ETAP 39s

The design was built by ETAP Yachting in Belgium from 1998 to 2005, but it is now out of production. ==Design==

The ETAP 39s is a recreational keelboat, built predominantly of polyester glassfibre-foam cored sandwich, with wood trim. It has a 7/8 fractional sloop rig with aluminum spars, a deck-stepped mast, wire standing rigging and a single set of swept spreaders. The hull has a raked stem, a reverse transom, with boarding steps, an internally mounted spade-type rudder controlled by a wheel and a fixed fin keel or shoal draft keel, both with weighted bulbs. It displaces and carries of lead ballast. For sailing downwind the design may be equipped with an asymmetrical spinnaker of . The boat has a hull speed of . ==Operational history==

The boat was at one time supported by a class club, the ETAP Owners Association. A 2001 review by Tim Murphy in Cruising World Magazine stated, "the two-cabin version we saw was comfortably laid out ... Boat of the Year judge Carol Hasse liked the aft head, which has a separate shower stall. However, it takes the spot near the companionway traditionally occupied by a U-shaped galley; the 39s's linear galley runs along the port side, an arrangement that none of our judges favored for cooking underway ... There were several details the BOTY judges didn't like. For example, the ports along the cabin top open outward ' onto the working deck. An extruded aluminum toerail, together with outward-angled stanchions, seemed a tripping hazard. Access to engine and through-hulls was tight. Under sail, she's a delight ... On the day we sailed her, she tracked along nicely, exhibiting no tendency to round up. Her balanced rudder felt light in our fingers." ==See also==