How to buy a yacht for under £100,000

What can you really buy for up to £100,000 in today’s yacht market? Perhaps a lot more than you think. Will Bruton takes a look at how it can be done

Between £50,000 and £100,000 might mark the point at which boat buying gets ‘serious’. And while nobody is claiming that £100,000 is not a lot of money, in today’s yacht market it’s probably not going to buy you a new bluewater yacht.

So is the adage of legendary cruisers Lin and Larry Pardey ‘go small, go cheap, go now’ still feasible? Albeit with ‘cheap’ now being a little less cheap, and fewer adventurous sailors today likely to build their own yacht.

The £100,000 figure, and sticking to it, can be a useful benchmark in itself, forcing a buyer to focus the mind on what they really need for an adventure afloat. Air conditioning? Certainly not. A rig in good order? Certainly.

A lack of complication has other advantages; less to inspect and get ready means leaving sooner. But what is really possible, and what is it smart to look out for when shopping for a cruising yacht while spending under £100,000?

Careful buyers

Broker David Morris deals regularly with yachts around the £100,000 price point. He explains that clients are quite often either those with very little experience, or a lot, but almost all are very aware of price.

“It’s a very price sensitive area of the market. For a 35ft yacht you are going to be looking at around £800 for a survey, plus the haul-out costs; so even just thoroughly checking out a boat is a big amount of money proportional to overall spend.”

A survey is still undertaken by the majority of buyers, but Morris explains that in this sector of the market some don’t bother, particularly when it’s a relatively new yacht. “I recently sold a Dufour 360 for a little over £100,000 and they took the view that they’d take their chances. The yacht was only four years old and lightly used, so it’s true that there is less risk.”

Adventures like the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers are still achievable with a sub-£100,000 yacht. Photo: James Mitchell/WCC

The question of what expensive items will be needed to buy, or costly work to be undertaken immediately or shortly after purchase, is one of the first asked by potential buyers. “A new engine, something that’s often up for consideration, could easily be £10-15,000, so 10-15% of the overall purchase cost.

Other items, like rigging, some sellers will change pre-emptively, knowing that it could well be a big factor in making the yacht attractive for a quicker sale.”

Self steering gear, whether autopilot or wind
vane, will likely be a priority upgrade. Photo: Sharon Ee/ARC 2023

Don’t underestimate

So what do buyers often fail to consider? David Morris suggests that buyers look at the major costs of upgrading a boat that’s bluewater capable, but not really bluewater-equipped.

“At the £100,000 price point, if it’s a yacht that’s never been used for ocean sailing, it probably doesn’t have the kit. The autopilot set-up would probably be my number one consideration. On a small yacht, more specifically, wind vane steering gear would be high on my list of priorities.”

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Hans Dettman is another broker often dealing in the same market price range. “I get a lot of novice buyers, and then occasionally some that really know their stuff and what they want,” he explains.

When it comes to pricing, Dettman has seen some changes in the market recently. “Really well-built boats are fetching a slight premium now simply due to scarcity. Westerly yachts are a good example of that because hulls now are rarely built to that standard. People are appreciating something that was never so fashionable but is fundamentally good.”

Sellers with yachts built by well-established high-end brands, Dettman explains, tend to price highly to begin with. “Owners tend to believe their yacht is worth more than it really is, especially when it’s a desirable bluewater brand, so you can quite often see these on the market for a while.

How old is the yacht’s engine and what is its maintenance record? Photo: Graham Snook/Yachting Monthly

“There are also sometimes sellers bringing yachts to the market where they’ve plainly let lots of small jobs build up until they are too much for them to tackle. Some spend at this point can be prudent to take the yacht to market and prove investment has been made.

As a rule, sellers tend to get around 10% less than listed price, but it does vary,” he explains.

What to look at on a £100,000 yacht

Things you might not have considered at this price point – advice from broker Hans Dettman:

• Maintenance. A boat that’s completed ocean crossings will suffer more exposure to the elements. The cost of service and replacement of parts will be higher. Buying a proven boat may not necessarily be a good thing, since it will have had much higher stresses in its lifetime.
• The cost of equipping the boat for a crossing. The RYA-recommended kit is extensive and includes a liferaft, EPIRB, flares and many other items. Generally, I find when selling a boat that a lot of this equipment has expired, so check expiry and service dates.
• Is the boat sufficiently equipped electrically? Specifically batteries, and charging equipment such as solar panels, battery chargers, generator, shore power, wind generator. Is the 12V system divided into engine and domestic to avoid accidentally running the engine battery flat?
• Rigging and chainplates. A lot of boats have chainplates hidden behind the interior joinery, making them impossible to check without removing fixed parts of the interior. We had this recently with one of our berth holders who lost their rig as the chainplates were left too long unchecked because they were hard to get to.

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