cruiser yachts 38 gls

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2020 Cruisers Yachts 38 GLS

• By Chris Caswell
• Updated: March 3, 2020

In case you haven’t realized, boats are like ice cream. You have to choose your flavor. Some are plain vanilla, some are chocolate, but Cruisers’ new 38 GLS is like the Neapolitan you remember as a kid. It blends the best of all flavors, and it satisfies, no matter what you are craving.

Want to go fast? Think 53 mph. Want to spend the night aboard? There’s a galley, shower and private stateroom. Want wind in your hair? Plant yourself in the bow seating for the ride of a lifetime. Want to just hang out at the local sandbar, splashing in and out of the water? Fold down the beach door that defines this versatile new water toy.

Interior and Accessories

I have no idea what GLS means. Great little ship? Whatever it stands for, it’s quite an amazing bow rider with outboard power, and also the amenities and craftsmanship found on the larger Cruisers Cantius yachts.

This isn’t Cruisers Yachts first foray into outboard-powered dayboats—that was the 338 OB. The 38 GLS proves a whole different vessel. For one thing, it offers the unforgettable beach door that turns a section of the starboard coaming into a fold-down addition to the cockpit, increasing space exponentially while replacing the transom platform lost to the outboards. It brilliantly delivers a great hangout area that’s popular when you’re at a sandbar or playing with water toys.

Cruisers took the concept one step further and—because parents want to keep an eye on their kids—the aft-facing bench backrest swivels to face the “beach,” so parents can do just that.

That takes care of the aft end of the cockpit, and there are still two L-shaped midship dinettes, both with tables, that can handle a mob for munchies from the mini galley. This is equipped with the good stuff, including a grill, sink, fridge and ice maker, but the interesting fillip is putting two bar stools at the forward end of the galley counter. This surprised me because it occupies space usually given to a forward-facing companion seat, but I found the stools very usable. They add two more people to the cockpit entertainment zone and can be used for supervising the beach, and because they tuck into the corner, I was comfortable while the 38 GLS was running.

The skipper gets the best seat in the house, of course, behind the blingy chrome-and-leather tilt wheel facing a black nonreflective dash inlaid with two rows of recessed push buttons for various systems. The joystick and throttle-shifter are exactly where you’d want them, and I liked that you look through the windshield when standing, rather than over it (or at the frame). The varnished nonslip footrest is at the perfect angle, and the seat bolster flips up for standing room if desired.

The portside walkway leads forward (with a closure door for wind and spray protection), and the U-shaped bow seating offers streamlined headrests on the forward-facing lounge. A removable table converts to a sun pad, and I liked the up/down buttons for the anchor windlass on the deck so you don’t have to open the rode locker.

Down below is a surprise to almost rival the beach door: more than 6 feet, 5 inches of headroom. There’s an enclosed head to starboard (6 feet, 2 inches of headroom—wow) with a full shower. The forward settee/dinette is convertible to a berth, but the 38 GLS has a private stateroom tucked under the cockpit with a 6 ½-by-4 ½-foot berth, which is bigger than a double but a couple of inches shy of a queen. That’s more than enough for overnighting and great for secure naps for the kiddies. And a nearby microwave handles morning coffee without leaving the cabin, which is thoughtfully provided with a screen door to eliminate no-see-ums.

Underway, the 38 GLS is fun, with plenty of punch from the standard triple Mercury Verado 300 hp outboards (350 hp Verados are optional), and we easily reached just shy of 53 mph with several people aboard and full fuel. These Mercs give you joystick maneuvering for docking, and they aren’t going to melt your credit card for fuel either.

No big surprises, but the seaworthy hull has two strakes on each side and chine flats to improve stability and throw spray aside. We did doughnuts on Tampa Bay, crossing our wake from every angle, and the 38 GLS maintained perfect poise throughout. The triple Mercs have plenty of punch if you want to yank all manner of water toys, reaching planing speed (25.3 mph) in just 5.5 seconds and flat-out in just 21 seconds.

An option is a 5.5 kW genset to power the air conditioning at anchor and/or the blender for piña coladas at the sandbar. I was surprised that a built-in vacuum is standard, but it makes sense to deal with sandy feet.

If you’re shopping around, take a look at the Sea Ray SLX400 ($708,552). It’s 3 feet longer, but has a similar layout in both the cockpit and cabin, with a beach door.

Learn More About the Triple Mercury Outboards Powering This Boat

A sterndrive version of the 38 GLS is coming, mostly to satisfy hardcore out-drivers or freshwater skippers, and I wondered what was under the big compartment aft on the outboard version. Turns out, the entire seating package rises on gas lifts, revealing a cavernous storage area (or perhaps a mother-in-law suite).

The Cruisers 38 GLS is genuinely likable. Whether you prefer chocolate, vanilla or strawberry, this is one tasty treat.

How We Tested

• Engines: Triple 300 hp Mercury Verado
• Drive/Props: Outboard/Revolution 4 16″ x 18″ stainless-steel 4-blade
• Gear Ratio: 1.75:1 Fuel Load: 200 gal. Water on Board: 0 gal. Crew Weight: 850 lb.

