Lavranos sailboats for sale

Buying a used Lavranos: the design credit is the constant, the builder is what to establish

A used boat carrying the Lavranos name is built to naval architect Angelo Lavranos's plans, but no single company built it - separate South African yards did, each with its own construction standards and history. St Francis Marine, Voyage Yachts, and Admiral Yachts all built full ranges of Lavranos catamarans, and a buyer's first job is working out which yard actually built the hull in question, since that answer sets the construction, the survey approach, and the parts and service history to chase down. Because the name spans three independent operations rather than one production line, brand recognition alone carries less weight here than it would for a single-yard builder - condition, documentation, and which yard actually stands behind the hull matter more.

Which era to target

St Francis Marine offers the most continuity: in business since 1988 under its founding ownership throughout, with a production run that, by its own count, has passed 120 boats - one yard, one lineage, four decades. Admiral Yachts tells a growth story instead: strong early demand for the 38-footer presold more than 15 Admiral 40s before the first hull ever launched, and a 2007 Cruising World feature caught the builder mid-expansion, into a new 65,000-square-foot facility with 65 on staff under managing director David Bird. A boat from either yard needs to be placed against that yard's own timeline rather than treated as interchangeable just because both carry the same designer's name.

Navigating the lineup

Voyage Yachts' full cruising-catamaran range, along with smaller monohull entries in the catalog that also carry the Lavranos name - among them the Morgan 31, Compass 47, Holiday 23, and L 26 - round out the lineup beyond St Francis and Admiral. Buyers weighing a catamaran should start with which yard's build era and continuity matters most to them; the full model directory on this page breaks out each hull specifically from there.