Buying a used Nicholson: a production line built on custom-yacht standards
A used Nicholson is a boat from a yard that only turned to series production for part of its long working life, and that background shows up in the boats themselves — Yachtsnet's own archive listing calls the Nicholson 31 "very strongly built" and, compared with most modern production yachts, "massively strongly built." The tradeoff is a badge that covers three decades of output and more than one construction generation, so which era you buy matters as much as the model name on the transom.
Which era to target
Even within a single model, generation matters: Nicholson 32s built from 1977 on, sold as the Mark XI, added a glassfibre inner moulding running up to the top of the bunks, while the earlier Mark X carried a more streamlined deck moulding than the boats before it — evidence of a design that kept evolving across its 18-year production run rather than staying static. The Nicholson 31 that eventually succeeded the 32, developed from a 1975 design brief, represents a genuinely later engineering approach: balsa-cored decks and coachroof rather than solid laminate, encapsulated lead ballast, and a design commissioned from an outside naval architect rather than drawn in-house. Buyers should treat the 32 and 31 as two different propositions rather than a straight upgrade path — the 32 for the longest production run and the deepest used-boat familiarity, the 31 for the later construction generation.
Navigating the lineup
The range runs wider than its two best-known models. Below 30 feet sit smaller day- and racing-oriented designs, including classes built to IOR rating rules such as the Half Tonner; the 31 through the mid-40s cover the range's core cruising sizes; and above that sit a handful of larger offshore cruisers running up to 70 feet. Buyers set on a specific size should still weigh construction generation within it, since a design drawn early in the yard's GRP years won't share the same engineering as one drawn a decade or more later. The full model directory on this page breaks the lineup down by year and length.
Where they're listed
Nicholson listings appear across 10 countries. United Kingdom has the most listings with 53 (67.9%), followed by Ireland and Netherlands.
Country view
78 listings · 10 countries| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | $22,421 | 53 | 10 | 67.9% |
| Ireland | $28,552 | 6 | 0 | 7.7% |
| Netherlands | $48,947 | 5 | 0 | 6.4% |
| Spain | $37,878 | 4 | 0 | 5.1% |
| Greece | $38,544 | 4 | 1 | 5.1% |
| Australia | $19,572 | 2 | 0 | 2.6% |
| France | $27,970 | 1 | 0 | 1.3% |
| Italy | $29,135 | 1 | 0 | 1.3% |
| New Zealand | $88,325 | 1 | 0 | 1.3% |
| Panama | $16,000 | 1 | 0 | 1.3% |
All Nicholson models
12 models grouped by length overall. Open any model to see recent asking prices and active listings.