38 Cabo Flybridge 2008

Source: Capt. Patrick Sciacca, Power & Motoryacht Magazine

The moment was bordering on silly fun. I took over the wheel of the Cabo 38 Flybridge (Hull No. 1) and with minimal input from the ZF electronic controls made her spin like a top. As I throttled the optional 800-mhp MAN diesels, she whipped around to port in a perfect circle while the 27×33 four-blade nibral wheels ate up the cobalt water off Port Everglades inlet. Thus this pocket battlewagon effortlessly displayed her ability to outmaneuver wily marlin, from the acrobatic whites to those greyhounding, tackle-busting blues. I quickly reversed the throttles to spin her to starboard. She was impressively agile, backing down at more than 5 mph with minimal water rising up over the transom and into the cockpit. What water did get in was instantly evacuated through the scuppers. This boat was built to fish.

More evidence of this was found in her cockpit arrangement, thoughtfully presented with an optional Release Marine rocket launcher. There’s a reinforcement plate laminated into the deck to accommodate a chair, but at 38 feet LOA, this Cabo’s better served with my boat’s bolster-type setup. A chair might impede access to the longitudinal macerated in-deck fishboxes, where the rocket launcher keeps them in the clear. Those fishboxes are large enough to handle several 50-pound-class yellowfin, some mahi-mahi, and ice for your catch, of course.

If you’re a live-bait fisherman, you’ll definitely take advantage of the standard 48-gallon in-transom livewell. Cabo designed its interior contours to prevent bait from banging around while underway (beat-up bait don’t swim well). This builder can also outfit your 38 with tuna tubes if you need room for larger skipjack and bonito baits. Four rod holders are standard issue, but I’d like to see two more in the gunwales to enable four lines out of the optional Pipewelders’ outriggers and still run flat lines off the transom (Pipewelders also manufactures the hardtop frame). You can always run a shotgun bait out of the rocket launcher and still have room to hang dredges off the 12-inch stainless steel stern cleats.

Since getting offshore to fish sometimes has to be done in less-than-ideal conditions, the 38’s hull bottom is comprised of solid fiberglass. Cabo laminates it in the high desert of California, where the average humidity is about 17 percent, an ideal environment. Each layer of fiberglass is fully cured and ground back before adding the next one, a process that involves a lot of man-hours. (Build time for a 38 is about four months from start to finish.) Cabo says that while its system is time-consuming, it results in a better overall bond. I can’t argue that, as my test boat felt solid even while running across the ocean at WOT. She seemed especially beefy when Cabo Yachts’ vice president of sales and marketing, Jim Renfrow, tossed two 40-pound bags of ice on the deck and there wasn’t a rattle or a shudder to be heard or felt. Her hull is secured at the hull-to-deck joint both mechanically with bolts every four inches and tabbed with ‘glass all the way around. A liner adds backbone while also creating a finished look.

Fortunately, she’s as speedy as she is clean-looking: Her Michael Peters-designed, modified-V hull form, which sports 17 degrees of transom deadrise, sprinted to a WOT speed of 43.5 mph. The MANs were spinning 2340 rpm at this velocity within the accepted tolerances of their rated 2300 rpm. When I dialed back to a 2000-rpm cruise, my test boat made a deceivingly quick 37.3 mph, at which speed not only will you likely be one of the first crews to get lines in the water, but the MANs burn only 56 gph total. At that rate, the 38 has a 284-statute-mile range on her 475-gallon fuel capacity, plenty for a day or overnight to the canyons and back. As for seakindliness, seas were only about two feet on test day, no real challenge.

Boat Specifications: 38 Cabo Yacht Flybridge 2008

Boat Type: Sportfisherman

Standard Power: 2/600-hp Cummins QSC 8.3 diesel inboards

Optional Power: 2/715-hp Caterpillar C12 Acert diesel inboards or 2/800-mhp MAN R6-800CRM diesel inboards

Length Overall (LOA): 40’8″

Beam: 15’1″

Draft: 3’9″

Weight: 28,000 lbs. (light)

Fuel Capacity: 475 gal.

Water Capacity: 95 gal.

Standard Equipment: QL Interceptor recessed tabs; fighting-chair backing plate; bait-prep center w/ sink, rigging board, tackle stowage; 48-gal. in-transom livewell; 2/in-deck fishboxes w/ macerators; coaming padding; cockpit icebox; 4/rod holders; transom door; fresh- and saltwater washdowns; 10/rocket launchers on flying-bridge ladder and deck rail; 2/Pompanette helm chairs; Palm Beach pod-style helm console; 11-gal. water heater; 10-kW Westerbeke genset; 32″ Solé flat-panel TV in saloon; 15″ Solé in forepeak master; satin-finish teak interior; Corian countertops in galley/head; VacuFlush MSD; rod locker

Test Engines: 2/800-mhp MAN R6-800 diesel inboards

Transmissions / Ratio: ZF 325-1A/1.485:1

Props: 27×33 4-blade nibral

Steering: Teleflex hydraulic w/ power assist

Controls: ZF electronic

Optional Equipment On Test Boat: teak-and-holly galley sole; 110-volt cockpit freezer; 2/Bluewater helm chairs; Bose 3-2-1 entertainment system; Raritan ice maker in saloon; handheld shower; oil-change system; Glendinning Cablemaster; ZF Supershift controls; Pipewelders tower package; Release Marine rocket launcher; LED lights in electronic panel; 2/Underwater Lights; US-9 teaser reels; 12-kW Westerbeke genset; Furuno NavNet navigation system w/ 2/10.5″ displays, RD-30 depth display; Simrad AP26 autopilot, Icom IC-M604 VHF; EZ2CY flying-bridge enclosure; Sirius-ready Clarion radio; window in bait tank