Review of Contest 38 S

Basic specs.

The Contest 38 S is a sailboat designed by the Dutch maritime architect Dick Zaal in the early eighties. Less than 100 boats have been produced. The Contest 38 S is built by the Dutch yard Conyplex B.V..

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Hull

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

Interior

The boat is equipped with 6 berths.

Engine

The boat is typically equipped with an inboard diesel engine at 35.0 hp (26 kW), which gives a max speed about 5.2 knots.

The transmission is a shaft drive. A shaft drive will in the long run require less maintenence than other types of drive e.g. a sail drive.

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 Contest 38 S is 1.74, 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 Contest 38 S is about 222 kg/cm, alternatively 1248 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 222 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1248 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 Contest 38 S is 37.0.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 88% of all similar sailboat designs. This is a comfort value significantly above average.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Contest 38 S is 3.10.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 66% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Contest 38 S is 356 which categorizes this boat among 'heavy cruisers'.

12% 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)

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)
Indicates how fast the boat is in light wind:
- Cruising Boats have ratios 10-15
- Cruiser-Racers have ratios 16-20
- Racers have ratios above 20
- High-Performance Racers have ratios above 24
Sail-area/displacement ratio (SA/D ratio): 15.31

Maintenance

Rig

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
Jib sheet	11.3 m	(37.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Genoa sheet	11.3 m	(37.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Mainsheet	28.4 m	(93.1 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	25.0 m	(81.9 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section shown boat owner's changes, improvements, etc. Here you might find inspiration for your boat.

Do you have changes/improvements you would like to share? Upload a photo and describe what to look for.

Photographer: Thomas Rettenmund
With a major refit, better than any new Tupperware yacht. Specially equipped as a ketch for single-handed sailing. www.ms-escape.ch

Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Contest 38 S 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.