Little Harbor 38 Sailors

[jlcarolan]

Hello Sailors,

I have owned a 1986 Little Harbor 38 sailboat since 1998.

We sail the San Francisco Bay and connected waterways.

She is a wonderful boat and and has taken good care of us in places we perhaps should never have ventured. She is our first boat, and we could not have asked for a better sailing experience.

The problem is there were only 29 of these boats made.

I am looking to make contact with other Little Harbor, Bristol 38.8 and Hood Wauquiez owners and past owners.

Thanks
Jim Carolan

[Paul C LH38]

Hi Jim, we recently purchased Hallelujah, '85 Little Harbor 38 and have been interested in find out where the others are also. So far not much luck.
The previous owners were sailing the south shore and lower New England. We will be on the north shore, Long Island sound.
I'd like to talk to other owners and get some advise on systems updating and general info on the boat.
Not a lot of record keeping came with this boat.
Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.
Paul

[Safari38LH]

I have a Little Harbor 38 hull number 20 which was built in 1982. I bought in 2007, renamed it SAFARI and keep it in Marion Ma. Most summers we have taken it to Maine and Nova Scotia for a few months.

SAFARI is current getting a new deck as the old balsa core was completely mush. We elected not to put on a new teak deck because we are taking the boat to the Bahamas next fall for the winter and thought the teak would be to hot.

I look forward to talking with other LH38 owners.

[Paul C LH38]

Originally Posted by Safari38LH

I have a Little Harbor 38 hull number 20 which was built in 1982. I bought in 2007, renamed it SAFARI and keep it in Marion Ma. Most summers we have taken it to Maine and Nova Scotia for a few months.

SAFARI is current getting a new deck as the old balsa core was completely mush. We elected not to put on a new teak deck because we are taking the boat to the Bahamas next fall for the winter and thought the teak would be to hot.

I look forward to talking with other LH38 owners.

Glad to hear from another LH38 owner! How did you discover the balsa core issue? Our surveyor said without pulling up the teak deck, he couldn't tell the condition. All readings came up dry Inside of the toe rails where there's no wood decking so fingers crossed. Also have some strange water leaks in galley and nav station. Boat was mostly covered for the winter however water still coming in from somewhere. Total mystery. Anxious to hear if others have experienced the same problem. Sounds like a great plan to hit the Bahamas. Hope to hear from you again. Paul

[Safari38LH]

Originally Posted by Paul C LH38

Glad to hear from another LH38 owner! How did you discover the balsa core issue? Our surveyor said without pulling up the teak deck, he couldn't tell the condition. All readings came up dry Inside of the toe rails where there's no wood decking so fingers crossed. Also have some strange water leaks in galley and nav station. Boat was mostly covered for the winter however water still coming in from somewhere. Total mystery. Anxious to hear if others have experienced the same problem. Sounds like a great plan to hit the Bahamas. Hope to hear from you again. Paul

I don't think there is a LH38 out there without a balsa core issue. We found out when we did the buyers survey. Core samples had been taken from a few places inside the cabinets. Almost all of the core was decayed and basically slop. The yard figured we took a 1000 lbs off of the boat when we removed the core. You didn't even have to squeeze it to have it dripping. We had the leaks in the galley and nav area also. The liquid was tea colored - rot from the core.

I'd suggest removing the top inside a cabinet and taking a look. I've done that and noticed moisture there.

Fair Winds

Chris

[Paul C LH38]

Thanks Chris. Thats exactly what I have going on- tea colored leaks. Great. Who is doing that job for you? How much $$ are you looking at?
Paul

[Safari38LH]

Originally Posted by Paul C LH38

Thanks Chris. Thats exactly what I have going on- tea colored leaks. Great. Who is doing that job for you? How much $$ are you looking at?
Paul

The yard I am using is Buzzards Bay Yacht Service in Mattapoisett, MA. SAFARI is the second LH38 they have done. Without having teak put down you are talking about $50,000. Of course you always find something else to fix when everything is taken apart so the price can vary.

I was lucky that our surveyor caught the fact that the balsa core was rotten as the previous owner said he had just replaced the decks. It turned out he had only replaced the bungs. I gave a counter offer that made up for replacing the deck.

