Degerö sailboats for sale

Buying a used Degerö: one small Finnish yard, two very different keel profiles

A used Degerö comes from a small run of boats built by a single Finnish yard, Degerö Boat Oy in Tähtelä, Inkoo, so condition and upkeep do more to separate one boat from another than any real gap in build pedigree. The two models do come from different design roots: the earlier boat was designed and later refined by the company's own founders, while the later one came from an outside naval architect working to a heavier structural specification. Buying used here is mostly a question of judging maintenance on a boat from a small, dedicated builder rather than weighing rival brands against each other.

Which era to target

The Degerö 28 MS, the yard's 1981 debut, is a genuine long-keeler -- a design choice YACHT magazine singled out as unusual for the era, when few other builders still bothered with the type. The 28 MS itself changed over its production run: later examples picked up a higher mast, a deeper keel, and a larger rudder, changes the builder made to sharpen the boat's sailing characteristics, so an early 28 MS and a later one won't necessarily handle alike. The Degerö 35 S followed in 1985, a fin-keel design from outside naval architect Håkan Södergren carrying a CE category A rating for eight persons. Where the catalog specification runs long -- a balsa-cored hull and deck, integral structural beams, hand-bonded bulkheads, a reinforced engine bed -- is exactly the kind of build-sheet detail worth checking against a survey rather than taking on faith from the listing.

Navigating the lineup

The practical choice comes down to keel type and size: the smaller, traditional long-keel 28 MS at just under 28 feet, or the larger, fin-keel 35 S at just over 35 feet. The full model directory on this page lists both by year and length for closer comparison.