Post to any and all Tartan 38 owners

Desert Pirate · **Joined:** 15 Mar 2011 15:46 **Posts:** 9

Hello,

I would like to hear from any Tartan 38 owners with information about their Tartan 38. Same hull as the T37, but with a deep keel and a taller mast.

Jon

Down2TheC · **Posted:** 28 Nov 2011 23:26

In here, we're all T37 owners. Deep keel or other. (Speaking as a full fin guy myself.)

So what's to tell? She's a bit slower down wind, points a bit higher, stands still in light air, but rockets ahead in the heavy stuff. And that lump of lead is certainly a blessing when getting hit with nasty weather.

We had a freeze issue in her 28th season that sent the keel on a pilgrimage to the Canadian maker http://www.marskeel.com/

Beyond that, not much to tell.

Desert Pirate · **Joined:** 15 Mar 2011 15:46 **Posts:** 9

Down2TheC, Thanks for your reply. If I may ask, what exactly happened to your keel to necessitate a repair?

tartan37224 · **Joined:** 20 Oct 2006 23:30 **Posts:** 19

From Tom Wells, fin keel T37 Higher Porpoise

Mike is right on the sailing charactersitics. She's faster upwind and will handle a reach with less leeway than a centerboarder, but downwind the ability to raise the board gives the CB a slight edge. Just one thing - you can make the boat move pretty well in light air. The key is to get a little bit of steerageway, then use crew weight and sail trim effectively. She'll make her own breeze

The key is to bag the sails for very full shape, and place all available crew weight as far forward and to leeward as you can get it. That heels the boat and moves the sail out, so that when whatever slight breeze there is hits the sail, none of the available drive is wasted pushing the sail out and shaping it. Wheel movement needs to be very slight and very slow - that big barn door hanging under the stern will stop the boat quickly if you shove it sideways!

Down2TheC · **Posted:** 16 Dec 2011 13:46

Desert Pirate wrote:

Down2TheC, Thanks for your reply. If I may ask, what exactly happened to your keel to necessitate a repair?

Water somehow got from the bilge, down the keel bolt. Once a bit gets in there and freezes, it makes room for more water next season. Until eventually you see a visible bulge.

Mind you it's rare but not specific to this boat. The keel is forged around the keel bolts so it's hard to have a bad one. And of course caulking the heads of the bolts in the bilge should prevent any water getting down there even if there were a gap inside the keel. She was 27yrs old when that happened and the price charged by Mars was kind of cheap. (yard charged more for removal and refitting.) So no complaints about Tartan's build. Mars or time made the defect and it just took that long for it to show even up here in the cold zone. This boat in florida... never would have known.

Tartan37.com

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