Snapdragon sailboats for sale

Buying a used Snapdragon: a Thames Marine range, not a brand of its own

A used Snapdragon is not a purchase from an active builder, or even a recently active one — it's a boat from Thames Marine, the Canvey Island, Essex yard that closed in 1981. Buying one means buying into a closed production run rather than an ongoing brand, so a hull's origin is worth confirming rather than assumed from its badge: the same builder also produced the Mirage range, and the 670 itself carries a second identity, having been built under license as the Invader.

Which era to target

Thames Marine's Snapdragon output falls into two windows. The earlier cluster runs from the 1962 launch of the Snapdragon 23 through the 21, 24, 26, 27, and 29 (later renamed the 890), plus the 600 and 670, most introduced between 1968 and 1974. From 1975 the yard's attention shifted toward its newer Mirage range, and Snapdragon output tapered as Thames Marine moved toward its 1981 closure. Because the company stopped manufacturing entirely that year, any Snapdragon on the market is a boat from that closed window, with no later factory-refreshed generation to compare it against. The very last model still built under the name, the 890, passed briefly through Maplin Marine before Boating Scene took over its production — worth checking against a given hull's paperwork.

Navigating the lineup

With the range spanning a compact 20-to-29-foot band across eight-plus hull numbers, sizing a Snapdragon search starts with matching length to purpose rather than treating the line as one boat. Because the 670 was also sold as the Invader and the marque shares its owners' association with the Mirage range, it's worth widening a search to the wider Thames Marine lineage rather than the Snapdragon name alone. The full model directory on this page breaks the range out for closer comparison.