Buying a used Feeling: know which era and which designer built the hull
A used Feeling isn't one continuous product from one continuous company - it's the output of a small French yard, Kirié of Les Sables d'Olonne, that changed ownership several times and absorbed at least one rival's model range along the way. That history matters more for a Feeling buyer than for a boat from a brand with a single, unbroken design office: which architect drew the hull, which company built it, and how late in the yard's life it came off the line all shape what a given boat actually is, more than the model number does on its own.
Which era to target
The earliest Feelings came from Kirié's own design relationships - Philippe Harlé drew models like the Feeling 920 and 226, and Philippe Briand's Feeling 850 (1984) traces to a Half Ton Cup-winning racing prototype. Running alongside that lineage, and easy to confuse with it, is a separate line that started life at the rival Kelt Marine yard: Gilles Vaton's 1983 Kelt 8.50, absorbed into the Feeling range after Kirié bought out Kelt, renamed Feeling 29 and then reshaped into the Feeling 306, before Kirié broke with that design altogether in 2001 and launched it fresh as the Feeling 30. Later still, once Alliaura Marine owned the yard, around the turn of the millennium, the range grew larger - Alliaura's own Feeling 48 and its siblings up through the 52 and 55 came from this final ownership era, ahead of the yard's 2008 integration into the catamaran-focused Privilège Marine and the range's eventual disappearance. A boat's design lineage and build era say more about what to expect than the model number alone.
What to inspect across the range
Cast iron shows up widely across the lineup as ballast and keel material, not just lead, and it's worth treating that as a standing inspection point rather than a one-off concern. Reviewing the shoal-draft Feeling 396 DI's external, lifting-keel-era belly ballast, Cruising World raised concern over cast iron's vulnerability to rust and corrosion in that application, noting that Kirié had addressed it by keeping the metal external and thickening the hull laminate where it attaches. Any lifting-keel or centerboard Feeling - a configuration that runs through much of the range - is worth checking at that same joint between hull and external ballast.
Navigating the lineup
Compact, shoal-draft cruisers - the 720, 226, 286, and the Kelt-derived 29/306/30 line - sit at one end of the range, sized for coastal sailing in skinny water. Larger passage-making cruisers, from the 1040/1090 pairing through the 446/486 and 1350, and later Alliaura's 44-through-55 range, sit at the other. Use the full model directory on this page to compare within whichever size band and era fits how the boat will actually be sailed.
Where they're listed
Feeling listings appear across 22 countries. United Kingdom has the most listings with 30 (22.9%), followed by New Zealand and France.
Country view
131 listings · 22 countries| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | $31,239 | 30 | 8 | 22.9% |
| New Zealand | $427,935 | 15 | 5 | 11.5% |
| France | $64,094 | 11 | 4 | 8.4% |
| Netherlands | $31,115 | 10 | 3 | 7.6% |
| United States | $187,000 | 10 | 0 | 7.6% |
| Italy | $52,440 | 9 | 1 | 6.9% |
| Spain | $92,062 | 7 | 2 | 5.3% |
| Greece | $203,934 | 7 | 1 | 5.3% |
| Germany | $29,133 | 5 | 2 | 3.8% |
| Ireland | $20,976 | 5 | 0 | 3.8% |
| British Virgin Islands | $65,000 | 5 | 0 | 3.8% |
| Portugal | $17,189 | 4 | 0 | 3.1% |
| 10 other countries | — | 13 | 1 | 9.9% |
All Feeling models
17 models grouped by length overall. Open any model to see recent asking prices and active listings.