Review of Malö 38

Malö 38 anno 1995.

Basic specs.

The Malö 38 is a sailboat designed by the maritime architect bureau Malö team in the late eighties. Less than 100 boats have been produced. The Malö 38 is built by the Swedish yard Malö Yachts AB.

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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.

Interior

The interior is like many other boats made of mahogany.
The boat is equipped with 3 cabins, 7 berths, a galley, toilet facility and 70 liter waste water capacity.

Rig

The boat equipped with a masthead rig. The advantage of a masthead rig is its simplicity and the fact that a given sail area - compared with a fractional rig - can be carried lower and thus with less heeling moment.

Engine

The boat is typically equipped with an inboard Yanmar diesel engine at 47.0 hp (35 kW), which gives a max speed about 7.4 knots.

The fuel tank has a capacity of 220 liters (58 US gallons, 48 imperial gallons).

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.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Malö 38 is 1.82, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.

Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 7.4 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Malö 38 is about 207 kg/cm, alternatively 1163 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 207 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1163 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.

Motion Comfort Ratio

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Malö 38 is 27.5.

Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 46% of all similar sailboat designs. This comfort value is just below average.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Malö 38 is 3.46.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is slimmer than 69% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more speedy hull design.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Malö 38 is 232 which categorizes this boat among 'light crusers & offshore racers'.

58% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A light displacement requires less sailarea and has higher accellerations.

Maintenance

Rig

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
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)

Boat owner's ideas

This section is reserved boat owner's changes, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

Do you have changes/improvements you would like to share? Upload a photo and describe what you have done.

Finally

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Malö 38 it would be a great help.

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.