Elizabethan sailboats for sale

Buying a used Elizabethan: know which yard-and-designer era you're getting

Every Elizabethan traces to one small British yard, Peter Webster Ltd in Lymington, but the range spans two design eras and, for at least one model, production that carried on well past the yard's own closure. A used Elizabethan is a boat well into its sixth decade regardless of model, so condition and build era matter more than any single reputation the name carries -- and knowing which designer, and which production run, built the specific hull in question shapes what to expect from it.

Which era to target

Kim Holman, Webster's original designer, drew the earliest boats -- the 29, launched in 1962, and its 35-foot sister ship -- as long-keeled cruising designs. David Thomas then took over for the 30, 31, and 33: the 30 (also called the 9 metre) was designed in 1968 as a fin-and-skeg cruiser-racer built around the racing rules of its day; the 23 followed in 1969 with a lifting keel; and the 31, whose lines are dated November 1968, was later stretched into the fuller-sterned 33 that reached buyers via the 1974 London Boat Show. Buyers wanting Thomas's racier, earlier boats should look to the 30 and 23; buyers wanting his offshore cruising designs should look to the 31 and 33. A 31 you're shopping may well have been built after Webster's own Lymington yard shut in 1976 -- the moulds continued through several hands, Lifeline Mouldings in Kent among them, into the 1980s -- so it's worth checking when a specific hull was actually built rather than assuming production ended with the yard.

What to inspect across the range

The range dates from the earliest days of production fibreglass boatbuilding, and the oldest model shows it most: on the Elizabethan 29, both the Elizabethan Owners Association and Yachting Monthly flag the mast step, hull-deck joint, and chainplates as points that should be checked over carefully, and note that the fuel system on most examples will likely already have been replaced. Buyers considering a hull built after the moulds changed hands should also weigh that most of that later production was aimed at home finishing rather than yard completion, which can mean uneven quality depending on who finished the boat.

Navigating the lineup

Within the range, size and era track each other closely: the 23 is the smallest and the only one with a lifting keel, the 29 and 35 are Holman's earlier long-keeled cruisers, and the 30, 31, and 33 are David Thomas's later fin-keeled and long-keeled designs, with the 31 the link between the standard cruiser and the extended-stern 33. The full model directory on this page breaks the range down by length and year once you know which designer era you're shopping.