Tes sailboats for sale

Buying a used TES: one brand name, two companies behind it

A used TES carries a brand name that only owns the design. Production runs through a different company, Jacht Plast, in Drzewica, while TES Yacht itself, headquartered in Gdynia, handles design and branding. That split doesn't change what's under a given hull, but it does mean a buyer isn't dealing with one vertically integrated factory — questions about a specific boat's build are best answered by that boat's own records rather than assumptions about "the yard." Ownership of the company changed hands in 2019, when founder Tomasz Siwik sold the business to new owners and stayed on afterward as an advisor and co-designer, so the design language carries continuity across that transition rather than a clean break.

Which era to target

Four TES sailing models carry documented build years. The TES 550 Master dates to 1998, the TES 32 Dreamer to 2002, the TES 28 Magnam to 2008, and the TES 246 Versus — the yard's flagship — to 2017. No launch year is established for the TES 678 BT. Production reaches back further than those four models suggest, though: the TES 590, the shipyard's very first boat, launched in 1981, so age alone doesn't say much about which generation of design a given hull represents. Confirming the specific model and its build year, rather than assuming a narrow window, is the safer approach.

What to inspect across the range

Keel configuration is the biggest variable across the TES line, and it splits by model rather than by era, so two boats sharing a name can sail very differently. The TES 246 Versus, TES's flagship, came with a genuine choice at order time: a lifting centerboard fin, a false keel with its own lifting centerboard, or a conventional fixed ballast keel. The TES 28 Magnam buyer effectively chose between two different boats under one name — one built for shallow inland water, the other ballasted for open water. Canadian Yachting, reviewing the Magnam, found its swing-centerboard versions drew just 12 to 16 inches, called the full-keel version about as trailerable as an Etchells (with the tradeoff of fewer usable launch sites), and credited its solid lower-hull ballast system with adequate stability that made the boat stiff and comfortable underway. The TES 678 BT, meanwhile, carries a swing keel that pivots and lifts, suited to owners who split their time between sheltered inland waters and the coast. Confirming which keel configuration a given hull actually carries, rather than assuming from the model name alone, is the single most useful inspection step here. One Polish owner's centerboard TES made it all the way to Croatia on a trailer — a fair measure of how far that configuration can travel.

Navigating the lineup

The range runs from the compact 550 Master up through the 678 BT, 32 Dreamer, 28 Magnam, and the flagship 246 Versus, with keel configuration doing more to separate one boat from another than size alone. Buyers after trailerable simplicity should look toward the centerboard and swing-keel options; those who want a conventional fixed-keel cruiser will find that offered on the same hulls. The full model directory on this page breaks the range down further.