High Points

• Flexible seating next to the beach door.
• Ignition interlock on the beach door prevents up or down use when engines are running.
• Great headroom, not just in the cabin but in the shower too.
• Dark cabin with only two small windows.
• Access to aft cabin is only 22 inches wide, making graceful access or egress difficult.
• Boarding gate to beach and transom is too low (14 inches) to be much use in slowing down kids.

Pricing and Specs

Speed, Efficiency, Operation

Cruisers Yachts – Oconto, Wisconsin; 800-743-3478; cruisersyachts.com

• More: 30-40ft , boat tests , Boats , Cruisers Yachts , Cruising Boats , March 2020 , outboards

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The Musings of a Hopeless Wanderer

Engaging in the eternal search for the meaning of life...or a good time.

• Netherlands

Monday, September 3, 2018

Tackling moscow by train and boat.

Our first full day in Moscow started fairly late since we were still catching up on sleep.  Around 1, we finally were able to get our act together and get out the door. 

We stopped by a cafe to get some breakfast and headed over to the Red Square.  Since the festival is going on, we had to go through metal detectors.  Once we cleared security, we reached the State Historical Museum which provided an entrance to the Red Square.

We walked the length of the Red Square, passing by the Kazan cathedral.

Under normal conditions, the Red Square is a large walking area with the State Historical Museum on one end and St. Basil's on the other end.  On the sides is the Kremlin wall on one side and then the GUM shopping mall and the Kazan cathedral on the other side.  Presently, the walking area has been considerably narrowed and the fesitval grounds occupying a large space between the Kremlin and the mall.

We even asked a stranger to take our picture!

After walking around the Red Square, we had to leave to meet up with our Metro Tour.  

Moscow has famously pretty metro stations so metro tours are quite popular.  We booked a relatively inexpensive tour through a tour group which met outside of the Red Square.

On our way, we passed by the Kremlin gardens and the tomb to the unknown soldier and the eternal flame.

We soon met up with our group which, fortunately, was only 5 people.  Our guide told us that we were going to visit 8 stations during the 1.5 hour tour.  

Honestly, a lot of the stations blended in to me so I won't be able to give you a detailed description of all of them.  However, I did learn that there are 222 metro stations and the trains come every 2-3 minutes reliably.  For that reason, Moscow > DC. 

One of the first metro stations we visited had bronze statues all over of various depictions.  Many of the statues had superstitions tied to them.  For example, for a statue of the dog, it's held that if you rub the nose of the dog, you'll have good luck.  Consequently, most of the statue is tarnished - except for the nose.  I joked to Tomas that they probably rotate the "good luck" portion of the statue to ensure the entire statue gets polished.

However, I do remember some of the stations.

Novoslobodskaya is a station adorned with stained glass on the walls.

There was also Belarusskaya, which paid tribute to Belarus.

Another station which name I cannot remember but had pretty mosaics in the ceilings.

My favorite station was Komsomolskaya.  It's the busiest station and a hub for other connecting trains.  It was built during Statlin times and he wanted the station to embody beauty to set a good first impression to Russia.

I'd seen pictures of it beforehand since it's the most famous but it's so much more impressive in person.

Look at these ceilings!

Overall it was a very interesting tour.  Not sure of any other city which could offer a metro tour.  DC certainly can't...

After the tour, we headed back of the hotel to rest for a bit.  We had purchased tickets to a tour hour boat down the Moscow river.  The tickets were good for any time on any day and the boats left every 20min.  We decided to knock the tour out that day and headed over to the pier.  

We arrived at the pier and saw a boat by the company we had purchased from boarding.  We approached and they shook their head and said it wasn't the right boat. 

So we waited for another boat.

Another boat came along by the same company we had purchased from so weapproached them.  Again - we were told it wasn't the right boat and the boat we were looking for was coming.  

A third boat came along which was NOT by the company we had purchased from.  By this point, it had been longer than 20min waiting and I was starting to suspect that the correct boat was actually one of the ones which turned us away.   We approached the 3rd boat to ask if they knew which boat we should be on.  However, when we approached,  they waved us aboard without scanning our tickets.

So, we boarded the 3rd boat....which was definitely not ours.

We settled into an upper deck, open air table to take in the views.

We passed by pretty buildings.

The somewhat impressive cathedral of Christ the Savior.

This random statue.

After about hour on the cruise, Tomas remarked that it had been about an hour so we should be turning around soon.  I reminded him that we actually had no idea how long this cruise was or where we would be dropped off.  Since we were on the wrong boat.

Fortunately, it did turn around and took us back to the pier.  

For dinner, we decided to go to this burger place, Black Star Burger, which our guide told us about.  Tomas really liked his - I thought mine was OK.  It was a decent size patty with a mountain of Cole slaw on top.  We've realized that apparently Russians dislike getting their hands dirty while eating so some restaurants will give out gloves to use.  This particular restaurant gave out black gloves.

Tomas modeling our dinner.

Since little mum has been asking about pictures which show my feet, I assume she wanted to see my new shoes.  I recently bought Allbirds which are suppose to be super comfortable walking shoes which you wear without socks and can be washed.  I didn't wear them too extensively beforehand, so that was probably my first error.  I also didn't bring another pair of good walking shoes,  which was likely my second error.  The Allbirds were great the first two days without socks.  Midway through the third day, my right foot was quite unhappy. Left foot was a trooper. So, now I have a bandaid on the heel of my right foot and wear socks.