Roberts Offshore 38 Cutter
Description
The Bruce Roberts Offshore 38, designed by Ray Richards in the 1980s and offered through Bruce Roberts' plans, is a sturdy heavy-displacement cutter-rigged cruiser built for bluewater capability and family coastal/offshore sailing, with a focus on seaworthiness, load-carrying ability, and short-handed ease, resulting in hundreds of DIY builds worldwide, many proven on long passages like transatlantic crossings. This masthead cutter setup—with an inner forestay for staysail—provides versatile sail management in heavy weather while delivering strong light-air performance via a generous foretriangle; primarily constructed in steel or aluminum for durability (fiberglass/wood-epoxy options available), it features a fin or long keel for stability, customizable aft or center cockpit layouts, and a practical interior with U-galley, nav station, and forward/aft cabins, powered by a 20–35 hp diesel auxiliary, with total build costs around $80,000–$150,000.
Construction Details
| Designer | Ray Richards |
|---|---|
| Length | 38.000 ft |
| LOA | 36.583 ft |
| LWL | 30.000 ft |
| Beam | 12.000 ft |
| Max Draft | 4.000 ft |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | 45.83 ft |
|---|---|
| j | 16.25 ft |
| p | 39.67 ft |
| e | 14.42 ft |
| p2 | 26.50 ft |
| e2 | 8.50 ft |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45.83 ft | 16.25 ft | 39.67 ft | 14.42 ft | 26.50 ft | 8.50 ft | - | - |
Documents
Sails
Roberts Offshore 38 Cutter - MAINSAIL
| Luff | * 39.67 ft - (12091 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | * 14.42 ft - (4395 mm) |
| Leech | * 41.56 ft - (12667 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 87.98 ° |
| Diagonal | * 41.73 ft - (12719 mm) |
| Head (inches) | * 6 in - (152 mm) |
| Area | 285.7 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator | |
Roberts Offshore 38 Cutter - JIBSAIL
| Luff | * 38.9 ft - (11857 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | * 21.92 ft - (6681 mm) |
| Leech | * 33.2 ft - (10119 mm) |
| Percentage LP | * 115 % |
| Length Perpendicular | * 18.69 ft - (5697 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 12 ° |
| Area | 363.46 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator | |
Roberts Offshore 38 Cutter - GENOA
| Luff | * 46.19 ft - (14079 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | * 26.58 ft - (8102 mm) |
| Leech | * 43.13 ft - (13146 mm) |
| Percentage LP | * 150 % |
| Length Perpendicular | * 24.38 ft - (7431 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 4 ° |
| Area | 562.87 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator | |
Roberts Offshore 38 Cutter - SPINNAKER
| Stays | * 46.19 ft - (14079 mm) |
|---|---|
| MidGirth | * 29.25 ft - (8915 mm) |
| Foot | * 29.25 ft - (8915 mm) |
| Perc LP | * 180 % |
| Area | 1148.4 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator | |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.