Abbott sailboats for sale

Buying a used Abbott: two different boats sharing one builder's name

A used Abbott is either a one-design racer built under an international class's own rules or a small-yard cruiser-racer designed in-house for Great Lakes sailing. Abbott's one-designs — the Soling, the Wayfarer and the rest of its licensed roster — carry a class association's own construction and measurement standards behind them; its own Abbott Line cruiser-racers carry only the reputation of a small, multi-generation family yard that built them in modest numbers. That distinction matters more here than with a mass builder: fleet sizes are small enough that condition on the individual boat, not the model name, should drive the decision.

Which era to target

Abbott's own cruiser-racer line grew across roughly two decades, from the 22-footer in the late 1970s through the 33 by 1980 and the 36 in the mid-1980s, with the 27 following last. The 33 arrived at a time when most boats its size were still heavier, broader masthead-rig designs, which points to a useful marker for dating any Abbott Line boat: later hulls in the line lean toward the lighter, finer profile Bill Abbott built the 33 around, rather than the heavier norm it broke from. For the one-design side of the range — the Soling above all — the boat's era matters less than its class paperwork: Abbott's Soling tooling was still in active production the year of the 2006 fire that eventually destroyed it, so hull age within the class spans decades longer than the cruiser-racer line's own production window.

Navigating the lineup

Two different buying paths run through the Abbott catalog: the one-design classes — Soling chief among them, where Abbott was the world's largest builder — for sailors who want a boat built to an international fleet's own rules, and the Abbott Line cruiser-racers, in the low-20s to mid-30-foot range, for sailors who want the yard's own Great Lakes-tuned design instead. Fleet size on the cruiser-racer side runs small: one review counted only 40 Abbott 33s still in existence, a reminder to budget for scarce parts and a thin resale pool rather than expect a deep used-boat market. The full model directory on this page breaks out size and year range for each one.