Trio sailboats for sale

Buying a used Trio: condition depends on which build path this hull took

A used Trio isn't simply a used boat from one small yard — it's a boat that came off one of three different build arrangements, and that history matters more here than the model name on the transom. Triobåtar AB sold the range through complete boats finished at the yard, hulls sold "half-fabricated" for owners to fit out on their own, and full self-builds in which the purchaser rented shop space, glassed up the hull, poured the keel, and completed everything else at home. Two boats sharing a model name can differ enormously in execution as a result, so buying a Trio is really buying an individual hull's build history and finish quality as much as it is buying the brand.

Which era to target

The line runs from the Trio 80, designed in 1976 and built into the early 1980s, up through the Trio 92 and its later reworking into the Trio 96, which traded a less reversed stern for a more negative one and moved to a 7/8 rig. A Trio 96 reflects the yard's most refined take on that hull and rig combination; an earlier Trio 80 or 92 reflects the original brief before the rework. Either way, the whole line closed out with the yard's bankruptcy and its move to Hönö in the early 1980s, so this is a closed, decades-old production run rather than one with an evolving model history to track era by era.

Navigating the lineup

Sizing runs from the roughly 26-foot Trio 80 at the compact end up to the 30-foot Trio 92 and the 31-foot Trio 96, with the two larger boats sharing more of a family resemblance with each other than either does with the 80. The yard's smaller Minit mini-tonner, designed separately by Holger Formgren and Gary Mull rather than by the Trio line's usual designer, is a different proposition again. The full model directory on this page breaks out year ranges and length for each.