Why compare these three and not any of the other 38ft on the market? Well, among this size of boats and in what regards cheaper mass-produced boats the Sun-Odyssey 380 is the less “fat” among all other offers in the category, and the one with the best all-around performance, and the Salona 39 and Dehler 38 are the less expensive performance cruisers, the ones closer as an option for someone that is considering a Sun Odyssey (that is not a performance cruiser).

The other mass production sailboats that compete with the SO are the Oceanis 38.1, with a 3.99m beam (10.73 LWL), the Dufour 390, 3.99 beam (10.50 LWL), the Hanse 398, 3.90 beam (10.40m LWL) and the Bavaria C38, 3.98 beam (10.27 LWL). The Jeanneau SO 380 stands out as a different sailboat with a smaller beam (3.76m) and a bigger LWL (10.71m).

The Jeanneau SO 380 has a similar beam if compared with the two performance cruisers we are considering, 3.75m for the Dehler and 3.72m for the Salona, having a bigger waterline due to its inverted bow. The Dehler has a 10.40 LWL, the Salona 10.01m, the Jeanneau 10.70 (and this on a 10.77 hull length!), while the Dehler has 11.30 HL and the Salona 11.60.

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