Storebro Royal Cruiser 38

Remarks

The Royal Cruiser 38 is the larger sister of the Royal Cruiser 34. The development task was to develop a larger ship, which took over the design of the successful Royal Cruiser 34. The hull was designed by John H.V. Lindblom, who at this time worked as a staff engineer at Storebro. The superstructure was designed by Winfried H. Wilke, who developed the previously known design of the Storebro Royal Cruiser 34 or Storebro Royal Cruiser III and gave the ship a classic, but much more modern appearance. The new design was then used a year later for the Storebro Royal Cruiser 34.

The boat was offered in four different variants:

• Royal Cruiser 38 Baltic - This ship was the direct offshoot of the original Royal Cruiser 34
• Royal Cruiser 38 Baltic flybridge - In this variant, the flybridge was added to the original version. Unlike the Royal Cruiser 34 the hull of the Royal Cruiser 38 had no problems with the extra weight.
• Royal Cruiser 38 Baltic with deck saloon - The deck saloon was designed especially for the northern waters. With a door at each port and starboard side convenient access was possible.
• Royal Cruiser 38 Baltic with deck saloon and flybridge - This version of the Royal Cruiser 38 combined all the benefits of the whole concept. The popular flybridge delivered a luxurious driving experience while the stay on board become much more comfortable because of the protective deck saloon.

Miscellaneous

• The first Storebro Royal Cruiser 38 with yard number 2176 was the only ship that was built with a hull in sandwich construction beneath the waterline. This was due to the fact that the first hull was built on a wooden frame, which was covered with foam panels and stitched up to the frame. Then the foam panels were laminated and the seams to the wooden frame were opened. Afterwards the hull was rotated. The wooden frame was removed and finally the hull was laminated from inside.
• Unlike the later produced ships, the prototype was equipped with toilet and shower to port. Later ships received the layout known to the SRC 430 Baltic with toilet and separate shower to starboard. For this layout, the double bed had to be slightly reduced.
• The prototype was built for a Danish customer.
• The first boat with decksalon (no. 2230) was taken over in Västervik by the German Storebro-representive Harry A. Sührcke and transferred on its own keel to Germany.
• One of the most popular owners of a Storebro Royal Cruiser 38 was Benny Andersson of ABBA. He owned the hull number 2400, a Storebro Royal Cruiser 38 Baltic flybridge.

2020-09-08

Technical development