Hood 23 Buyer's Guide
Shopping the brokerage market for a used Hood 23 means looking at a small, designer-origin sloop that survives in several forms rather than a single spec. Warwick Hood's 1966 design was updated in 1972 and exists in at least four versions including pop-tops and a centreboard variant, while a 1976 example shows the full-keel, full-standing-room coach-house layout; most boats were built in Queensland by Max Stoddart after the first ones from Hood Boating Company Ltd. On the used market you will meet fin-keel and full-keel boats alike, and the 7.2 metre LOA hull on a 2.4 metre beam with 1.15 metre draught is compact enough for trailing and shallow berths yet substantial at 1.5 tonnes displacement.
Layouts on the Used Market
The coach-house is the defining interior: it offers plenty of light and full standing room, and on period boats that means green vinyl seats with dark wood veneer panels. A folding cover over the galley doubles as a chart table, so the small footprint gains a nav space without a dedicated station, and some owners have added a 50-litre water bladder under the V-berth with a fill hose through the forward hatch — a quiet cruising upgrade that does not alter the original arrangement. Expect pop-top and centreboard versions alongside the fixed-keel coach-house boats, so footprint and headroom vary by individual history rather than a single class standard.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
In Australian brokerage stock these boats commonly carry heating, solar, lithium batteries, an inverter, a bimini and an autopilot as fitted equipment, reflecting a cruising rather than racing ownership profile. Owners have moved away from the original gas stove: a propane one-burner stove and a marine BBQ mounted on the back rail are a documented replacement, and a 15lb CQR anchor with a 15hp Johnson outboard are the sort of auxiliary kit seen on kept examples. Rigs have been modernised too, with Spectra halyards replacing chafed originals after storm use, and bronze-ball valve seacocks substituted for old gate valves that could not be read as closed at a glance.
What to Inspect
The documented weak point is the coach-house timber: one surveyed boat showed dry rot in the packing timber for the coach-house, and the same survey flagged a non-compliant gas stove and seacocks that could do with replacing. The tiller is another age point — a documented repair scarfed new wood onto the original — so check the timber interfaces for local rot or past scarf joints. Sail inventory worth confirming includes two partially battened mains each with two reefs, two jibs, a genoa, a storm jib and a spinnaker, since balance in heavy air depends on the double-reefed main and storm jib combination rather than the full main and jib that owners found at her limit in around 25 knots.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
These boats are typically found on the Australian market, where the small class registry of about 20 Hood 23 Yacht Association entries sits against the class president's reckoning of hundreds around — a gap that means private keeps rather than active listings define availability. For the buyer:
- Confirm coach-house packing timber and tiller timber for rot or past repair
- Replace gate-valve seacocks with readable bronze-ball valves before commissioning
- Verify storm jib and double-reef mains are present for 25-knot-plus balance
- Expect pop-top, centreboard or full-keel versions; match layout to your trailering and draft needs
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Hood 23. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 2 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 26 | 3 | $ 4,013 | — |
| May 26 | 1 | $ 3,490 | -13.0% |
Where they're listed
Hood 23 listings appear across 1 country. Australia has the most listings with 4.
Country view
4 listings · 1 country| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | $ 3,751 | 4 | 1 | 100.0% |