Fairline Targa 38 Review, Versions and Used Values

Why the Fairline Targa 38 sold for a decade

Fairline unveiled the Fairline Targa 38 to its dealers at a conference in Bellagio on Lake Como in April 2006, and MBY's used-boat expert Nick Burnham calls it a best-seller for the Oundle yard for almost a decade. It replaced the Targa 34 as the entry point to the range and was still Fairline's entry-level model in 2016, when a dealer took one to the London On-Water Boat Show just after the company's sale to new owners.

The formula was evolution rather than revolution. MBY's launch review said the boat looked like a Targa, only fresher, with taller side screens, a razor-sharp radar arch and horizontal hull ports. Burnham later showed how closely it echoes the original 1984 Targa 33: rafted together with transoms aligned, the two bows almost line up, and the 38 is only about six inches wider.

Small enough for a couple to handle but big enough for two proper cabins and aft-deck tender stowage, the 38 sits in a sweet spot that the modern Targa 40 now fills at three to four times the price.

Open, Gran Turismo and the later hardtop Open

The 2006 boat was an open sports cruiser with a radar arch and canvas. In September 2011 Fairline showed the Targa 38 Gran Turismo at Southampton, adding a hardtop with a canvas sunroof, and MBY tested it for its March 2012 issue. From then on Fairline listed both a Targa 38 Open and a Targa 38 Gran Turismo on its website.

By 2014 Fairline's Targa 38 Open page described a hardtop built with Makefast's roof and electrical system, offering what the yard called the largest roof opening of any boat this size, with manual canopy or electric canvas roof variants and an optional submersible bathing platform. YachtBuyer files this later boat separately as the Targa 38 Open, built 2013 to 2017, but its published dimensions, tankage and engines match the original 38.

When shopping, decide whether you want the open arch boat, which is lighter and cheaper, or a hardtop that extends the season. Both share the same hull and lower deck.

From a four-cylinder D4 to the fastest Fairline of its day

Launch boats used twin Volvo Penta D6-310 diesels, and Fairline's 2006 spec sheet estimated 35 knots. MBY's 2006 sea trial recorded 35 knots flat out and a cruising range above 200 nautical miles at 20 knots. At the end of 2007 Fairline added twin D6-370s, which it said gave 42 knots and made the 38 the fastest Fairline ever.

In 2008 the yard went the other way with a D4-260 option, bringing the base price to 175,000 pounds before VAT; Motor Boats Monthly tested that four-cylinder boat against the Monterey 375 in June 2009. By the mid-2010s the menu ran from D4-260 and D4-300 through D6-370 to D6-400, which Fairline rated at 44 knots, with MBY reporting over 40 knots.

For most owners the D6 boats are the ones to buy. They have the torque to carry a hardtop and a tender without feeling strained, and they hold their value better than the D4 boats.

• 2 x D4-260: 33 knots (Fairline estimate)
• 2 x D4-300: 37 knots (Fairline estimate)
• 2 x D6-310: 35 knots (Fairline estimate and MBY sea trial)
• 2 x D6-370: 42 knots (Fairline)
• 2 x D6-400: 44 knots (Fairline), over 40 knots (MBY)

Handling that MBY called almost telepathic

MBY's review is unusually effusive about the drive. The deep-V hull will play the comfortable grand tourer across the Channel, feeling bigger than its 39 feet, or respond eagerly to helm and throttle for a quick blast round the headland. The boat is happier above 25 knots than below, loves to turn, and stays dry thanks to the side screens.

That character is the main reason to choose a 38 over a boxier contemporary. It is not the roomiest 40-footer of its era, but few drive as sweetly, and the testers' verdict was that it was the best boat in its class, bar none.

A big cockpit and two classic cabins

The cockpit is huge for the size, with the rpm counters and plotter close at hand, engine instruments and compass at eye level, and even a chart table. Seating wraps the aft section, the bathing platform extends around the quarters for easy boarding with a tender on board, and a liferaft locker sits beneath the companionway.

Below, the layout follows Targa tradition: a forward master with an en suite head and shower, a saloon with galley, and a mid cabin with twin berths and decent clearance above them but no en suite. The launch boats paired white moldings with oak cabinetry, a graphite galley counter and a central flatscreen. Later boats added an optional sofa bed in the guest cabin, taking berths to as many as seven.

Storage and headroom are good rather than generous. Owners who need more volume should look at the Targa 44 or the current Targa 40.

The 1990s Targa 38 is a different boat

The name was used before. Brokerage listings show Targa 38s built in 1993 to 1995, roughly 12 meters long with a 3.6-meter beam and twin Volvo KAD42 or KAD44 diesels, and YachtBuyer classes the 2006 design as the second generation. These older boats sell for around 60,000 to 90,000 euros in Europe.

Do not mix them up. A 1990s Targa 38 has an older Olesinski hull, different interior and older engines, and its value is roughly half that of a 2006-on boat. Always check the build year and hull identification number before comparing prices, because some adverts even reuse the newer boat's specifications.

Running costs and US ownership

Plan on about $15,000 to $30,000 a year in the US for a 40-foot slip, insurance, Volvo D4 or D6 servicing, drive and bellows work, antifouling, canvas and hardtop roof maintenance. The D6 engines are common in North America, which helps.

MBY's Nick Burnham was so taken with a 2006 example that he said he would happily buy one with his own money. That sums up the 38 well: a 15-to-20-year-old boat that still feels special, with build quality from a period that later Fairline buyers remember fondly.