dickerson 37 sailboat review

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re Dickerson 37

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I'm considering a Dickerson 37. Is anyone familiar with the sailing characteristics of these shoal-draft boats- particularly to windward and offshore? Thanks, Ed  

Wood or fiberglas??? Ketch or sloop ???  

Edge-glued and nailed construction, originally. Do OK on the Bay. Not great to windward. Don't believe they're designed for offshore use but, of course, any boat afloat can make an offshore voyage, given determination, preparation, and a great deal of luck! There are occasionally some very good deals to be had on these boats.  

They came in several configurations. Generally the "good deals" are the older wooden versions. They later made fiberglass version that is considerable higher priced. Also came as center cockpit ketch or aft cockpit sloop options.  

fiberglas sloop  

All D37's are fiberglass. Some rigged as ketches others as sloops/cutters. Built in Trappe, Md between 1981 and 1987. Perfect boat for the Chesapeake Bay or coastal Florida. At least 25 of them still documented. I wouldn't have anything else (well maybe a pristine Bermuda 40). HiHoAg  

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Dickerson 37 sailing performance

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Hi. I just joined your group, so forgive me if I'm not doing this correctly. I currently own a Pearson 35 that I have singlehanded for the past 12 years. I'm looking to upgrade to a boat that can take me to the South Pacific. I'm looking for a study boat that's easy to singlehand and that is a joy to sail and performs well. I use my engine as little as possible, sailing in and out of anchorages, and I want a boat that would love to do this with me. The Dickerson 37 cutter is very attractive to me, but I know little about her and was hoping you good people could help me out. Here are some questions to get us started. Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

1.  How does she go upwind? How close does she point? 2. How well does she track downwind? 3. How easy is she to singlehand? I love that the jib winches are easily reached from the wheel. 4. How about weather helm? 5. Do you know the phrf for the cutter? I saw that the ketch is 177. 6. What else can you tell me about her?

I own one of the few aft cockpit, cutter rigged D37's built by Dickerson. With two head sails it sails great to winward. Not as good down wind. Say sail gets blocked by the main. Fairly long keel helps to keep her tracking quite well. While we reside in RI I have single handed it in Chesapeake Bay for extended periods twice. Weather helm is very easy to control. It's all a matter of sail adjustment. phrf? Not a heavy slow boat. The dedacated aft nav station is ideal for sinle handing. There were three cabin layouts offered. Everyone loves sailing her!

Thanks, Al! Would you consider her bluewater-capable? There's so little online. Also, do you know how many non-tri- cabins they made? That head in the middle on the boat isn't my favorite arrangement. And how many aft cabin cutters are there? Sounds like I'd have to get very lucky to find one for sale. Thanks!

Yes, the Dickersons are blue water capable. A few have done circumnavigations! Don't know how many like mine were made. The katch was the most popular boat made. There are members who know numbers. There are also members who can assist you in locating what you are looking for. I don't think there were any aft cabin boats built cutter.

Perhaps others reading this can shed light on numbers.

Hello Patti and “Welcome”,

Cap'n Al has given you some good data.  Allow me to expand–Dickerson built 38 cruising Dickerson 37s.  They also built several Farr designed 37s (IORC racers) outside this discussion.  Of those 38 cruising boats, “about” 20 of them were aft cockpit sloops/cutters, and 18 were center cockpit ketches (Dickerson's preferred design).  These numbers are approximate, because Dickerson built the boats to customer requirements.  In that 38 number, there is one aft-cockpit yawl, but no center cockpit sloop/cutters.

The center cockpit ketches are pretty much alike, however, the aft-cockpit models are virtually all unique.  There are three basic versions–the tri-cabin arrangement (head amidships), traditional arrangement (head forward) and short-handend arrangement (extra stowage in lieu of quarter berth).  The mast placement on all aft cockpit models make them sloop or cutter configurable.

The owners of these boats are cruisers not racers (although many of us have a trophy or two).  We have a 2002 PHRF of an aft cockpit sloop (with a 140% genoa) at 198.  A sloop/cutter will beat a ketch upwind every time.  That said, they were designed (and overbuilt) for the light airs of the Chesapeake Bay, with shallow draft, good light air performance–but certainly blue-water capable.

Weather helm easily managed with proper sail trim.  Single-handed sailing is a dream with proper line control routing and management.

So, the bottom line—these are very different boats than your Pearson 35 and unfortunately, not many of them pop up on the market.  The good news is that if you see a sloop and you are heartset on a cutter–no problem–conversion is easy.

Thank  you so much for the information;  you guys are great.  Sounds like what I want is fairly rare, but that she'd be happy to do what I want to do.  I'll keep an eye out for them.

Thanks again!

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Review of Dickerson 37 (Hazen)

Basic specs..

The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.

The Dickerson 37 (Hazen) has been built with different keel alternatives.

Unknown keel type

The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.40 - 1.50 meter (4.59 - 4.89 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

The Dickerson 37 (Hazen) is equipped with a long keel. A full keel provide a better directional stability than a similar boat with a fin keel; on the other hand, better directional stability means also that the boat is more difficult to handle in a harbour with less space.

The keel is made of lead. Compared with iron, lead has the advantage of being 44% heavier, which allows a smaller keel and hence less water resistance and higher speed.

The boat can enter even shallow marinas as the draft is just about 1.37 - 1.47 meter (4.49 - 4.79 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.

Dickerson 37 (Hazen) may be equipped with an inboard Perkins 4.108 diesel engine at 51 hp (37 kW).

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.

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 7.2 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.

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Dickerson 37 (Hazen) is about 206 kg/cm, alternatively 1156 lbs/inch. Meaning: if you load 206 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1156 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.

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

Maintenance

When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy. The surface of the wet bottom is about 32m 2 (344 ft 2 ). Based on this, your favourite maritime shop can tell you the quantity you need.

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale

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.

This section is reserved boat owner's modifications, 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.

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Dickerson 37 (Hazen) 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.

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• Sailboat Guide

Dickerson 37 CC

Dickerson 37 CC is a 37 ′ 0 ″ / 11.3 m monohull sailboat designed by George Hazen and built by Dickerson Boatbuilders starting in 1980.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

Aft and center cockpit, ketch or cutter.

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