I forgot to mention that you could tell the core was gone in some areas as the teak would flex when you walked on it.

[Paul C LH38]

Wow, that's big bucks. You must really love her!
I'm glad I paid next to nothing for the boat as it needs quite a bit of cosmetic work. That much is not in my budget so we'll sail it the way it is for a few seasons. We just purchased Hallelujah last September and haven't sailed her yet. Before the purchase I had a broker in Newport pull comps on what they've sold for in the past ten years or so and prices ranged from $44k to $125k so my $18k looked like a great deal. Ted Hood's personal 38 was for sale in Florida last year for $285 and was pulled off the market. Fully restored though.
Cheers, paul

[Safari38LH]

Well, I consider the boat to be our second home with a water view. Try buying a house on the water today and paying the taxes. So putting a new deck on it is a deal. We expect to live on SAFARi for 9-10 months a year for the next few years.

The Ted Hood boat was restored by Bobby Hood (Ted's son) at the Hinckley yard in RI. Apparently a boat in the marina had a fire which spread to the Hood LH38 and it burnt to the waterline.

Here is a list of the Little Harbor 38s that I have bumped into:
Puritan - Newport, RI (I believe its for sale)
Passavant - Hingham, MA
On A Whim - Tashmoo, MA
Robin II - Newport (Burnt to waterline)
Heritage - Greenport NY

[Paul C LH38]

Well that's a great point about the boat being a second home, Chris.
So I'm assuming by your messages that you've sailed the boat with wet core for about 10 years. Was there any issues with that? I don't plan on doing repairs for a few years.
What a shame about Ted Hood's boat. That was a perfectly restored vessel.
Thanks
Paul

[Safari38LH]

There were no extremely pressing problems but I would not take the boat way offshore, say to Bermuda, until it was fixed. I did see so degrading of the wiring in areas where the leaks were. Some of the cabinets' back panels started to delaminate also. All in all you can pay now or pay later but paying later will cost you more.

[Paul C LH38]

Yes, that's sound advice. We're planning on just staying on LI Sound with maybe a trip to Newport in the fall but no offshore work. With 2 kids in college ship work will have to wait.

BTW, I think there were two Ted Hood boats. The one that burned at Hinckley in sept '15 was Robin Too. I found the newspaper articles. There was another Robin advertised in Atlantic Yachts that claimed a major refit in 2015 that was in Florida and it had blue top sides. Their ad claimed it was built for Ted Hood. I'm going to try and get the link to you for the ad. The boat in Florida was pristine.

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by Paul C LH38

There was another Robin advertised in Atlantic Yachts that claimed a major refit in 2015 that was in Florida and it had blue top sides. Their ad claimed it was built for Ted Hood. I'm going to try and get the link to you for the ad. The boat in Florida was pristine.

A blue 1981 LH38 in Portsmouth, RI named Robin sold 7/14 for 90k.

[Safari38LH]

The LH38 ROBIN that Bobby Hood rebuilt and the one in Florida I think are the same boat. Heres the link. Note ROBIN is from Newport RI.

https://www.atlanticyachtandship.ru/...n/1981/225307/

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by Safari38LH

The LH38 ROBIN that Bobby Hood rebuilt and the one in Florida I think are the same boat. Heres the link. Note ROBIN is from Newport RI.

https://www.atlanticyachtandship.ru/...n/1981/225307/

Soldboats has Ted Hood's boat (white hull) Robin selling 6/06 for 126.5k. That boat was in ME when sold. Her refit was completed 2005.

The blue boat at your link is the boat I referenced above that sold in RI 7/07.

Looks like you might have pulled up an old ad? Atlantic Y & S doesn't have it on their current web site.

Triana sold in MD 11/15 for $122,500 and according to the listing broker had over 250k in renovations. She has a reddish hull.

I don't see any post 2014 sales from FL. Atlantic Y & S is in FL but the ad doesn't state that the boat was there. Also it appears that they were advertising the blue boat above which was not their listing.

I can't link the listings because they are password protected but I can email them if you want to look them over.