Sealine S38

andy59

andy59

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Has anyone got anything good or bad to say about the sealine S38 and KAD 300s , eg handling and reliability , SWMBO seems to like the layout and i guess it would be cheaper to run than an equivilant size flybridge . Thanks in advance , Andy .
 
I've got an S37 so took a keen interest in the S38 when it came out. For me it had all the great aspects of the S37 plus a new design wall to wall guest cabin which is excellent. It had a clever common bus electronic dimming/switching lighting arrangement which was a problem for the boat I looked at, so check that out if you are looking at one.
A great boat in my view. I've got KAD43's but haven't heard anything adverse about 300's
 
ANDY59 said:
Has anyone got anything good or bad to say about the sealine S38 and KAD 300s , eg handling and reliability , SWMBO seems to like the layout and i guess it would be cheaper to run than an equivilant size flybridge . Thanks in advance , Andy .
Click to expand...

I love my S37 which is essentially the same. Mine is a little underpowered, yours would be better. Best accomadation for size bar none IMHO. And sealine quality at least as good as the other big builders of the era, again IMHO.
If I had money (which I don't now I have a marine business!) i would upgrade to an S38 or re engine mine with D4s. I don't aspire to a bigger boat, it's just right for my wife and me to take holidays, with occasional stopovers with another couple. Or 12 drunken people can sleep for a boozy weekend!
 
I Chartered an S38 a few years ago for a week in Menorca (D4 powered from memory) great boat, good accomodation with a three birth mid-cabin. If I could have afforderd one then I would have bought one.
 
Would it be possible to fit a second loo in the day shower on the SC38 therefore providing two full bathrooms?

Looks like there is the space.
 
wakeup said:
Would it be possible to fit a second loo in the day shower on the SC38 therefore providing two full bathrooms?

Looks like there is the space.
Click to expand...

I think anything you do which takes it away from orginal spec will decrease it's sell on value.
Not sure if the S38 shower room mouldings are similar to the S37 but it would mean some severe moulding hacking to fit one in the S37.
 
We currently have one with KAD300's. It's a 2004 and all I can say is that it has been pretty much perfect throughout our ownership. Little things we have had to do like change the calorifier as it was too small (22ltr to 55ltr), a small water leak that was sorted by resealing around the rubbing strake and that's about it - not bad for a seven year old boat.

The engines have been faultless and I would recommend them to anyone. I used to have a Sealine 310 Ambassador which had KAD42's which I understand is the same block as the 300's - no problems there !!

As to the fit out - I was surprised at how good it was. I have owned a few Sealines in my time, and they have all been excellent for their year, but the S38 is exceptional. I can't think of anything that I would change on it.

Separate heads to shower was a real draw and the great socialising areas both upstairs and below was superb. Our eight year old, loves his bedroom - three beds (two can be made into a rather large king-size) and a separate single really was helpful when his friends were on board.

If you want any further details or pictures, please feel free to ask, it's absolutely no problem !

There are a lot of pictures of it on the Sealine Forum at www.sealineforum.co.uk if you want to have look...
 
I owned an S38 with KAD 300's for a couple of years. All I can say is "great boat". Just remember that servicing a twin engined boat with Stern Drives does mean that you have to effectively service 4 pieces of machinery each year. Volvopaul of this parish did the servicing for me and I could not recommend him highly enough.

Other than that, watch out for hull stress cracks. This was a design fault in early S38's and was fairly (though expensively for Sealine) easily fixed under guarantee. I only became aware that these cracks were an issue when I came to sell!!!!!!!

That said standard layout was (working from Fwd to Aft):
Master Cabin - Fwd with some stowage under, which i found useful for bags. Have a good look at the mattress. Sealine tended to used very hard ones!!!!

WC to Stbd and Shower to Port with Jack and Jill doors for both to Master Cabin and Saloon thereby making the Master en-suite. We rarely used the shower (as we tended to berth on a Marina and so used shore facilities) so this was an ideal "wet room" for the storage of body boards, swimming gear etc.

Saloon - curved horsehoe settee to Stbd and Galley to Port. Settee will convert to another berth (with an infill) but I tried this once and boy did I find it uncomfortable. In the centre were two hatches, fwd one gave access to the Holding Tank and the aft one was a large lined space for further stowage.

Aft Cabin - three separate berths which can be made into a single and a double as required. I had three children so this was an ideal layout as I didn't have to convert the saloon every night.

E/Room. Twin engines and space to move around/service the engines. I also stowed my outboard down there. My boat would have benefitted from a Generator due to the way I wanted to used her, but was otherwise totally suitable. If a genny is fitted, it would decrease the amount of roomm down here as its nor,mal position was on the stbd side - exactly where I put my outboard. Battery bank and charger to port.

I fitted Snap davits to the bathing platform of mine and she could easily take a 2.7m inflatable on these.

Canopies. I rarely took the forward canopies down as putting them back with the press studs I found to be a real pain. Instead, the previous owner had cleverly had a zip sewn in for the half in front of the helm so for berthing or slow speed manoeuvring this could be unzipped to provide a decent view. At sea with the canopies in place, I always sat and still had a good view out of the windscreen, but didn't get the spray. However, if in any sea and you shipped spray or it was raining heavily, canopies are rarely totally watertight so expect drips.

Cockpit - under the settee aft should be an infill which you can take out to make a sunpad. Have to admit, we never used this. On the port side was a fridge with either a sink above or or the optional BBQ and just forward of that a Fore and Aft settee.

In sum - as already said - great boat, fast and reasonably economical (mine seemed to average around 1.5 to 1.8 mpg). If there is much in the way of a sea, she will "slam", but I don't have much experience of other boats so couldn't say whether she slammed more than others. That said, although I berthed her on the Hamble, I would normally cruise to Weymouth at weekends and I also took her as far way as Guernsey and Dartmouth so was quite happy with it being a "sea boat".

Normal cruising speed (sea allowing) was around 25 Knots, but mine would do 30 Knots easily. In heavy weather, I would normally throtle back to 15 Knots or less to stop the slamming.

Hope above helps and if you have any other queries, would be very happy to try and answer them if you PM me.

All the best

C38
 
Andy

Forgot to mention manoeuvring.

I found handling was a dream with sterndrives - partly because I had a Bow Thruster and so could get her to move sideways, almost as if on IPS drives.

The only drawback to sterndrives I found, was the general one that, as soon as you put the engines in neutral, you lost steerage as there weren't any rudders. This usually meant that my wife had kittens when we approached coming alongside as she always felt we were going too fast.

You have to drive it a bit "like you stole it" by applying ahead or astern power judiciously!! If you are used to shaft drives and rudders, getting used to sterndrives will be a whole new experience - though an enjoyable one.

Regards
C38
 
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