Buying a used Sunbeam: know which company built it, and when
Buying a used Sunbeam sailboat means buying from a small family yard whose product line, and even its corporate identity, split in two only a few years ago. Until 2020-21, one company in Austria built both the compact, shoal-draft "Lake Line" boats and the larger "Blue Water Cruiser" cruising yachts under the Sunbeam name. After that split, the Sunbeam badge and the Lake Line stayed with Manfred Schöchl's son Andreas at Sunbeam Watersports GmbH, while the larger cruising line moved to a cousin's separate company, Schöchl Yacht Service, under a different name entirely. A used "Sunbeam" from before the split could be either kind of boat; one built after it is a Lake Line daysailer or one of the newer Kiska-styled models — a distinction worth sorting out before comparing hulls.
Which era to target
Boats built before roughly 2011 used solid-laminate hull construction; the yard switched to sandwich-laminate hulls around then, ahead of launching the 36.1. Larger cruising models from the pre-split company, like the 46.1 that won the 2019 European Yacht of the Year award, were hand-laminated inside and out, with laminated crash-boxes built into the bow locker and sail-locker bulkhead. Boats built since the 2020-21 split carry a deliberately different design language: the shipyard's new owner pursued a hull styled by industrial design bureau Kiska rather than the yard's longstanding naval-architecture partner, moving the brand away from conventional-looking production hulls. That partner, J&J Design, still handles naval architecture and construction engineering on these newer hulls even though the styling comes from elsewhere — worth knowing if a listing credits only one name or the other.
What to inspect across the range
A shoal-draft, twin-rudder arrangement runs through much of the newer Lake Line, and it comes with a documented trade-off. Yachting Monthly's testers found the swing-keel 32.1's twin steering wheels tight and precise but short on feel. YACHT's testers on the smaller 29.1 noted its double-rudder system carries more friction than a single blade would, simply because it has more moving parts and linkage. Buyers considering either of these shoal-draft models should factor a hands-on steering test into any sea trial rather than judge feel from a spec sheet.
Navigating the lineup
The used-Sunbeam market spans small, swing-keel lake boats built for shallow Austrian and Alpine waters and larger deep-keel cruisers built before the company split its cruising line off under a different name — categories that call for different sailing plans as much as different budgets. The full model directory on this page sorts the range by size and era.
Where they're listed
Sunbeam listings appear across 16 countries. Germany has the most listings with 35 (26.3%), followed by Switzerland and Austria.
Country view
133 listings · 16 countries| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | $131,473 | 35 | 8 | 26.3% |
| Switzerland | $62,816 | 21 | 1 | 15.8% |
| Austria | $48,909 | 15 | 1 | 11.3% |
| Spain | $524,028 | 14 | 0 | 10.5% |
| Greece | $143,817 | 12 | 0 | 9.0% |
| Italy | $209,611 | 9 | 1 | 6.8% |
| Curacao | $110,162 | 7 | 0 | 5.3% |
| Croatia | $250,369 | 5 | 1 | 3.8% |
| Turkey | $267,837 | 5 | 2 | 3.8% |
| Netherlands | $11,645 | 3 | 0 | 2.3% |
| France | $211,940 | 2 | 0 | 1.5% |
| Denmark | $196,802 | 1 | 1 | 0.8% |
| 4 other countries | — | 4 | 1 | 3.0% |
All Sunbeam models
15 models grouped by length overall. Open any model to see recent asking prices and active listings.