Excess 14 Sailboats for Sale

Layouts on the Used Market

Both the three-cabin owner's version and the four-cabin charter configuration are well represented among used examples, and prospective buyers should sort their priorities before viewing. The owner's layout — in its most appealing form — exchanges the forward V-berth in the starboard hull for a flexible forepeak that doubles as a walk-in wardrobe, workshop, or occasional twin-berth cabin, pairing that with a generous midships head-and-shower suite and a large aft master stateroom with a dedicated dressing table and desk. A second owner's variant fits a conventional forward bunk set up for working on a long passage. The four-cabin charter layout converts that forepeak space into two further private cabins, each with its own head and shower — capable of sleeping eight in real comfort, which is why these boats go straight into commercial fleets.

Ex-charter examples are common in the used pool. They are not automatically inferior — Excess sets were typically well-equipped and maintained on service contracts — but they will have accumulated considerable engine hours and genset hours across condensed sailing seasons, and their interiors and soft furnishings will show proportionally more wear than liveaboard or private-cruising boats of the same age.

Equipment and Common Upgrades

The Excess 14 arrives from the factory reasonably well specified, but used examples on the brokerage market are almost universally fitted out beyond the base standard. Solar panels and a robust autopilot are essentially universal, as are a chartplotter, AIS, and a life raft. Electric winches — including the Harken FlatWinder-style powered traveller — are widely fitted and often factory-optioned rather than retrofitted. Dinghy davits, a bimini over the aft helm stations, and a watermaker capable of supporting liveaboard passages are commonly present, and lithium battery banks have been adopted with notable frequency given the model's emphasis on modern systems and weight consciousness. An asymmetric spinnaker or code zero rounds out the sail inventory on a large share of listings; many buyers find the boat genuinely incomplete without one given the performance DNA.

A step down in prevalence but still widely encountered: air conditioning — often a shared Webasto or Dometic unit serving the twin aft cabins — a washing machine, cockpit shower, and Starlink satellite connectivity, the last of which has become a frequent owner upgrade on boats rigged for extended bluewater work. Furling-boom or in-mast furling main conversions appear occasionally and are worth noting if simplified short-handed sailing is a priority; a handful of owners have added supplementary freezer capacity and cabin heating for higher-latitude passages. The optional Pulse Line rig — a taller mast and larger bowsprit that lifts upwind sail area meaningfully and extends LOA to around 52 feet — is a significant performance differentiator and worth confirming specifically when comparing boats.

What to Inspect

The Excess 14 is a recent design built with modern infusion techniques and broadly solid construction, but several areas deserve close attention on any used example.

The asymmetric hulls feature an end-grain balsa core divided into small squares separated by resin channels — a detail intended to limit moisture migration if the outer skin is punctured or abraded. Nonetheless, balsa-cored hulls in charter or hard-use service should be sounded and osmotic-pressure-tested carefully, particularly around keel roots, through-hulls, and the bridgedeck underside. The deeper-than-average fixed foils — at roughly 4 feet 10 inches of draft — are part of what makes this boat sail well, but they also increase the likelihood of grounding contact in unfamiliar anchorages. Inspect the keel-to-hull joint and surrounding laminate on any boat with unknown grounding history.

Engine and saildrive condition deserves particular attention on ex-charter examples. Saildrives on production catamarans should be inspected for bellows condition, seal integrity, and corrosion at the leg-to-hull flange, especially where high engine hours have accumulated. Confirm hour-meter readings for both Yanmars and cross-reference against service records; an elective engine option upgrades to 57 hp units and is worth confirming for offshore buyers who need reserve power in strong currents or harbor approaches.

The shared Webasto air-conditioning unit that serves twin aft cabins in many configurations is a weight-saving design choice, but it means a single failure affects multiple berths. Check its operation and service history. Similarly, the shared holding tank between the two aft heads reduces plumbing complexity but increases the cost of any related repair; confirm the tank, hoses, and Y-valve arrangement are sound and odor-free. The injected-molded cabin top is a structural element — look for any stress cracking or delamination at the edges and around hardware penetrations.

For boats fitted with the Pulse Line rig, check rig tension records and inspect the larger bowsprit fitting and its deck pad; the added sail area puts additional loads on the forward structure that more conservative owners may have neglected in routine maintenance.

Availability and Buyer's Takeaway

Used Excess 14s circulate most actively in Croatia and across the broader Mediterranean — France and the Greek islands in particular — reflecting where Groupe Beneteau's charter network seeded early inventory. North American buyers will find examples in the United States with reasonable regularity, and the Caribbean, including Martinique and Saint Lucia, surfaces boats that have completed Atlantic crossings and worked the island charter circuit. France is an active secondary market given proximity to the builder.

This is a performance cruising catamaran aimed at buyers who actually want to sail, not just motor between anchorages. The design genuinely delivers on that promise — reviewers consistently note lively upwind performance in conditions that would strand comparable cats — but it asks more of its owner in terms of sail trim attention and seamanship than more forgiving, mass-charter-optimized alternatives.

Before making an offer, confirm:

• Layout variant (three-cabin owner's or four-cabin charter) and specific floor plan within that tier
• Standard or Pulse Line rig, and whether the full code zero or asymmetric spinnaker inventory transfers
• Engine hours on both Yanmars and service record continuity; saildrive bellows age
• Lithium or AGM house bank, and solar/charging system capacity
• Watermaker model and last service
• Air conditioning system service history and shared-versus-individual unit configuration
• Professional survey including moisture readings across hull skins, bridgedeck underside, and keel roots
• Any grounding incidents and associated repair documentation
• Charter history and fleet management records if applicable