Contest 31 HT Sailboats for Sale

Layouts on the Used Market

The standard boat carries five or six berths with a quarterberth and midships heads, while the AK version swaps in two single aft berths. Two draught variants — 1.45 and 1.75 metres — were offered, with a shallow-keel cruising model alongside the deeper fin, and a tiller was available as an alternative to wheel steering. The deep, well-protected cockpit is a constant across the range; below, tankage is large for the length at 100 litres diesel and 230 litres fresh, but no holding tank was fitted from new.

Equipment and Common Upgrades

Heating, autopilot, and chartplotter are commonly fitted, making most boats usable in cooler northern waters without immediate owner investment. Often-seen additions include an inverter and AIS, plus a life raft and the offwind sails — gennaker, spinnaker, and asymmetric spinnaker — that extend her light-air range beyond the standard 106% furling genoa. Less common owner upgrades cluster around energy and comfort: solar panels, hot water, a bimini, and a cockpit shower appear only sometimes. For a buyer, the commonly fitted navigation and heating kit matters most; the offwind sails are a bonus on an often-seen boat, while solar and hot water are negotiation points rather than expectations.

What to Inspect

The skeg-hung rudder's skeg may fracture at its hull junction over time, and any candidate should be checked there for hairline laminate failure needing repair. Original hatches usually leak and the windows also leak, so examine seal condition and interior staining around both original hatches usually leak. The heavy solid-laminate hull itself is sound, but the mast base sits on a wooden plate screwed from above and the deck hardware uses wood-embedded fastenings — worth a look for rot at those fastener points.

Availability and Buyer's Takeaway

The typical markets are the Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland. For a buyer, the checklist is short: confirm keel-bolt and skeg-hull integrity, test every hatch and window for leaks, verify the wooden mast-base and rail fastenings are dry, and decide which layout — standard or AK — and draught suits your waters. A well-kept example with the common heating and navigation fit is a practical entry into classic Dutch cruising.