Cal 48 Buyer's Guide
Shopping the brokerage market for a used Cal 48 means chasing a scarce Lapworth-designed cruiser-racer that Jensen Marine built as Cal Yachts from 1966 to 1970, with only about thirteen hulls ever completed. The boats you find will be fifty-plus years old, and the used fleet reflects a mix of original layout intent and the upgrades owners have added over decades of ownership.
Layouts on the Used Market
Every Cal 48 shares the same fundamental footprint: a 47-foot-9-inch masthead sloop on a 35-foot waterline with a twelve-foot beam and a spacious-for-the-era interior that suited family cruising or short offshore passages. The solid hand-laid fiberglass hull is common to all, but the deck is a dividing line — earlier boats have solid decks while later examples carry a balsa core, and that difference should shape how you read any listing’s condition notes. Below decks, the 110 gallons of water and 60 gallons of diesel reflect the original cruising brief rather than a stripped racer.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
The used fleet commonly carries a chartplotter, AIS, and autopilot as navigation basics, with solar often added to support that electronics suite off-grid. On sail handling and comfort, a bimini and hot water are commonly fitted, and many boats show a transatlantic completed history that signals serious offshore investment. Spinnaker, asymmetric spinnaker, and gennaker are commonly fitted for the boat’s racing-derived sail plan. For a buyer, the meaningful clusters are power and energy — solar backing a chartplotter, AIS, and autopilot — and sail-handling comfort, where a bimini and a full spinnaker inventory matter more than cosmetic add-ons.
What to Inspect
The single most important construction check is the deck. Later Cal 48 examples with a balsa-cored deck demand moisture testing and a close look for moisture in the balsa core, since the earlier solid-deck boats avoid that failure mode entirely. Verify the integrity of the hull-to-deck joint and the overall solid hand-laid fiberglass hull, and confirm the masthead rig’s standing rigging matches the original 55-foot I and 19-foot J geometry before trusting a tall sail inventory.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
Cal 48s are found in the United States market. Because so few were built, patience is the rule. When one appears, prioritize a solid-deck earlier hull or a later balsa-cored boat with documented core care, confirm the cruising tankage and rig dimensions, and expect a commonly fitted offshore electronics and sail-handling suite.
- Inspect deck core on later balsa-cored hulls
- Confirm hull-to-deck joint and solid hull integrity
- Verify masthead rig dimensions before relying on sail plan
- Expect commonly fitted chartplotter, AIS, autopilot, solar, and spinnaker inventory
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Cal 48. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 3 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 26 | 1 | $89,000 | — |
| May 26 | 3 | $129,000 | +44.9% |
| Jun 26 | 1 | $129,000 | 0.0% |
Where they're listed
Cal 48 listings appear across 1 country. United States has the most listings with 5.
Country view
5 listings · 1 country| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $129,000 | 5 | 1 | 100.0% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
2 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wauquiez Centurion 48 S | 48.88' | $ 150,221 | 6 | 0 |
| CAL 48You are here | — | $ 129,000 | 5 | 1 |