Great Dane 28 Buyer's Guide
Shopping the brokerage market for a Great Dane 28 means entering the world of a Danish folkboat-derived cruiser built between 1965 and 1989, with around 300 hulls produced. She is a heavy-displacement long-keeler of 28 feet overall, designed by Aage Utzon and Klaus Baess, and most often compared to the Twister. For a buyer, the appeal is a solidly built traditional yacht with a characterful teak interior rather than a modern performance boat.
Layouts on the Used Market
Two interior generations appear in the used fleet. Early boats carried a port dinette converting to a small double, a six-foot starboard galley, and a forward heads with five berths in all. Later hulls moved to a full-beam saloon with an aft galley, a more conventional arrangement that some buyers will prefer. Both share the well-thought-out cockpit with raised helm seat and central pedestal, though the lack of full-length benches remains across the range.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
An autopilot is commonly fitted, making solo or short-handed steering manageable on this predictable long-keel design. Beyond that, owner upgrades appear less uniformly: a watermaker and heating fall into occasional additions, while solar panels, a wind generator, chartplotter, AIS, life raft, and a short-handed sail-handling setup are seen on some boats as owner choices. For a buyer, the meaningful clusters are power and energy — solar or wind generator paired with a likely heater for shoulder-season cruising — and navigation safety, where a chartplotter and AIS mark a well-equipped example. A cockpit shower and life raft show cruising intent but are not standard.
What to Inspect
The reviewed known issue is the cockpit, where the absence of full-length fore-aft benches limits crew seating and should be noted when assessing comfort anchor. Otherwise the boat is of sound design and built to a high standard, with solid fiberglass construction and abundant oiled teak below. Inspect the teak brightwork and deck varnish for upkeep level, and confirm which layout generation the hull represents, as later aft-galley boats differ from early dinette versions.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
These yachts are typically found in Denmark, the United Kingdom, Greece, and Spain. For the shopper, the checklist is straightforward: confirm early versus later layout, verify autopilot presence as the common fitting, look for solar or wind generator and heating as useful upgrades, and accept the cockpit bench limitation as inherent. A well-maintained example offers a traditional cruiser with folkboat heritage at an accessible entry point.
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Great Dane 28. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 5 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 26 | 1 | $13,581 | — |
| May 26 | 3 | $10,864 | -20.0% |
| Jun 26 | 1 | $10,126 | -6.8% |
| Jul 26 | 1 | $18,382 | +81.5% |
| Aug 26 | 1 | $12,306 | -33.1% |
Where they're listed
Great Dane 28 listings appear across 3 countries. Denmark has the most listings with 4 (57.1%), followed by United Kingdom and Greece.
Country view
7 listings · 3 countries| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denmark | $11,216 | 4 | 3 | 57.1% |
| United Kingdom | $12,222 | 2 | 0 | 28.6% |
| Greece | $16,303 | 1 | 0 | 14.3% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
4 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Dory 28 | 28.1' | $ 18,750 | 20 | 6 |
| Nordship 28 | 28.71' | $ 22,726 | 10 | 2 |
| Great Dane Dane 28You are here | — | $ 12,306 | 7 | 3 |
| Degerö Yachts 28 MS | 27.72' | $ 38,312 | 7 | 4 |