Cherubini sailboats for sale

Buying a used Cherubini: a hand-built family boat, several companies deep

A used Cherubini is, before anything else, a hand-built boat from a family operation that has changed hands and structure more than once since the 1970s: the same molds and yard passed from an original company that collapsed in 1990, through a 1990s-to-2003 successor oriented mostly toward trawlers, to a 2003-04 family revival that returned to building the original ketches and schooners. That history matters more here than for a boat built by one continuous company — build quality traces to choices a small group of family builders made by hand, generation to generation, rather than to a single production standard held steady across the whole run. Buying used means paying attention to which era of construction, and which company's hands, actually built the hull in front of you.

Which era to target

The clearest dividing line in the range falls at 2007, when the Mark II replaced the original 1977 design's wood-cored deck and cabin construction with an all-fiberglass composite structure — the single most consequential build change across four decades of the same basic hull. Older and newer construction share the same through-bolted cabin sides and reinforced deck framing Frit specified from the outset, so the load-bearing backbone of the boat doesn't change by era; what changes is the deck and cabin-top build a surveyor will actually be looking at. Spinsheet's review reported that Cherubini backed the 44 with a lifetime hull warranty — worth confirming with a seller, or with the current builder, whether coverage of that kind carries with a given hull, since it speaks to how much confidence the builder has placed in the structure regardless of era.

What to inspect across the range

The one documented issue specific to this range: Spinsheet's review notes that early 44s built with less than 50 horsepower were underpowered, so it's worth checking a given boat's engine and any repower history rather than assuming factory-original power is adequate.

Navigating the lineup

The 44 ketch and 48 schooner are the two boats to weigh directly against each other, and construction era matters as much as size or rig when comparing them. Buyers should also expect to see the family name attached to boats built for entirely different purposes — under later chapters of the same family business — that fall outside a sailboat search entirely and are worth ruling out early rather than comparing against the ketch-and-schooner line. The full model directory on this page breaks the sailboat range out for closer comparison.