Boats & Owners

Mike and Courtney – SV Athena

Dear Commodore,

Mike and I bought a 1974 boat tagged 50/50 and she has become a legend. Renamed Athena on launching in May of 2017 we left Canada and have visited the Azores, Barbados, and islands passing through to the Turks and Caicos group on the Bahamas Bank. Then we returned to the Azores and the Mediterranean Sea to Greece. Returning west we are now in Portugal and expect to do a western run to the Caribbean and up the coast to Canada. So far the best adventure one can take a boat on. The Atomic 4 has had a few service jobs and the sail inventory is looking a bit worn but it really is an amazing cruising craft. We have a Windpilot type servo pendulum self steering system. Essential for ocean passages.

Regards,

Mike and Courtney

Scott – SV Thula Mama

Hi all,  Just to introduce myself, I live in Melbourne, Australia. I bought Thula Mama from a Dutch couple who sailed from Darwin to Indonesia. They originally purchase Thula Mama from a couple who sailed from the US to Australia across the Pacific.

I assume I maybe the only H38 owner in Australia. We have had to do some work as you would expect of a 1980 built boat. It had a Yanmar 15hp engine, which is under powered and very old. I assume this replaced the original Petrol Atomic 4 engine.

We installed a new Beta 30hp which, made a significant improvement in control and speed. It also was less embarrassing when I started the engine first thing on a cold morning!  The old Yanmar blew a lot of smoke. I think the rest of the marina thought the Beverley Hillbillies had arrived!

The usually things have been replaced due to age and the hull join has been re-sealed and covered with an aluminum trim.

We have sailed her around the Great Barrier Reef area and had her trucked down south to Melbourne after we bought her. We would like to sail to Tasmania at some stage.

Hope you are all enjoying you H38’s also and look forward sharing some stories with you.

Scott Cumming

“Thula Mama”

Kadin and Savannah – SV Titania

My name is Kadin and my wife is Savannah. We purchased a H38 MKIII a few years ago with the intention of refitting her completely. I’ve made a lot of progress but we still have a long ways to go.

She is powered with a Universal Diesel 25HP. The motor only has 50 hours +/- but we have decided that we are happy with the technological progress in electric driven systems and are planning next spring to sell the diesel and drop in an etek motor with a lithium power plant in place of the diesel tank. We believe it is a good candidate for electric conversion because of its sleek narrow beam and the cramped nature of a diesel engine. While its nice to have a heavy diesel in the keel there are other problems. For example, we had problems putting in a water lift muffler with that much of a rise to get the exhaust to the stern so we had to manufacture a water-jacketed system. With our current exhaust system there is no noise muffling of the exhaust so our boat sounds like a farm tractor and will drive you mad after a few hours of motoring. Also, the floor has turned into a giant radiator that heats the cabin up to unbearable temperatures in the summer. This does not take into account that the floor had to be modified to accommodate the size of the diesel. I now have a big trip hazard in the middle of the dinette. I dream longingly of the last day that I have to handle hydrocarbons (aka oil changes, diesel, grease).

We plan on doing a bit of off shore cruising especially in the Caribbean, Central America and South America. We purchased the boat for 10K and have a small house in NC also. We went for a boat that is smaller that didn’t suck up all of our financial resources and at the same time could survive a strong blow. It is perfect for us as a couple but we definitely wouldn’t want to go any smaller. There are times we think about how an aft-cabin, a larger cockpit, and L-shape galley would be very pleasant but the trade-offs (expense, maintenance, sailing ability) are too big at this time. We want to accomplish our sailing dreams and the H38 puts that within our reach.

I’ve been researching H38 material for a long time and I am grateful for your time in putting together an owners group where we can share information and resources. Plus, there is a psychological effect as well as it brings owners together to build pride in their boat’s S&S heritage. In a way, H38’s have suffered from a branding problem in the past few decades and so many potential cruisers have passed over this gem in lieu of inferior built boats with more creature comforts. However, don’t misunderstand me, Hughes are not without their host of problems. I am just making the case that is is an excellent pick for a budget cruiser or singlehander.

We have a blog site you can visit http://svtitania.com where we are trying to document our progress towards our goals. Feel free to link to us or pull any pictures off our site to include in your Owner’s Club photos.

