Selene calls the 38 Voyager Aft-cabin its small superyacht, and the joke holds up: 41 feet 8 inches of hull on a 14 foot 6 inch beam, with almost all of the volume pushed inside. The aft-cabin layout gives two couples genuine separation, two cabins and two heads, which is rare at this size and is why the boat has held its following for decades.
The lines come from Howard Chen working with Ted Hood, and the hull uses Hood’s whale-back concept. The practical result is headroom aft and an engine room that is easier to work in than boats twenty feet longer. Inside there is traditional timber joinery, teak and holly soles, leather upholstery, a proper galley and a salon that stays warm rather than clinical. A flybridge with an outdoor deck salon sits above.
Recent boats have gained Diamond Sea Glaze sliding doors, better sound insulation, larger aluminium fuel tanks, a sea chest, lithium-ion batteries and a revised electrical management system. Seakeeper gyro stabilisation, air conditioning, a generator and a watermaker are optional. Many owners fit a steadying sail on the mast, which doubles as the derrick for the tender stowed on the aft cabin roof.
With 500 gallons of fuel, 16 tonnes of displacement and a single 230 horsepower diesel, this is a long-range coastal cruiser sized for any marina and any travel lift. It suits Loopers, liveaboard couples and buyers stepping down from something larger.
Length
12.7M
Beam
4.4M
Draft
1.4M
Day Guests
Sleeping
4
Cabin
2
Cruise Speed
Max Speed
11KT
Fuel
1892L
Engine
1 x 230 hp diesel inboard
Naval
Howard Chen and Ted Hood
High Price Brokerage
€324,000
Low Price Brokerage
€292,500
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She is built to keep going long after a faster boat has stopped to refuel.
A single 230 horsepower diesel inboard drives her at a cruising pace built for distance, with a top speed of around 11 knots and 1,892 litres, or 500 gallons, of fuel on board. Recent boats carry larger aluminium fuel tanks and a sea chest, extending that reach further still, alongside lithium ion batteries and a revised electrical management system that reduce how often the engine needs to run at anchor. Displacing around 16 tonnes, she sits heavy enough in the water to hold a course through a following sea without the fuss a lighter hull would show.
Her lines come from a hull shape few builders still draw.
Howard Chen developed the Selene 38 Voyager Aft cabin with Ted Hood, using Hood’s whale back concept to push volume up and aft rather than out. A graceful sheer and the raised foredeck that follows from it are the visible result, but the real gain is inside: headroom over the aft cabin and an engine room that stays easier to work in than on boats twenty feet longer. A steadying sail can be fitted to the mast, which doubles as the derrick for a tender stowed on the aft cabin roof, a practical detail that also softens her roll at sea.
Two couples, two cabins, two heads: separation that most 38 footers cannot offer.
The aft cabin layout places a full stateroom at the back of the boat with its own head, alongside a second cabin and head forward, giving each couple real privacy rather than a curtain between them. Inside, the joinery is traditional timber, with teak and holly soles, leather upholstery and a proper galley rather than a condensed one. Recent boats have added Diamond Sea Glaze sliding doors and better sound insulation, which keep the salon warmer and quieter than the specification alone would suggest. Sleeping four in comfort, she is built for a couple travelling with guests, not for a boat full of berths nobody uses.
A second living level sits above the main deck, not just a steering position.
The flybridge carries an outdoor deck salon, giving the boat a genuine upper deck gathering space rather than a bare helm station open to the weather. Below, the salon connects directly to the galley, warmed by timber joinery rather than left clinical, the kind of room where a passage crew settles in rather than passes through. Seakeeper gyro stabilisation, air conditioning, a generator and a watermaker are all available as options, letting an owner build toward longer stays aboard or keep the specification simple for coastal use.
She is built for buyers who already know what they want from a trawler.
At 12.7 metres overall on a 4.4 metre beam, drawing 1.4 metres, the Voyager Aft cabin displaces around 16 tonnes, a figure that speaks to her solidity rather than her speed. A single 230 horsepower diesel, 1,892 litres of fuel and a hull drawn by Howard Chen and Ted Hood underpin a boat built for self sufficient cruising rather than for showing off at the dock. She suits Loopers, liveaboard couples and owners stepping down from something larger, carrying two cabins and sleeping four without asking any of them to compromise on privacy.
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