Review of Farr 38

Basic specs.

The Farr 38 is a sailboat designed by the maritime architect Bruce Farr.

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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.

Rig

The boat 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 genaker or a spinnaker for optimal speed.

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 long 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.

Immersion rate

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.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Farr 38 is 3.21.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 58% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.

Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Farr 38 is 37%.

This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 38% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just below average.

Over- / underrigged

The Farr 38 has more rig than 99% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is significantly overrigged.

Maintenance

Rig

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.

**Guiding dimensions of running rig**
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)

Boat owner's ideas

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

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Finally

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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.