Best Wishes,
Kadin

Eddie – SV My-D-Fun

Howdy to all,   It is great to finally be in touch with other H38 owners. A little about my self and “My-D-Fun”. We live in  the DFW area of Texas and we have “My-D-Fun” in Kemah which is in the Houston area of the Gulf coast. We have had her for about 14 years. She is a 1972 Hughes 38. We bought her from a guy that tried to sail her from Galveston to Florida and unfortunately he somehow ran the batteries down so he had no engine or bilge pump. He almost sunk her. And of course since the engine was over the keel, the engine was toast. He replaced the Atomic 4 with a new Atomic 4. It is still there and I have not had any problems with the engine. I spent every moment that we weren’t sailing with upgrading her. I replaced all of the wiring. I installed a wind generator and solar panels. I installed A/C and refrigeration. All of the electronics have been upgraded.The first 4 or 5 years we would drive the 6 hours to Kemah every moment we had off. Then I went to work overseas in many of the hot spots of the Middle East. I was there until the end of 2011 and now work in Kenya. We do not get down to Kemah as much. I am only in the country every 6 months for 3 weeks at a time. But we still enjoy the time we spend on her.

We are hoping to sail her to Mexico pretty soon to our home on the beach of the Yucatan.

I hope to hear about some of the other owners.

Eddie Flores

“My-D-Fun”

Doug and Stephanie – SV WildflowerRowayton, Connecticut 

She’s a 1969 vintage with an Atomic 4. She appears to be largely original, but we didn’t know anything about Hughes boats until we first saw her, so I might have to amend that statement after further review. We fell in love at first sight and can’t wait to get her launched. She’s been sailed all these years, according to the prior owner, whom she’d been with since 1980.  Here are a couple of photos of Windflower.  One is of the lettering on the transom. We went very classic.  In a lucky coincidence, a neighbor happens to be an artist who did a lot of hand lettering of classic boats back in the 60’s & 70’s.  It took her 2 1/2 days to do the job and we’re very happy with the results.  Doug has spent a lot of time on the Atomic 4; he’s quite intimate with it by now. He also replaced the gas tank and did about a thousand other things that I couldn’t explain, but that I know I’m grateful for! He will be replacing the deck this winter.  We feel fortunate that she was with her previous owner for ~36 years, so he knew her well and kept her pretty original, we think. He also doesn’t mind when Doug calls to ask the occasional question.  We’ve had a good experience.

Jerry – SV ‘not named’

Howdy,  I have a 1972 Hughes 38 MKII.  Currently powered with an Atomic Four.  In fact I put a new one purchased from Moyer Marine in it two years ago.  I have been happy with the A4 and I understand it.  Also the cost to go to diesel was prohibitive.  I purchased the boat in 2009 in Ontario where I live in the winter. Over the last two years I sailed from Lake Ontario to Nova Scotia where I live all summer.  Great trip.  As you likely know the 38 is a great sailing boat I have been in 45Kn winds and fifteen foot waves and she is very stable and safe. I am still on the hard at the moment doing some work.  I am resealing the hull to deck joint among other things.  I plan to sail in July for Newfoundland and winter there and next year perhaps on to Greenland (we’ll see) I have completely rewired the boat and added a lot of gear.  If you have any questions etc. please let me know.  You have a great group and website and I am happy to have found it.

Bye for now

Jerry

Tony – SV Galatea V

Port of Registry: Shelburne NS, Canada

Current Homeport: Riverport, NS

No hull number….this hull / deck / liner was laid-up in 1979 along with a sister-ship as 2 ‘kit’ boats and went out the ‘back-door’ of Hughes Boatworks when they were on the financial ‘rocks’.

I believer her to have hit the water in 1980/1981 along with her sister ‘ Clarity’. Built side-by-side n 2 backyards in the Terrance Bay area of NS, they have different powering and interior layouts. Apparently one guy knew boats and the other knew cabinetry so; voila!

Galatea V presently has a Volvo Penta 2003 Saildrive mounted under an extended-forward companionway step. I believe her sister had a more traditional arrangement – later upgraded to a Universal diesel.  The builder/owner, who had major cruising aspirations, found he had a fear of losing sight of land so sold her to the man I bought her from, Ken of Shelburne NS. He and his sons raced her for many years out of Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club in handicap events with a good degree of success. She is pretty much retired from racing now but still does some ‘fun’ events.

She has been at Lunenburg Yacht Club and LaHave River Yacht Club (where I was once Rear Comm) and is now between Bridgewater Marina (winter-storage) and her mooring here in Riverport, where I can see her out my front window as I type this.

Cheers,

Tony