
Boat Name: Speranza
Year: 1985
Size: 38' sloop, center cockpit
Date Purchased: 1993Previous Owner History:
3rd owner. From 1990 to 1993 was named Panacee. Before that was named Jasmatas.Your Sailing Experience:
Owned a S2-7.3 from 1984-1993.
Teach Boating Skills, Sailing, & Seamanship, and Basic Coastal Navigation for the Coast Guard Auxiliary 1992-current.
Coast Guard Auxiliary District Staff Officer for Public Education Ninth Western RegionBoat Review:
The E38 at 18000 lbs is a pretty heavy boat, The boat is very nice, well built but it does need quite a bit of wind to get it going. It tends to like to have wind at least 10 knots and above. Since my boat is a center cockpit the previous owner had a high cut footed jib put on that is only a 110 so it does not have a huge headsail that I am sure affects its low wind sailing speed. However the boat loves 15-18 knots of wind, and she doesn't need to be reefed until the winds reach around 23-25 knots. I have had her out in 30 knots of wind and in seas of 7-8 feet, short period stuff on the great lakes and she just eats them up.Given how heavy she is she just pounds straight through the waves giving a fairly steady ride. I have had a cup of coffee sitting next to me at the helm throught 8 footers with out spilling a drop. But she will give you a wet ride since she is so stable, her bow will go into the waves a flick off the crest and send it pouring back, so a dodger is a must. She has a wide transom so sometimes if the waves are pretty substantial she can be uncomfortable on a run or broad reach with big waves. But I have heard this about other smaller transomed boats as well.
The center comes with a 40 hp Yanmar, the aft cockpit has a 30 hp Yanmar. She will motor very well reaching hull speed at quite a low RPM, so you have plenty in reserve when you are battling wind and wave. (the rule of thumb is 1.5 hp per 1,000 pounds, so at 18,000 she would need at least 27 hp. So the Aft cockpit qualifies and the Center cockpit is more than adequately powered.) On my cruises the wind has tended to be on the nose, as it is for most cruisers, so motoring is a big deal. The only problem of motoring is that the wide transom tends to get smoked up, typical for Yanmar engines and you need to keep up on scrubbing it to keep it clean.
The other great advantage of the Center Cockpit is that she is so easy to sail single-handed.
The mainsheet is directly behind the helmsperson, the two primarys are on either side of the helmsperson on top of the coaming within easy reach (My two primarys are electric which greatly adds to her single-handed ability).
The only disadvantages of the center cockpit is the low coamings are not the best for back support, but I purchased a product called Sport-a-Seat that works great giving back support (www.sportaseat.com). The boat when I got her five years ago was in super condition with the exception of the exterior woodwork that had peeling varnish. I redid the wood with Sikkens Cetol Marine coating and it looks great. But there is alot of wood on her, betweeen the handrails and trim piece along the cabin house and especially along the large toe rail. With all the wood refinished she really does shine but be aware of the larger maintenance this causes.
The interior layout has a lot of pluses, great aft stateroom, great aft head, great galley with huge fridge, standard forward stateroom, standard forward head, very nice nav station. The disadvantage is a slightly small saloon with a very awkward circular table/seating arrangement for dining. Overall I am very happy with the boat and know other Endeavour owners with a 33 footer, and aft cockpit 38 that are also very happy with their boats.