Ohlson 38
The Ohlson 38
’A boat for all reasons’
Designer: Einar Ohlson
FACTS AND QUOTES
It was in the middle of the 1960-ies when demand for a replacement of the hugely successful cruiser racer, the Ohlson 36/Mark II, came up. Most likely this was asked for by Richard ’Dick’ Sheehan from Campbell and Sheehan of Larchmont, N.Y. who himself had been racing as well as marketing the Ohlson boats successfully in the US.
Einar Ohlson developed a more modern hull with a separated rudder attached to a skeg. Great emphasis had been placed on this design (S/Y100) and lots of the previously gained design experience from the then highly competitive 5.5 M class had been factored into this design. More so, Einar Ohlson used his access to the test tank in Göteborg to tow the O-38 as a model to further hone the design.
The boat was a game changes in many ways:
It was to be built in the then modern material GRP and it should be marketed across the world. Thus the GRP work was offered to Tyler Boats of Tonbriedge/Kent in the UK, the then leading toll moulder for GRP, known for its outstanding quality.
To satisfy a wide range of customers, hulls were built in GRP entirely with two options for sterns. Decks and coachroofs were moulded in GRP with sandwich decks or could be ordered in wood.
To allow for wide distribution, hulls were availabe to a number of yards across Europe who mostly finished them in GRP. Only the yards on the Swedish west coast and in Germany delivered boats with wooden deck and superstructure. Again a large part of the production from the Swedish yards went to the US, boats built elsewhere in Europe were sold into local markets.
First boats were delivered in 1967/68 and production stopped somewhen around 1980 when demand dropped. Later boats had been redesigned to reduce building costs and where sold as Tufglass 38 directly by Tyler Boats as well as do-it-yourself constructions.
As with the other ocean going cruisers designed by Einar Ohlson, the 38-footer was available as sloop and yawl, which was particulary attractive to US clients. Though the boat did not look to be designed for a particular racing formular Einar Ohlson supplied sail plans to satisfy the needs of RORC, CCA and IOR racing formulas. This was achieved by modifying sail area, ie mainly boom length between 3.6 and 4.25 m whereas the main mast was used pretty much the same way by all the designs and the fore-triangle remained the same across the time of production. Except for one boat built in Germany with a luff length 13.25 m luff of the main remained around 12 m.
The O-38 received few modifications: A short cabin version was designed for British sailing legend Sir Owen Aisher with an increased luff length in the main but the project was not carried forward. A centre-cockpit version with a separate owner’s cabin in the aft was designed in 1973 but was neither introduced. Later in the 1970s production moved entirely to Tyler Boats with some more modifications: the hull was shortened somewhat with the negative transom and the so far built-in ballast in lead disappeared in favour of a cast-iron keel bolted onto the modified hull. Given the higher volume required for cast-iron this was done to the detriment of the tankage above the internal lead of the keel.
The Ohlson 38 design became a racing legend immediately and she is known for her excellent sailing characteristics and performs well over a wide range of conditions including off-shore sailing. These boats have participated in races crossing the Atlantic and Pacific and have circumvented the globe repeatedly and continue to do so.
TOP, The Ohlson Project, has identified 128 boats built in total.
Data
Length 38 feet – 11.47 meter
Lenght on waterline 8.00 meter
Beam 10 feet – 3.09 meter
Draft 1.7 meter
Displacement 6,700 kilos
Sail area 45.00 m2
Yards Alexander Robertson & Sons, Sandbanks, Argyl, Scotland, number unknown
Svineviken Båtvarv, Bröderns Martinsson, Svineviken (boats completed in wood), number unknown
Bröderna Ölsonner, later Malö Yachts, Kungsviken (boats built in GRP), one source mentions 20 boats built
Matthiessen & Paulsen, Arnis/Schlei, Germany, 3 boats built
Navalco SA, Le Legue-St. Brieuc, /France
Tyler Boats, Tonbridge, Kent, United Kingdom
Material available: Drawings, book publications, newsletter articles, see photos, communication with individual owners see
More technical details
More references
Photo courtesy of Daniel Fisher
