Buying a used Ocean: confirm the builder before the boat
A listing for a used "Ocean" sailboat could describe any of five or six entirely different vessels from unrelated companies — an offshore ketch from an English yard, a small New England cruiser, a rare Dutch sloop, a Devon-built trimaran, or a current UK dinghy design. Before weighing condition or price, a buyer has to work out which company actually built the hull in front of them, because construction era, likely condition, and available support all follow from that answer rather than from the "Ocean" name itself.
Which era to target
The Southern Ocean Shipyard ketches — the 44, 60, 62, 71, and 75 — mostly date to the 1970s and 1980s: the 71's run spans a dozen years starting in 1970, while the 62 followed as a later, 1980s-only run. Any hull on the market from either is decades old and worth weighing against that era's heavy, teak-decked build standard. The Maine-built Cruising 40, from Ocean Cruising Yachts, dates to the same general period, introduced around 1979. Le Comte's Ocean Racer 52, a Dutch sloop dating to 1968 with just three hulls ever completed, is scarce enough that any surviving example is worth pursuing on its own terms rather than compared against a class. The Ocean Bird 30 trimaran, from Devon's Honnor Marine, is an early-1970s design. The Play Bahia and Play Bug, by contrast, are current production, now under Performance Sailcraft Europe's ownership following a 2025 acquisition from RS Marine Group, with manufacturing continuing in the UK — a different buying calculus entirely, since parts and support trace to an active, recently reorganized builder rather than a shuttered one.
Navigating the lineup
Given how little the "Ocean" name alone reveals, hull type is the fastest sort: a heavy offshore ketch points to Southern Ocean Shipyard, a smaller cruising sloop points to the Maine yard, and a small dinghy or trimaran points to one of the two remaining, much smaller lines. Placing a given hull with its actual builder first makes the full model directory on this page far more useful once a buyer gets there.
Where they're listed
Ocean listings appear across 13 countries. Germany has the most listings with 5 (21.7%), followed by Greece and New Zealand.
Country view
23 listings · 13 countries| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | $16,885 | 5 | 0 | 21.7% |
| Greece | $227,068 | 5 | 0 | 21.7% |
| New Zealand | $189,000 | 2 | 2 | 8.7% |
| South Africa | $1,795,000 | 2 | 0 | 8.7% |
| Belgium | $88,252 | 1 | 0 | 4.3% |
| Switzerland | $16,021 | 1 | 0 | 4.3% |
| Spain | $174,668 | 1 | 0 | 4.3% |
| United Kingdom | $3,950,000 | 1 | 0 | 4.3% |
| Mexico | $149,950 | 1 | 0 | 4.3% |
| French Polynesia | $279,000 | 1 | 1 | 4.3% |
| Sweden | $41,992 | 1 | 1 | 4.3% |
| Slovenia | $38,427 | 1 | 0 | 4.3% |
| 1 other country | — | 1 | 0 | 4.3% |
All Ocean models
1 model grouped by length overall. Open any model to see recent asking prices and active listings.