Solaris sailboats for sale

Buying a used Solaris: the era and design partner matter more than the model name

A used Solaris is, underneath, a fairly consistent boat: bulkheads and chainplates laminated into the structure rather than bolted on afterward, a stainless keel flange through-bolted to the hull's backing plate, and a build standard the yard has held through two changes of ownership since 1974. What varies far more is who drew the lines above that structure, and when. Doug Peterson's early raceboats, Bill Tripp's One-line debut in 2006, and Javier Soto Acebal's work since 2012 read as three different boats wearing the same badge, even though they share a construction approach underneath. Buying used means deciding which era's design philosophy — and which company's backing — you actually want.

Which era to target

Boats from Doug Peterson's design era — running from the Solaris One in 1984 through the deck-house Solaris 72 in 2000 — represent the yard's early performance-cruiser identity, built during the same stretch Solaris picked up its composite know-how through a 1990s production run with Fincantieri. Bill Tripp's 2006 Solaris One 48 opened what became the "One" line, a name that reappears on the newer Solaris ONE 42.

Most of the used-market range falls under Javier Soto Acebal, whose partnership with the yard began with the Solaris 58 in 2012 and continued through the 50 (2017, with a second generation in 2022), the flagship 111 (2021), and the newer 74 RS. That era also lines up with an ownership shift worth knowing about: the yard operated under a Giuliani-led consortium from 2010, then passed to Marc Giorgetti's Luxembourg-based construction group in 2021 — the same year Solaris took on the CNB brand and grew into a four-brand company. A Soto Acebal-era boat built after 2021 sits behind a larger, differently structured company than one built in the decade before it, which is worth knowing before you call about parts or warranty support.

Navigating the lineup

Line, not just size, is the more useful filter once you've settled on an era. The One and Raised Saloon (RS) lines — the RS series tracing back to the 68 RS — together cover most of the production-scale range from roughly 40 to 80 feet, while the 72 Classic sits apart as a smaller, semi-custom track built together with its owner rather than off a catalog. Buyers who want a straightforward production performance cruiser should stay within the One and RS range; buyers drawn to something closer to a custom build should look toward the Classic line and the yard's separate refit and restoration work, both represented in the full model directory on this page.