Cartwright 42 Buyer's Guide
The Cartwright 42 is a large sailboat designed by maritime architect Jerry Cartwright in the mid seventies, with production beginning in 1976. For a buyer scanning the brokerage market, the boat is a solid-fiberglass, long-keel cruiser of traditional proportions: 42 feet overall, 11.83-foot beam, 23,500-pound displacement, and a documented heavy-cruiser displacement-length ratio of 321. Its cutter rig and attached rudder mark it as a traditional cruising design rather than a modern performance vessel.
Layouts on the Used Market
The available record does not document specific interior layouts, cabin counts, or plan variations for the Cartwright 42, and no market brief supplies layout tiers. Background specifications list 300 gallons of water capacity and 90 gallons of diesel fuel capacity, implying a cruising interior sized for extended living aboard, but buyers should inspect each example individually since no sourced floor-plan data exists.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
No market brief records commonly fitted or owner-upgrade equipment tiers for the Cartwright 42, so no item may be promoted as prevalent. The documented rig specifics are the only equipment facts: a cutter rig with jib and genoa sheets estimated at 12.8 meters and 14 mm diameter, a mainsheet at 32.0 meters and 14 mm, and a spinnaker sheet at 28.2 meters and 14 mm. Background specs note a single 50-horsepower diesel of unstated make and lead ballast, but no attributed accounts of typical upgrades survive in the sources.
What to Inspect
The sourced record contains no documented known issues, defects, or flooding paths for the Cartwright 42, and therefore no citation-bearing inspection targets can be listed. A buyer should still commission a survey, but the available material describes only the solid fiberglass hull and long-keel construction as factual baseline conditions.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
No typical markets or regional availability data appear in the brief, so no regions may be named. The Cartwright 42 is a mid-seventies heavy cruiser with a documented capsize screening value of 1.65 and a theoretical hull speed of 7.6 knots.
- Confirm hull is solid fiberglass with long keel and attached rudder
- Verify cutter rig sheet lengths match documented 12.8 m / 32.0 m / 28.2 m specs
- Check draft range of 1.68–1.78 m dependent on load for intended berths
- Validate 300 gal water and 90 gal diesel capacity against listings
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Cartwright 42. 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. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 25 | 1 | $ 75,000 | — |
| Oct 25 | 1 | $ 75,000 | 0.0% |
| Jan 26 | 1 | $ 75,000 | 0.0% |
Where they're listed
Cartwright 42 listings appear across 1 country. Mexico has the most listings with 2.
Country view
2 listings · 1 country| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico | $ 75,000 | 2 | 0 | 100.0% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
5 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valiant 42 | 42' | $ 299,999 | 17 | 3 |
| Moody 42 | 41.79' | $ 64,244 | 14 | 2 |
| Westsail 42 | 42.92' | $ 44,000 | 11 | 3 |
| Rustler 42 | 42' | $ 469,630 | 10 | 1 |
| Cartwright 42You are here | — | $ 75,000 | 2 | 0 |