Barnett 1400 Buyer's Guide
The Barnett 1400 is a 13.83-foot American sailing dinghy designed by Ron and Gerry Hedlund as a one-design racer, with a thousand built since 1989 and the design still produced under Windward Boatworks. On the used market it presents as a light, beachable cat-rig dinghy of 140 pounds, attractive to sailors who want a simple boat they can cartop or trailer. What follows is a buyer's look at layouts, equipment, inspection points, and where these boats tend to turn up.
Layouts on the Used Market
Every 1400 shares the same essential plan: a wide-beam monohull with a retractable daggerboard and a transom-hung kick-up rudder on tiller. The cockpit is the heart of the boat — over 13 inches deep, with a footwell shaped so two adults sit with legs below rather than at the chest. With the board up the draft shrinks to 0.40 feet, so most used examples will have been beached, trailer-sailed, or roof-racked; with it down the boat draws 1.33 feet. The unstayed catboat rig and loose-footed sail mean no headstay or shrouds to fuss with, and the two-piece mast was built to assemble and strike quickly.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
Factory equipment centers on simplicity and good hardware. All deck hardware is Harken, and the boat carries a 3:1 boom vang plus a mainsheet led to the daggerboard trunk. A worthwhile upgrade to look for is the optional jib kit, which lets the boat sail as a pure cat or as a main-and-jib sloop — a flexibility no other boat in its size range offered. The two-piece Windward mast is standard, and because the rig is loose-footed with no stays, cartop preparation stays straightforward even on older boats.
What to Inspect
This is a board boat, and testers caution that one should expect to get wet — so check cockpit structure and any buoyancy compartments for prior saturation rather than assuming cosmetic wear is superficial. The hull and deck are solid fiberglass with resin and gelcoat; inspect the gelcoat for the long-term cosmetic and water-ingress issues common to older dinghies, and confirm the positive internal flotation is intact. Verify the two-piece mast's anodized joints still seat cleanly and the kick-up rudder pivots freely, since easy launch and retrieval depend on both.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
Shoppers should treat the 1400 as a niche one-design encountered through general used-boat channels rather than mass brokerage. For a buyer, the short checklist is: confirm the daggerboard and kick-up rudder move freely, check flotation and gelcoat honesty, and prefer an example with the optional jib kit and clean Harken hardware. A sound 1400 rewards the owner with a 140-pound boat two people can launch by hand and sail solo or with a crew of three.
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Barnett 1400. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 1 row
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 25 | 1 | $3,750 | — |