Boat test for the 2008 Riviera 38 Open Flybridge with boat pictures, boat specifications, and boat test results. Includes pricing, videos, engine test reviews, and ratings for the 2008 Riviera 38 Open Flybridge.

The layout, for example, is both conventional and cruise-capable. The master stateroom is forward, with lofty 6'3" headroom, an island-type pedestal berth (topped with an eight-inch-thick innerspring mattress), and a couple of hanging lockers sheathed with solid cedar, not veneer. The saloon is aft, with two L-shape New Zealand leather lounges, a liquor cabinet in the aft-starboard corner, and an expansive cockpit (with all the fish-fighting essentials) just out the back door. In between there's a guest stateroom to port (with bunks and a hanging locker) and a galley-down to starboard just abaft a head with a separate shower stall and electric VacuFlush MSD. Again, the whole setup is conventional, but there's a nifty, residential quality to it, particularly when you factor in kitchen-esque cabinets and drawers in the galley, expertly joined cherry woodwork throughout, and wraparound tinted windows.

Construction methods are backed by a five-year, transferable hull warranty. The bottom (including a modest keel) is 'glass with an osmosis-resistant vinylester outer layer and top-notch isophtahlic gelcoat. Deck, superstructure, and hull sides are cored with Divinycell, and the hull-to-deck joint is bolted, chemically bonded, and double fiberglassed from inside. Stringers and transversals are of foam-cored fiberglass and, like everything else within the hull, painted out with white gelcoat. Lift the hatch in the galley sole, and you'll immediately see how this finish imparts a crisp look to the ancillary installations underneath.

The Aussies tell me the leaping creature shown here was a baby humpback. Whaaaaa! The baby humpback looked big enough to swallow a taxi.

Engineering? Access to the 38's machinery spaces is typical of the sportfishing genre: A cockpit console molding opens down into a 42-inch-high crawlspace between the engines. Standards include simplex Racors, battery firepower galore, gorgeous, stainless steel Arctic Steel seawater strainers, and against the forward firewall between the mains, a 9-kW Onan genset. Items are secured with the same attention to detail as the ancillaries beneath the galley.

But danged if there isn't one big-time glitch worth reporting. While oil and fuel filters were conveniently fitted on the inboard side of our starboard main, the same components were inconveniently fitted on the outboard side. Moreover, while the starboard main's dipstick was inboard, the port's wasn't. A Riviera oversight? Not according to Browning. The company's been trying (so far unsuccessfully) to get Volvo Penta to address it, he says. And Riviera can't reposition components because it would void engine warranty.

Truth to tell, even with this glitch I slipped into a deeply cheery reverie about boats, whales, and mellifluous sea conditions while purring back to our marina. Then, I hate to admit, I did a pretty ragged job of backing our Riviera 38 Open Flybridge into her slip, despite the fact that there was no wind or apparent current.

"This baby's maneuverable as heck, Denby, but I've botched the darn approach," I lamented while hammering the optional Side-Power bow thruster.

"Yes, but maybe our Australian whale's made you just a little distracted," suggested Browning. "I'm sure that's it."

For more information on Riviera Yachts of the Americas, including contact information, click here.

SPOTLIGHT ON: Whale Gulper 320 Shower-Sump Pump

There are several reasons why I'm impressed with this Whale Gulper 320 shower-sump pump installation—none, incidentally, having to do with the whale we saw during our sea trial. For starters, the pump itself is a beaut. It's robustly built, has a rousing capacity of 5.3 gpm and nonchoke valves, and can run dry for long periods of time without frying the impeller. This last point's important, particularly for a shower-sump pump that tends to run dry for short periods of time on a regular basis. Moreover, electrical wires to the Gulper are not just casually attached and left to flounder but schematically laid out with fire-retardant, split-loom and immobilizing nylon cable clamps. And check out how the pump itself is secured with a big, rubber-cushioned seating strap to keep it solidly in place. A nice piece of work.—B.P.

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