Fales sailboats for sale

Buying a used Fales: a small, thinly documented yard where the individual boat carries the story

Fales built in small enough numbers, and left behind little enough published record, that a used Fales is really a bet on one particular hull rather than on a well-known brand name. What's on record for this builder amounts to one detailed sailor's account of a single 38-footer plus a memorial notice for the man who built it — not the kind of paper trail that lets a buyer lean on brand reputation the way they might with a longer-reviewed yard. That puts more weight than usual on a seller who can speak to a specific boat's condition, maintenance and background. The thin record extends to any designer name attached to a listing, too: pairings with prominent yacht designers show up in some catalogs, but neither firm's own archive backs them up, so a buyer shouldn't treat a claimed design pedigree as a point in a boat's favor.

Which era to target

Fales's two lines, the Explorer and the Navigator, were built in the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, according to one sailor's account — a window that runs slightly later than the 1974-to-1978 span the model lineup on this page covers. A Fales worth serious consideration should fall within that broader window; a seller who can confirm a specific model year against it is a good sign of a well-documented boat.

Navigating the lineup

The lineup splits mainly by size: a 32-foot Navigator built in 1974 sits well below the two 38-footers, a Navigator from 1977 and an Explorer from 1978, closer in length to the interior volume one account likened to a 40-footer, inside a cruising ketch rather than a racing hull. Buyers set on a smaller, simpler boat should look to the 32-foot Navigator; those wanting real interior room should compare the two 38s against each other on the full model directory on this page.