Island Packet 31 Buyer's Guide
Shopping the brokerage market for an Island Packet 31 means looking at a Bob Johnson design built between 1983 and 1989, with 262 examples produced before the 32 took its place. These are traditional full-keel cruisers with a forward-maximum-beam hull, offered in shoal-keel or centerboard form, and the population splits roughly half-and-half on the centerboard option. A used buyer is choosing among year-to-year tweaks rather than a static design.
Layouts on the Used Market
The 31's interior centers on a main cabin with settees, a port-quarter U-shaped galley, and a starboard aft double quarter berth that also serves as a nav station and folds shut behind a door. A separate head with shower is generous for the size. Two keel configurations matter most to a shopper: the 4-foot shoal keel and the centerboard that draws 3 feet with the board up. About half the fleet is centerboard, so shallow-water buyers should confirm which they are viewing. Early boats carried a 22-hp Yanmar; later ones a 27-hp Yanmar—both diesel, both adequate to the good-under-power rating.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
Most boats on the market will already have a chartplotter, hot water, bimini, dodger, and autopilot as commonly fitted gear, with a cockpit shower and radar often seen. Less universal but worth noting as owner additions are dinghy davits, air conditioning, solar, and a furling main. For a cruiser of this era, the meaningful clusters are power and energy—solar and occasional generator or watermaker upgrades extend off-grid time—and canvas and sail handling, where a furling main and dodger/bimini combo reduce short-handed effort. Navigation is typically covered by the chartplotter and radar pair.
What to Inspect
The one handling note is limited reverse control from the full-keel aperture propeller, so a sea trial should include a backing-down test in a confined space anchor. The encapsulated ballast and lobster-strap keel-to-rudder connection are design features, not flagged defects; still, check the stainless rudderstock and foam-core rudder for play. Confirm whether the deep-keel iron-in-concrete ballast model is the one in front of you, as it differs from the lead-ballast shoal and centerboard boats.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
These boats turn up in the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For a buyer, the checklist is: verify keel type (centerboard vs shoal) and count it as half the fleet; note engine hp by build year; exercise reverse gear at the helm; and expect traditional lines with modern conveniences already aboard. The 31 rewards a patient inspector with a stiff, self-steering cruiser whose main compromise is slow light-air speed and backing authority.
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Island Packet 31. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 10 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 25 | 1 | $27,500 | — |
| Jul 25 | 3 | $50,000 | +81.8% |
| Aug 25 | 5 | $35,000 | -30.0% |
| Sep 25 | 7 | $39,900 | +14.0% |
| Oct 25 | 3 | $55,000 | +37.8% |
| Jan 26 | 6 | $46,963 | -14.6% |
| Mar 26 | 3 | $57,000 | +21.4% |
| May 26 | 8 | $36,950 | -35.2% |
| Jun 26 | 4 | $31,500 | -14.7% |
| Jul 26 | 3 | $49,000 | +55.6% |
Where they're listed
Island Packet 31 listings appear across 2 countries. United States has the most listings with 33 (97.1%), followed by US Virgin Islands.
Country view
34 listings · 2 countries| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $39,900 | 33 | 7 | 97.1% |
| US Virgin Islands | $39,500 | 1 | 0 | 2.9% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
9 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Island Packet 35 | 35.33' | $ 74,900 | 62 | 24 |
| Island Packet 38 | 38' | $ 99,000 | 56 | 22 |
| Island Packet 370/379 | 37.83' | $ 199,500 | 55 | 8 |
| Island Packet 37 | 38.58' | $ 119,900 | 43 | 9 |
| Island Packet 32 | 35' | $ 64,900 | 40 | 3 |
| Island Packet 27 | 26.5' | $ 29,500 | 40 | 16 |
| Island Packet 31You are here | — | $ 39,900 | 34 | 7 |
| Island Packet 29 | 32' | $ 56,500 | 26 | 10 |
| Rustler 31 | 31.42' | $ 17,669 | 14 | 0 |