vancouver 38

Long keel, heavy displacement - expect sea kindly motion but no great turn of speed. Will carry way going forward but will be hard to manoeuvre astern. Vancouver 38s are hard to find, in either classic or pilot house version, but Northshore can build you a new one if you cross their palm with enough silver. And no, I've never actually sailed one, but quite fancy it for a blue water trip.
 
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Have sailed on one a couple of times. As the poster above says, no great turn of speed and not great in reverse. Fairly old fashioned design but well made as are all Northshore boats. Heavy to handle. Small inside.

I liked the pilot house but its not a boat I would buy.
 
It has a long encaspulated fin rather than a full length keel. It's a stretched version of the 36 which is a big boat for it's size and more akin to a Bowman 40 than say a Rustler 36. Sails well despite it's displacement.

Pilots more popular than the classic. Well built. Cutter rigged as std.
 
Was tied up next to a Vancouver Pilot in Yarmouth today. Lovely looking boat but I did wonder when the skipper complimented me on what I thought was a pretty routine bit of astern berthing. I guess it's a good deal easier with twin screws than trying to bring a long keeler in astern. :D
 
TiggerToo said:
Because I wanted to hear from someone who has ACTUALLY sailed one and owned one. Are they something worth hankering for.
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Fair enough.

I don't know.

I sail a V27 and hanker after a good late Pheon V32 or a nice Northshore V34, both aft-cockpit - but my budget is 25p.

PM KSutton (http://www.ybw.com/forums/member.php?u=14939) who sails a V34 and knows lots of owners of the larger Vancouvers.
 
Vancouver 38's are the pilot house version of the Vancouver 36, there is no 38 classic. Designed by Tony Taylor as a development of the Robert Harris designed Vancouver 27,28,32 and 34's built by Pheon and then Northshore. The 36 and 38P have a long fin keel as oposed to the long keel of the smaller yachts. The 36/38 are serious blue water cruising yachts, they were not designed to be fast round the cans but will eat up the miles on passage and are suprisingly sprightly in light airs. The 36 is said to be the best Vancouver for long term cruising. They will not handle like a modern fin keeled spade rudder design but can be controled astern with practice, they are not as unpredictable going astern as a full keel. They are sought after but do come up for sale, as someone else said, Northshore will still build you one but at a price. They sail magnificantly in almost any weather.
 
Bat21 said:
Vancouver 38's are the pilot house version of the Vancouver 36, there is no 38 classic.
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My wife and I went on board a Vancouver 38 classic at the Southampton Boat Show.
We discussed the Pilothouse version with the sales guy and it was only later at Lymington that I went on board a 38 Pilothouse.
We really liked the 38 classic (maybe it was the only one they built) but when the salesman said "I'm not sure you're the type of customer we sell to." we were seriously unimpressed with Northshore.
I was not impressed with the 38 Pilothouse. (I understand it was the first 38P they built, this was not cutter rigged but subsequent ones were.) I think quite a few mods were made following feedback from this boat.
The inside felt very cramped and lacking in space compared to the 'classic' at the boat show.
 
Talulah said:
My wife and I went on board a Vancouver 38 classic at the Southampton Boat Show.
We discussed the Pilothouse version with the sales guy and it was only later at Lymington that I went on board a 38 Pilothouse.
We really liked the 38 classic (maybe it was the only one they built) but when the salesman said "I'm not sure you're the type of customer we sell to." we were seriously unimpressed with Northshore.
I was not impressed with the 38 Pilothouse. (I understand it was the first 38P they built, this was not cutter rigged but subsequent ones were.) I think quite a few mods were made following feedback from this boat.
The inside felt very cramped and lacking in space compared to the 'classic' at the boat show.
Click to expand...

I recal the launch of the 38's, but then only ever came across 36 classics so the one you looked at may well have been the only 38c built, they have certainly only listed the 36c for as long as I can remember.
 
Bat21 said:
Vancouver 38's are the pilot house version of the Vancouver 36, there is no 38 classic. Designed by Tony Taylor as a development of the Robert Harris designed Vancouver 27,28,32 and 34's built by Pheon and then Northshore.
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The design is more akin to a modern Nicholson 35 than a development of the Robert Harris designs. Tony Taylor was the ex-MD of Camper and Nicholsons and Northshore had a working relationship with them having moulded the Nic 476 and 58 prior to their sale.

"I was not impressed with the 38 Pilothouse. (I understand it was the first 38P they built, this was not cutter rigged but subsequent ones were.) I think quite a few mods were made following feedback from this boat.
The inside felt very cramped and lacking in space compared to the 'classic' at the boat show."

The Pilot has 3 double cabins and two heads - any Pilothouse yacht with a full raised saloon is going to have a smaller saloon than it's none pilot sibling which can use the full width of the hull. Iirc the 1st boat was a cutter but has a detachable inner stay and genoa at the request of the owner during build.
 
TiggerToo said:
Because I wanted to hear from someone who has ACTUALLY sailed one and owned one. Are they something worth hankering for.
Click to expand...

Not sure how many if any of your posters have sailed one, but I have and stand by my comments above. It was a beautifully finished boat but small down below - the aft cabin was a joke. The mid cabin was good. And I liked the pilot house as I do on every PH boat. But the sailing performance was not good for a 38 and it seemed to me that there were more modern alternatives that would give equally good seaworthyness whilst not clinging to such an old fashioned design style.

But thenas the argument over long keels showed, there are some amongst us who believe you can only safely go to sea in something heavy, slow, long keeled and narrow. If you do lean that way, then the Vancouver would be a boat to look at despite having a long fin.
 
I have sailed one and a number of the Vancouver 36s from which it is derived. If sailed in less than 10 to 12 knots apparent with the std heavy duty triple stitched ocean going sail wardrobe then you are going to find it slow. A lighter weight headsail/ mps or equivalent is necessary in these wind strengths to keep up acceptable speeds.

The 12 foot beam is wide by "long keel" standards. The fwd cabin and heads are large and are the only internal aspect carried over from the 36.

To me the boat had a feeling of security and surefootedness (if there is such a word) that not many boats of her size instill.
 
Built up to a quality and therefore nit necessarily down to a price point.
I was on biard a ph38 a couple of times, one that had crossed to the east coast USA with an elderly, sprightly and delighted couple, it seemed beautifully put together throughout with ' perhaps' less beam than most.
Bloke who ran Pheon I met on the Rustler Southampton display, he knew a thing or two about building a boat proper- like:)
 
The vancouver 38P is one of the best and recognised northern waters yachts you can find.

with a powerful rig and deep, well shaped hull, they are capable of comfortable, safe and reasonably rapid passagemaking in any weather. Heavy yes, but in all the right places.
Just the right amount of space and Very sensibly laid out, try and find another all weather yacht that suits norther europe so well. Knowledgable yachtsmen look on in envy.

Yes I have one, of the very few made. Took two years to select her after 30 years of sailing. Irish sea in a F9-10 was no worries. Dinner with a view at anchor is a norm. Would have no qualms about heading anywhere, anytime.
 
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